Code of conduct toolkit
May 2018
This Code of Conduct Toolkit assists licensed immigration advisers to understand their professional responsibilities and professional practice requirements.
In the Code of Conduct toolkit:
-
Purpose
The Immigration Advisers Authority (the Authority) has developed this Code of Conduct Toolkit to assist licensed immigration advisers.
-
Individual responsibility
Individual licensed immigration advisers are responsible for adhering to the Code. This means that advisers who are employees of a company are still responsible for adhering to the Code.
-
Professional responsibilities
Clause 1 relates to an adviser’s behaviour when dealing with clients and any other person or office they may encounter in their professional dealings.
-
Supervision
The Code includes clauses relating to the supervision agreement between a full and provisional licence holder, the roles and responsibilities of the supervisor and the roles and responsibilities of the provisional licence holder.
-
Professional practice
A licensed immigration adviser must provide evidence of being licensed to the client.
-
Misrepresentation
A licensed immigration adviser must not misrepresent or promote in a false, fraudulent or deceptive manner.
For your clients
You must give and explain this Professional Standards leaflet to every client. It is available in:
Acknowledgements
Segments of this publication draw on reading material prepared for the Immigration Advisers Authority’s Licensed Immigration Advisers Code of Conduct Workshop that was published in November 2009. In that material, the New Zealand Council of Legal Education, Advanced Business Education Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants), and the Migration Institute of Australia were recognised for their contributions. The use of readings drawn from the Institute of Professional Legal Studies’ Professional Responsibility Law Office Management and Interviewing Seminars was also acknowledged.
Segments of this publication have also been adapted from the Australian government publications Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority Ethics Toolkit and Client Monies Toolkit. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship(external link) in making its publications available to us.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Licensed Advisers Reference Group 2013 for their feedback on this publication.
Disclaimer
The Immigration Advisers Authority has made every effort to ensure that, at the date of publication, this Toolkit is free from errors and that advice and information drawn upon have been provided in good faith. Neither the Immigration Advisers Authority nor any person or organisation associated with the preparation of this Toolkit accepts liability for any loss which a user of this Toolkit may suffer as a result of reliance on the Toolkit and in particular for:
- use of the Toolkit for a purpose for which it was not intended
- any errors or omissions in the Toolkit
- any inaccuracy in the information or data on which the Toolkit is based or which are contained in the document, or
- any interpretations or opinions stated in, or which may be inferred from, the Toolkit.
Many Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal decisions referenced in this publication were made at the time the Licensed Immigration Advisers Code of Conduct 2010 was in force.
Note
This document is intended to provide guidance to licensed immigration advisers only.
Nothing in this document should be taken as a substitute for legal advice, and in no case will the Immigration Advisers Authority or the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment be responsible for the adequacy or inadequacy at law of any purported reliance on this document.
Advisers should take such independent legal advice as they consider appropriate, regarding their obligations as licensed immigration advisers.