From 4 May 2009, the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 requires that anyone who provides immigration advice in New Zealand must have a licence from the Immigration Advisers Authority, unless they are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence. From 4 May 2009, Immigration New Zealand will refuse to accept applications from unlicensed onshore advisers. From 4 May 2010, offshore advisers giving advice to people seeking visas or permits will also have to be licensed.
From 4 May 2009, Immigration New Zealand will refuse to accept applications from unlicensed onshore advisers. If an onshore adviser acting on behalf of an immigration client is not on the Register of licensed advisers (or not exempt), their application will be returned failed lodgement, and we will advise the Registrar of the Immigration Advisers Authority. Advisers who are awaiting a licensing decision from the Registrar are considered unlicensed.
To see a definition of immigration advice, and a list of people exempt from the requirement to hold a licence, see questions and answers (below).
Amended immigration forms
In the next few days we will be releasing several amended immigration forms requiring all immigration advisers (licensed, exempt or offshore) to provide details about their adviser status, and whether they are ordinarily resident in New Zealand. The previous versions of forms can continue to be used and submitted to branches until 29 May 2009.
People intending to submit an application to Immigration New Zealand after 4 May 2009, who choose to have an immigration adviser acting on their behalf, must supply their adviser’s details. They can do this in two ways.
- Using a March 2009 version of the form, complete the adviser details section of the form. Assuming the adviser is not unlicensed and that the application meets all other mandatory lodgement requirements, the application should be accepted for assessment.
- If an applicant submits an old form (dated before March 2009), we will put the application on hold at lodgement stage while we seek the immigration adviser’s details. This processing delay can be prevented if we are provided with the immigration adviser’s details on the form Immigration Adviser Details (INZ 1160) also released in the next few days.
To see a list of the forms that we have amended, see the questions and answers.
More information
See our questions and answers. For more information about who needs to be licensed, or to view the Register of licensed advisers, go to the Immigration Advisers Authority website www.iaa.govt.nz, email info@iaa.govt.nz, or write to them at PO Box 6222, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand.