A Dunedin immigration law specialist is urging care with
immigration applications.
Migrants, who were often vulnerable or did not speak good
English, needed to ensure they were not caught out by
legislation that came into force earlier this month,
requiring all applications to be handled by licensed
advisers, Sally McMillan, a partner with Anderson Lloyd
Lawyers, said.
Migrants who had already begun the application process might
not realise many of those acting as advisers in the past had
chosen not to become licensed.
"My advice is to get some advice," she said.
Anyone wishing to be recognised as an immigration agent had
until Monday to become registered.
By Wednesday, only 184 agents had been licensed throughout
New Zealand, including three in Otago, Immigration Advisers
Authority spokesman Mark Fenwick said.
It was not known how many people had been operating as agents
before Monday, but the authority had estimated about 400
people might go through the licensing process, he said.
The Immigration Service processes about 526,000 immigration
applications annually.
They range from people wanting student visas to those wishing
to live or work in New Zealand permanently.
Ms McMillan said the new Act was brought in to regulate
"marginal front-room operators" by outlining who could give
advice, the standard that advice should reach, and how to
complain if advice was substandard.
Putting immigration applications together was often a lengthy
process, she said, and some migrants who were part-way
through the process with an unlicensed agent might discover
they had to begin afresh with someone else, or attempt to
fill in their applications themselves.
"If an application is mid-stream, it is hard to see how some
people won't be affected."
Migrants could still lodge their own applications with the
Immigration Service, either in person or through the
service's website.
However, visa applications could be "exhausting" while the
website was "fantastically detailed but complex", she said.
Two major southern employers who attract staff from overseas
said they would not be affected by the licensing requirement.
Kevin Seales, human resources manager for the University of
Otago, and Karyn Penno, regional general manager of human
resource services for the Otago and Southland District Health
Boards, both said their organisations did not employ
immigration agents or give specific immigration advice to
potential employees.
They both directed potential employees directly to the
Immigration Service.
Immigration Advisers Licensing Act, 2007
> Required advisers be licensed by May 4, 2009.
> Lawyers exempt from Act and can provide immigration
advice and lodge applications without being licensed.
> MPs, public servants, community law centre and Citizens
Advice Bureau employees and volunteers, family members and
friends can still provide informal advice, providing they do
not charge a fee.
> Since May 4, New Zealand Immigration Service no longer
processes applications prepared by unlicensed agents.
> Applications prepared by unlicensed agents and lodged
before May 4 still processed.
> Register of licensed agents available on the Immigration
Advisers Authority website.
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