What is a Licensed Immigration Adviser?

Our Immigration Manager Catherine Neazor Brady is a fully licensed Immigration Adviser, License number 200900436 and is a full member of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment.  She has a 100% success record at Immigration and draws on both immigration and employment law expertise.

Due to the large number of incompetent and unscrupulous immigration consultants working in the Industry, the New Zealand government introduced compulsory Immigration Adviser Licensing to ensure consumer protection.  Since May 2009 it has been unlawful for anyone who is not a Licensed Immigration Adviser to give Immigration Advice in New Zealand, and from May 2010 Immigration Advisers providing advice on New Zealand visas outside New Zealand must also be licensed.

The number of Immigration Advisers dropped from an estimated 1200 people immediately before licensing to approximately 125 immediately after.  The licensing process is rigorous and requires the Immigration Advisers Authority to examine the Adviser’s knowledge of Immigration law and policy, to review actual case files right down to the smallest details of how we managed the application, to take up references from actual clients, and to examine all aspects of how the business is run, our contracts, financial management and customer/complaints processes.
When you work with a Licensed Immigration Adviser from New Life New Zealand you can expect:

• That we will not put you under pressure to sign up to a service you don’t understand or have not had time to consider properly.
• That we will be fully competent to advise you on your application.
• That we will apply the highest standards of care, respect, diligence and professionalism to your application, and manage it professionally.
• That we will update you regularly on the progress of your application.

• That we will always keep the information you have given us secure and confidential.
• That there will be no surprises - we will always have a written agreement setting out the services we will provide and the fees, and there will be no changes to this without your written agreement.
• That we will always give you an invoice and a receipt when asking you for payment so you can be confident where your money is going, and if you pay fees to us that we will be paying on to a government body we will hold that money securely in a separate account until it is required for your application.
• That we won’t be taking hidden kickbacks for any services we might recommend to you.
• That we abide fully by all requirements of the Immigration Advisers Authority Code of Conduct and complaints procedures, and we will always inform you of your rights and our obligations.

 

For us Immigration Adviser Licensing was a validation of our existing business practises.  We didn’t wait till the last moment, and you can be confident that we will stay up to date and ahead of industry requirements.

The New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment is the professional body representing Licensed Immigration Advisers.  Membership is voluntary, however you can be sure that NZAMI members like us have an additional commitment to ongoing professional development and going above and beyond the minimum expected.