June 2016 newsletter
Registrar update
Today you will receive our annual Adviser Satisfaction Survey seeking your feedback on the IAA’s service during the last year. Please take this opportunity to give us feedback so we can know what’s working and what we could improve.
This month we will also be consulting with you on changes to the English language standard for licensed immigration advisers. Setting the standard correctly is essential to ensure that licensed advisers are able to communicate professionally in English. The standard also needs to be fair and transparent. We would be very grateful to get wide input on this important topic and encourage you to respond to the consultation document.
Please note that these surveys are different, and separate from any INZ surveys also being run at this time. Your feedback on each survey is very important to us.
This week we have visited the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) in Australia to learn more about our respective regimes and align standards where possible.
Thank you to our Licensed Adviser Reference Group who met in May and discussed progress on the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice, the transition to mandatory supervision, and the English language review. This newsletter talks about the work placement option that will be available to Graduate Diploma students later this year.
Thank you also to those who joined our second webinar on CPD requirements. Remember that if you do have questions on the new CPD requirements, firstly get familiar with our CPD Toolkit.
Catherine Albiston
Registrar of Immigration Advisers
Graduate Diploma work placements
Later this year, the first cohort of Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice students will be able to undertake a work placement as the final course. The work placement provides an opportunity for students to observe a real immigration advice practice and to reflect on immigration matters and professional practice in a real-life situation.
Students are not expected to have a provisional licence or provide immigration advice as part of this work placement. The work placement will only be available to students who can attend a physical immigration advice business with a licensed immigration adviser.
Having a student undertake a work placement with you may be one way to get to know someone and develop the trust you need before entering into a supervision arrangement.
We will be providing you with more information about the work placement and how you can put your name forward to have a student come to your workplace in our next newsletter.
Look out for our ads in Indian and Filipino media
The IAA is continuing to advertise in Indian and Filipino print, online and radio media this month to increase awareness of how to find a licensed immigration adviser. You can hear our radio advertisements on Planet FM, Humm FM and Radio Tarana.
Have you used our online CPD plan and record?
You can log-in at iaa.govt.nz to start or update your CPD plan for the year and record activities you complete. If this is the first time you are logging-in, you will need your activation code. Please contact us if you don’t have it.
Remember that you need to start following the new CPD requirements as soon as you renew your licence after 26 November 2015.
Our CPD Toolkit sets out all our requirements as well as extra guidance. You need to read and understand our CPD Toolkit in order to understand your obligations as a licensed immigration adviser.
Industry places on the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice
Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic will reserve 25 places in the July intake of the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice for people currently employed within immigration practices. These places can be either full-time or part-time.
To reserve an industry place in semester two 2016, your request must be received by 3 June 2016.
To reserve an industry place, the employer needs to contact Lynette Steele lynette.steele@boppoly.ac.nz and confirm that the employee:
- Has a formal employment relationship with their organisation.
- Will be required by their organisation to apply for an immigration adviser licence once they graduate.
Once an industry place has been offered to the employer’s organisation, the prospective student will need to apply and meet the academic and entry requirements of the programme before they can enrol and utilise the place reserved in their name.
Semester two of the Graduate Diploma starts on 18 July 2016.
Do you provide recruitment and immigration advice services...?
If you provide both recruitment and immigration advice services as part of a package, you are responsible for ensuring you are meeting your obligations as a licensed immigration adviser in respect of the full package of work.
In particular, we encourage you to reflect on the Professional Practice section of the Code of Conduct (clauses 14 – 28).
Are you ensuring all your client engagement procedures comply with the Code?
Does your written agreement comply with the Code?
Are you as a licensed immigration adviser responsible for your client engagement and providing immigration advice?
Is your written agreement clear on what services are being provided and what fees are being charged for?
IAA Online outage
There will be an outage to IAA Online at some point in June while we make further improvements to our services. We will email you to give you advance warning of the outage. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
New Tribunal decisions
Reading Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal decisions will help develop your understanding of the standards expected of licensed immigration advisers.
