FAQ – The Immigration Advisors Licencing Act
Given the publicity surrounding the recent Herald Article, there have been a lot of questions coming in either directly or on other blogs and forums about this issue. I thought it would be worth clarifying a few things, and answering some of those questions in one place (thus saving my fingers from more hours of typing!).
How did this happen?
I became aware that the new Immigration Advisors Licensing Act (2007) (IALA) could affect blogs and forums when the owner of the Move2NZ forum was sent a warning by the IAA. The forum owner had spoken on TV3 about a problem facing many migrants with work visas, and in what can only be described as a pathetic fit of pique – a Licensed Immigration Advisor made a complaint to the IAA about the forum owner passing himself off as an “Advisor”.
I contacted the IAA asking for advice and guidance and got the run-around. There is no advice from them other than “you cannot give advice” and “advice means giving advice systematically”.
Surely you are OK if you don’t charge for advice?
No you are not. The IALA specifically states that it is illegal to give “immigration advice” even if its for free, unless they have licensed you to do so, or you are exempt from being licensed.
So who is exempt?
It’s a short list, including MP’s. Immigration New Zealand staff, lawyers and their staff, and staff at Citizens Advice Bureaus working under the guidance of a lawyer.
Specifically – there is NO exemption for people posting on forums, writing blogs, or just generally chatting to friends about the immigration process.
Have the IAA sent me a warning?
No – the IAA have not sent me an official warning telling me that either myself or my website are in breach of the IALA.
Have the IAA threatened to shut Avalon’s Blog down?
No – the IAA have not asked me to remove my blog or threatened me in any way.
So what have the IAA done?
All the IAA done is to give me one example of a blog post that breaks the law, and one example of one that does not break the law. I haven’t got the faintest idea what the difference is – and the IAA are not prepared to be specific.
On saying that I wish to acknowledge that the lady at the IAA I have been dealing with has been as helpful as she can be- given that she too is working with a badly written law. The fact that we have this law is not in itself the IAA’s fault. However the fact that they sent a warning to Move2NZ without it seems properly investigating this situation (The warning was received 3 days after the TV interview) shows that they are being lazy and incompetent in handling the law. They have also refused so far to tell Move2NZ exactly what they did that was in breach of the law.
Why don’t you just get a licnece then?
I tried – and I can’t.
The most corrupt thing about this law is that you have to working as a Migration AGENT to get a licence – ie someone who fills in applications for migrants on their behalf and sends them to Immigration New Zealand and acts as a go between.
You need to be able to produce Client Files to prove that this is what you have done. If you do not work as an an Immigration AGENT – you cannot get a licence. You can however be prosecuted under the law if you give ADVICE.
Am I promoting a book?
For some bizarre reason the fact that there is a book for sale on this website worries one or two people, given that I have just had a lot of press. They are concerned that I have made a fuss in order to sell my book. I would just like to point out that if this was my intention – it failed spectacularly .
Writing the book, as with posting the info on the forums and running this blog is a hobby. Which is one of the reasons I find this law so offensive. You wanna buy the book? Great – and thank you. If not – fine. You are still welcome to see the rest of what I have to say for free, you are welcome to comment on here, and you are 100% welcome to think the IAA is a complete waste of space and the law belongs in the bin.
The vast majority of traffic and interest that I have had on this issue isn’t actually coming from Migrants – it’s coming from people who are offended at a law that prevents freedom of speech. So at the end of the day – they won’t really need my book, or be terribly interested in it. I’m fine with that.
In the interest of openness – I have made $24 (NZ) in income from book sales this week, and $2.90 (US) in Adsense income. My lawyers bill for preliminary advice regarding the IALA stands at $144 (NZ). I hope that helps put peoples minds at rest .
Aren’t I worried that I now have a huge target on my back?
Honestly – yes.
I still have one member of my family to bring to New Zealand as a resident – and I know full well that I could be making life difficult for us all. I can only hope that the Immigration Minister will in the end not allow INZ to use my stance on this law against us. On saying that – the target was pretty much there the day I started our complaint against INZ. I have lived with this feeling of abject terror for all of this year so far.
I have absolutley no reason to believe that the Immigration Minister would not deal with me fairly should I need to go to him. His office was hugely kind and helpful to us when we went to them for help over my parent’s application.
What am I doing about this?
Keeping going!
I will be writing a letter to the Immigration Minister asking him to get the law either scrapped or hugely re-written, so that people can go back to advising each other, answering questions on forums, discussing Immigration process and generally being helpful to each other without fear of prosecution. And hopefully New Zealand’s reputation can be repaired before the law is supposed to prevent people all over the world from the same stupid (and completely unenforceable) threat.
I am also hoping to produce a standard letter that anyone can print off and send in, objecting to this law and asking for it to be changed.
And I am going to continue giving interviews to anyone who cares to listen.
Won’t the IALA stop people from giving bad advice?
It sure as hell will not stop migrants from getting bad advice, and advice that can and will potentially cause them to be overstayers. For a start – Immigration New Zealand itself regularly gives migrants the wrong information. This is borne out time and again by migrants telling their stories (which is not yet illegal). I myself have friends who became Overstayers because of duff advice handed out by their immigration New Zealand case office. The IALA does not apply to them.
MP’s are also exempt from the law – and they too often give out incorrect immigration advice and information. You can see just how much our own MP screwed up by reading our story in Family Sponsorship Saga.
And licensing Immigration Agents will not automatically make them honest or competent. There are already stories coming out into the open of “Licensed advisors” misleading migrants, getting the wrong visas, and screwing up applications.
There you go – I hope that gives some clearer background and helps put some of things in context for people.
Lastly I want to thank everyone who has offered support and help in this. It has been a very humbling week for me, and I am immensely grateful to everyone who is prepared to help and speak out.
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Related posts:
- What has been the effect of the Immigration Advisors Licensing Act.
- Immigration advisers licencing act: Update1
- Immigration Advisers Licencing Act: Update 2 Responce from the minister
Comments
2 Comments on FAQ – The Immigration Advisors Licencing Act
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Hubby on
Fri, 25th Sep 2009 9:13 pm
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FAQ – The Immigration Advisors Licencing Act : Avalon's Blog « Immigration on
Sat, 26th Sep 2009 1:56 am
yes, my dreams of early retirement based on book proceeds are a long way off
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