2013-May 10: LIA feedback on complaints about immigration advisers

Visa Pak 111 - Information about feedback received on complaints about immigration advisers

Visa Paks

10 May 2013

LIA feedback on complaints about immigration advisers

The LIA has provided the following feedback on complaints received about immigration advisers.

Tribunal learnings

The Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal has launched a searchable online database of its decisions. You can use the Tribunal’s database to read recent decisions in full. Below we have summarised the most significant decisions over the last month for advisers and ordered them by what can be learned.

Learning 1: Do not allow unlicensed people to give immigration advice
Of the recent decisions, three complaints related to unlicensed people giving immigration advice.

One of the complaints was dismissed because the immigration advice related to offshore student visas and was therefore exempt. The other two complaints were upheld.

The upheld complaints related to two advisers who worked with a company in the Philippines. The Philippines Company had an employee, who was not a licensed adviser; fill out all the relevant immigration paperwork.

The employee had the client sign an agreement for the advisers to provide immigration services.

The Tribunal chair noted that the first time the advisers made contact with the client was when he arrived in New Zealand.

The senior of the two advisers was censured and ordered to pay a penalty of $1,500.

The Tribunal chair said: “As the senior licensed immigration adviser in his practice, and effectively the proprietor, he was responsible for ensuring he understood the requirements of the Act and the code, and applied them correctly.”

Both advisers were ordered to complete the Professional Practice module of the Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice.

Learning 2: Work within your expertise
A former adviser, whose licence expired two years ago, was ordered to pay more than $10,000 by the Tribunal.

The Tribunal said she was a danger to herself and the public needed to be protected from her.

The adviser had taken on a case beyond her level of expertise, not deposited funds into a client account and failed to fully carry out the work. She lodged the application late and dishonestly said she would repay the fees.

The adviser was censured, prevented from reapplying for a licence for two years, ordered to repay $9,500 to the complainant and pay a penalty of $1,500.

Learning 3: Be honest with the Authority and the Tribunal
An adviser had their licence cancelled after misleading the Tribunal and the Authority.

The original complaint related to a failure to give appropriate advice. The adviser claimed immigration policy had changed and sent a misleading letter to the client.

The Tribunal said these lapses were not at the serious end of the scale. However, what was serious was the way the adviser dealt with the complaint.

The Tribunal chair said: “The adviser provided false and misleading information in the course of addressing the complaint; rejected any professional responsibility and maintains she is a victim.”

The Tribunal ordered that the adviser would only be permitted to reapply for a full licence once a penalty of $2,500 had been paid, a provisional licence had been held for six months and specific modules of the Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice had been successfully completed or once she had successfully completed qualification in full.

Action:
Search the tribunal database for these decisions in full at the link below. You may have to wait a moment for it to open.