2013-Apr 26: EOI Refunds

Visa Pak 109 - Clarification about EOI Refunds and situations when a refund where refunds may be provided

Visa Paks

26 April 2013

EOI Refunds

IAC 10/08 Updated Fee Payments and Refunds provides a list of situations where refunds may be provided but there is some confusion about when the fee may be refunded for EOIs withdrawn from the pool.

Refunds are usually requested by INZ or the customer – but either way the refund is made by way of special direction.

  • Firstly, note that this direction applies only to EOIs that are withdrawn and does not apply to SMC EOIs that have lapsed after being in the SMC EOI pool for 6 months. There is no capacity to approve a refund when an EOI is lapsed.
  • Secondly, the IAC advises that refunds may be refunded, not must be refunded. This will depend on the circumstances of the person who has lodged the EOI and is a decision of absolute discretion for those delegated as per advice below.

The Ministerial special direction power to refund all or part of a fee imposed is set out in the Immigration Act. That special direction power has been delegated only to those included in Schedule 2 of A15.5 Instrument of Delegation 2011 of the Operations Manual.

  • Some applicants have referred to the Immigration Act 2009 s24 (6) in their request for a refund for a lapsed EOI:

(6) If an application lapses in accordance with rules and criteria set under this section, the chief executive must refund any application fee paid in respect of the application to the person who paid it, or a person authorised by that person to receive it.

However, s24 (8) states that:

(8) In this section (except subsections (6) and (7)), application includes an expression of interest under section 92 in obtaining an invitation to apply.
i.e. the requirement to refund lapsed applications does not apply to expressions of interest. Consequently there is no provision under s24 for EOI refunds.

Immigration Contact Centre

As many customers will contact the ICC for advice on refunds, this is the advice that they will provide:

ICC will advise accordingly the options available to request EOI Refunds and direct them to the process below. Clients can also be referred to the website and directed to search by entering “refund” in the Search Box of the INZ website home page. Alternatively they can enter ‘request a refund’ in the ‘I want to’ box of the INZ website home page.

Customers should read the advice on eligibility for a refund and, if they consider that they are eligible, proceed as follows:

SMC EOIs: send a hard copy of Refund Request form including reason for withdrawing EOI and refund request to Immigration New Zealand, EOI Team, P.O. Box 3705, Wellington 6140. ICC can also advise clients to send the request via email to ‘INZ – EOI Team’ providing their EOI Number and a completed and scanned Refund Request form including reason for withdrawing EOI and refund request.

Parent EOIs: send hard copy of Refund Request form including reason for withdrawing EOI and refund request to PO Box 276118, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland.

Considering a Refund

INZ has absolute discretion in deciding whether to approve a request for a refund and in considering this may assess whether the fee has already been used for the purpose for which it was paid, such as lodging and processing the EOI.