2013-Aug 23: Warnings (including alerts) placed against advisers/lawyers

Visa Pak 125 - Guidelines about how to put warnings (including alerts) on AMS against advisers/lawyers through Operations Support

Visa Paks

23 August 2013

Warnings (including alerts) placed against advisers/lawyers

INZ has recently received complaints from Lawyers and Licensed Immigration Advisers about the content of warnings against their companies. Consequently Operations Support has reviewed the contents of Alerts and also the process involved in putting an Alert on AMS. It is clear that the current best practice is no longer meeting INZ’s needs or the needs of advisors now that they are subject to a licensing regime.

In the meantime, please refrain from creating any new alert/warning against a licensed advisor/Lawyer/Exempt person. This is effective from today.

If you have compelling reasons why you consider a new alert/warning on such a person is warranted, please advise Operations Support and wait for a response before creating and authorising.

It is timely to bring some points to your attention:

  • Border Alerts and Information Warnings can be released under the Official Information Act and immigration officers should assume any alert/warning created would be released. There are reasons why an alert/warning could be withheld but it is best practice to assume all material entered into AMS can be released.
  • If an applicant provides a false document or false and misleading information through their adviser, then the Alert should be put against the applicant unless you have evidence that the adviser submitted these, knowing them to be false.
  • Be accurate with the wording used in Alerts; record whether something is an allegation or substantiated, whether it is anonymous or from a reliable source and consequently what weight it carries.
  • Be precise – if saying that information has been provided, say when and to whom.
  • It is proper to place an alert whilst a matter is being investigated. However, at the conclusion of the investigation the alert should be reviewed. If there is no evidence to support an anonymous allegation, the alert should then be removed.
  • Record the purpose of an Alert – what action you expect from the reader.
  • In future, Branch Warnings must be authorised by Immigration Managers and Border Alerts created by Visa Services should be authorised by Market Managers. The only exception is for a Warning that an applicant is subject to sanctions imposed on Fiji, which can be authorised by an Immigration Officer.
  • Ops Support will create appropriate warnings/alerts on advisors who have been subject to disciplinary action by the Immigration Advisors Authority

When assessing an application with a current alert or branch warnings, the best practice all staff should follow is outlined in IAC 10/01 Guidelines for Assessing Applications with Active Client Border Alerts, Branch Warnings and Travel Document Alerts