Licensed immigration advisers
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Licensed immigration advisers reference group meeting minutes
| Date: | 15 April 2010 |
|---|---|
| Place: | Immigration Advisers Authority, 52 Symonds St, Auckland |
| Attendees: | IAA - Barry Smedts (Registrar, Chair), Catherine Albiston (Senior Adviser Operational Policy) INZ - Steve Cantlon (Group Manager Service Delivery) Licensed immigration advisers - Coral Wong, Karen Justice, Anola Eitzinger, Arunima Dhingra, Graydon Sharratt, Mayank Kumar, Glenys Knox, Tracy Hockings, Mike McShane (by teleconference) |
| Apologies: | David Cooper, Jane Palmer (Senior Communications Adviser) |
Agenda
- Introductions and issues you are facing as licensed advisers
- IAA’s business focus for the next year
- INZ business process project overview and discussion (Steve Cantlon)
- Licence renewals project overview and discussion
- Closing discussion: Issues for discussion at the next meeting
1. Issues raised by reference group
- Reference group feedback on the performance of the Authority and the reference group should be anonymous. IAA response: The Authority will give reference group members a survey at the end of the year and seek anonymous feedback (via post). All other feedback from reference group members on consultation documents will be via email.
- Lack of knowledge of New Zealand’s immigration adviser licensing requirements offshore, particularly in India. Suggested working through NZSA to educate about licensing requirements. Noted that most student agents also assist family members to apply for visitor and work visas and therefore are not exempt. IAA response: IAA will follow up on communicating with NZSA
- Concern about Australian registered migration agents being granted licences with no assessment of knowledge of New Zealand immigration law and policy. IAA response: The Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act is New Zealand law and applies to all statutory licensing schemes in New Zealand and Australia. MARA agents must go through the standard renewals process if they wish to renew their licence. CPD will be discussed at the August reference group meeting.
- Licensed immigration advisers should take responsibility for keeping up to date with INZ policy changes themselves and use the INZ policy seminars as a forum to help interpret and explain the policy. IAA response: Licensed immigration advisers are responsible for keeping themselves up to date on INZ policy changes. IAA will write an article on this in the newsletter.
- Request for guidelines on managing the process when a client has complained to the IAA. IAA response: The Authority will consider putting information on the website or in the newsletter on this.
- Suggestion for IAA to develop short DVD on licensing for advisers to distribute particularly to overseas clients/audiences and video presentation on INZ website: IAA to follow up
- Qualification and quality and availability of CPD: To be discussed at the August reference group
- INZ policy sessions need to be led by people who are trained in the policy (Steve Cantlon to follow up)
Issues raised but not discussed (may be discussed at a later meeting)
- Supervision for limited licence holders
- Client confidentiality
- Managing client funds
- Contract/client agreement too onerous for small jobs
- English language standard for licensed advisers
- Requirement to hold client files for seven years.
2. IAA’s focus for 2010
- Renewals review (discussed below)
- Starting work on qualification (August reference group)
- Focus on enforcement for unlicensed activity
- Improving communications to migrants
- Working with INZ to maximise the value of the licensing regime
3. INZ update on new business processing initiatives
- INZ commitment to improving processing through quick wins (short term) and segmentation (longer term)
- One example discussed was increasing the number of doctors to cover medical referrals and reducing the number of medical referrals by changing the referral guidelines.
Reference group comments:
- IRD model is a good one to aspire to
- Improving consistency seems to be a theme which is good as this is a big problem for advisers
- Advisers survey doesn’t capture which branch the adviser is commenting on (Steve Cantlon to follow up)
- Local branch meetings with advisers are improving relationships.
4. Feedback on renewals
- IAA discussed possibility of introducing ‘fast-track’ renewal process from June 2011 for some advisers
Reference group comments:
- Strong support for overall idea of the review, including NZAMI support
- Support for idea that all advisers must go through two ‘standard’ renewals before being eligible for ‘fast-track’
- Support for two years standard renewal followed by two years ‘fast-track’
- Support for ‘fast-track’ eligibility being automatic unless there was a complaint or change in circumstances.
5. Immigration Act 2009 training
- Training for licensed immigration advisers on the Immigration Act 2009 likely to be in September/ October 2010
6. Closing discussion
Next meeting is on 26 August 2010. Topics for discussion will be:
- Qualification / CPD
- Offshore communications
- Immigration Act 2009 training