September 2024 newsletter

Message from the Registrar

Kia ora koutou,

I hope everyone in the Southern Hemisphere has made it through winter well and is starting to enjoy some of these longer, warmer spring days.

Welcome to this month’s newsletter. In it you’ll find details for our next webinar which will be about recent and relevant tribunal decisions. The webinar is on October 17 from 11am -12 noon. Find the link to register further down the newsletter.

We’ve also included licensing and complaints statistics for the 2023/24 financial year, which may be of interest to many of you. This year we’ve seen the licensed population continue to grow. We have also seen an increase in complaints for both licensed and unlicensed advisers.  

We hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter.

Keep our standards high. 

A Year in Numbers (2023-2024)

Licensing and complaints statistics for 2023-2024 financial year

The Immigration Advisers Authority is responsible for protecting people who receive immigration advice. We issue licences, maintain standards, investigate unlicensed people providing immigration advice and manage complaints.

The figures below relate to the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. They are illustrative of how core functions of the system have performed over the past financial year.

Overall, there has been a slight increase in the total number of licensed immigration advisors – up from 1316 to 1361. Of these, the majority are located within New Zealand.

Licensing application outcomes

Complaints against licensed advisors

Unlicensed persons

Tips to improve supervision of provisional licence holders

For provisional licence holders, supervision is compulsory and essential to ensure they receive the guidance and support needed to provide clients with the same level of service as experienced licence holders. 

A well-structured supervision agreement is key to a successful professional relationship. It ensures that all parties understand their roles and responsibilities. All supervision agreements are approved by the Registrar, and the Authority has noticed some common areas where supervision agreements could be improved:  

Employer Agreement  

• When either party in a supervision agreement is an employee, agreement of the supervision arrangement from the employer should be included, which includes the employer signing the agreement. 

Supervision Fees  

• If supervision fees are based on a percentage of client service fees, a clear schedule outlining the service fees should be included.

Professional Development Plans 

• Professional development plans that reflect the individual learning needs of the provisional licence holder should always be included.  

Formal Meeting Frequency 

• The frequency of formal supervision meetings should be clearly stated to ensure consistent communication, support, and direct supervision.  

Conflict of Interest 

• Any potential conflicts of interest should be considered, identified, and addressed in the supervision agreement.

To assist both provisional licence holders and supervisors in creating robust supervision agreements, the Authority has developed a range of resources, which are available on the Authority’s website. These include toolkits, guidance documents, webinars, and a template of a supervision agreement.

If concerns arise during a supervision relationship, such as an agreement not being followed, parties are encouraged to liaise with the Authority. 

Useful supervision resources:

• Supervision Toolkit
• Model supervision agreement [DOC, 112 KB]
• Guidance for developing a supervision agreement [PDF, 551 KB]
• Professional development plan guidance  [PDF, 544 KB]
• Webinars
  • Supervision - October 2019  
  • Supervision - A Practical Approach - June 2021

Licensed Immigration Adviser fined and prevented from reapplying for licence for 2 years

Licensed Immigration Adviser John Lawlor has been censured and prevented from reapplying for any licence for a period of 2 years. Mr Lawlor has also been ordered to refund $6,660 to his client and pay $5,000 to the Immigration Advisers Authority).

Read about this case below:

Licensed Immigration Adviser fined and prevented from reapplying for licence for 2 years

Update from INZ: Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)

Further checks and policy changes were introduced in the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) earlier this year which mean there are additional requirements for many applications. This has resulted in processing times across the 3 stages of the AEWV scheme taking longer.

Incomplete applications are a significant factor to current processing times. All the required information must be submitted with applications to help prevent further delays.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has seen reduced volumes of incoming applications since the policy changes in the job check and work visa stages however, we are receiving more complex applications. The decrease in volumes has been primarily driven by a significant decrease in ANZSCO skill level 4-5 roles.

Decline and withdrawal rates have increased across the three AEWV stages. This trend was already emerging prior to the policy changes following changes to assessment processes in the second half of 2023.

Incomplete applications across the three AEWV stages remains high, and a variety of different communications and engagements were completed during August to help improve the quality of information being provided at submission.

Given the scale of change being managed across AEWV, it remains extremely difficult to forecast with any degree of certainty how incoming volumes across the AEWV stages will track or the completeness and complexity of applications received.

Volumes and performance are being carefully monitored and we will continue to adjust our planning as appropriate.

For more information, please see our website: Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)(external link) — Immigration New Zealand

Tribunal Decisions

The Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal has recently released three sanctions for the following upheld complaints:
 
LB v Luv

The Tribunal found that Ms Luv has breached clauses 9(b), 24(a) and 26(b) of the Code of Conduct for:

• Failing to obtain written acknowledgement from the Complainant that she had been advised of the risks related to the possibly futile expression of interest in the skilled migrant visa category.  
• Failing to ensure that refunds given are fair and reasonable in the circumstances.  
• Failing to maintain consistent communication with the Complainant including on-going timely updates of the date of the sanction decision.

Ms Luv was cautioned, ordered to pay $3,500 to the Registrar and to pay $6,810 to the Complainant within one month. 

• Failing to communicate with the Complainant the outcome of the application and provide on-going updates.  

Mr Lawlor was censured, prevented from reapplying for any licence for a period of two years from the date of the sanction decision, ordered to pay $5,000 to the Registrar to pay $6,660 to the Complainant within one month of the date of the sanction decision.

SC v Murthy

The Tribunal found that Ms Murthy was negligent and has breached clauses 1 and 9 of the Code of Conduct for:

• Failing to recognise that the Complainant was ineligible for any visa following the refusal of his refugee claim. 
• Failing to request the complainant’s complete file from Immigration New Zealand, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal or his previous solicitor, prior to filing the application.
• Failing to conduct herself with professionalism, diligence, and due care in failing to request the complainant’s previous immigration records and therefore failing to recognise he could not submit another application, in breach of cl 1 of the Code.
• Failing to advise the Complainant in writing of the application’s futility and failing to obtain his written acknowledgement that he had been so advised and she could proceed. 

Ms Murthy was censured, ordered to pay $6,000 to the Registrar and to pay $4,660 to the Complainant within one month of the date of the sanction decision. 
 
New decisions are appearing regularly, and I encourage you to save the following link as a bookmark.

Read the recent Tribunal decisions(external link) — Justice.govt.nz

Webinar Announcement

The topic of our second webinar for the year is focused on recent and relevant tribunal decisions that relate to different aspects of providing immigration services to your clients from an Investigations perspective. As licensed advisers, you are required to provide immigration services in line with the Code of Conduct.

This webinar will take advisers through topics including what is immigration advice when providing ancillary services such as recruitment support, knowing who your client is, engaging with your client, managing conflicts of interest, and working within your skillset.

The webinar will be delivered on 17 October 2024, 11am - 12pm NZT.

To register, please follow this link:

Webinar Registration(external link)

Annual migrant survey to begin early October

The 2024/2025 survey of visa applicants who have used a licensed immigration adviser will be conducted in four waves, with the first one being conducted during October 2024. This survey has been conducted since the 2008/2009 financial year. The survey is undertaken to understand the experience visa applicants have when receiving immigration advice from licensed immigration advisers.

The results for the 2021 survey are here:

2022-2023 Migrant survey results — IAA. 

The 2024/2025 survey is managed by Gravitas OPG(external link) (an independent research company) on behalf of the Immigration Advisers Authority.  

Helpful Links from Immigration New Zealand

• Immigration NZ has developed this resource: How we work(external link) — Immigration New Zealand  
• Stay up to date with Immigration NZ Webinars, policy and announcements here: Subscribe to updates & newsletters(external link) — Immigration New Zealand
• Find all of the immigration professional webinars here: Webinars for immigration professionals(external link) — YouTube