Upgrade policy: Qualification pathway

Purpose

Until 31 December 2014, there will be two pathways for provisional and limited licence holders to upgrade their licence.

This policy sets out the requirements to upgrade a limited or provisional immigration adviser licence for those applicants who have completed the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice within 12 months of lodging their upgrade application.

Upgrade requirements

A limited or provisional licence holder may apply to the Registrar to upgrade their licence at any time.

A limited licence holder may apply to upgrade to a full licence, or a provisional licence holder may apply to upgrade to a full or limited licence if they have completed courses A, B, C and D of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice.

A licence upgrade takes effect from either the date of expiry of the previous licence or the date on which the upgrade is granted, whichever occurs first.

Upgrade application process

The Authority will contact all limited and provisional licence holders before the expiry of their licence to determine whether the adviser wishes to renew or upgrade their licence.

To upgrade the licence through the qualification pathway, the applicant must have completed the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice within 12 months of lodging the upgrade application and submit Form 201: Upgrade Application (Qualification), together with the required fee and supporting documentation.

The Authority must receive the licence application:

• by mail delivered by a recognised postal service
• by freight paid courier
• over the counter at the office of the Authority, during normal business hours.

The Authority will return all licence applications not received by one of the above means.

If the Authority has lodged an upgrade application, but has not assessed it before the date on which the licence would otherwise expire, the licence continues in force until the assessment of the application is complete.

Information required

The requirements to apply for an upgrade of a New Zealand immigration adviser licence are set out in Form 201: Upgrade Application (Qualification).

Form 201: Upgrade Application (Qualification)

Applicants will be required to provide the following information:

• personal details
• the type of licence the applicant holds
• evidence of completion of the  Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice
• the type of licence the applicant wishes to upgrade to
• contact details and addresses
• fitness for licensing
• continuing professional development activities
• record keeping
• a copy of the adviser’s internal complaints procedure
• if applicable, evidence of managing client funds
• compliance with the code of conduct
• other matters relating to competency
• if applicable, a supervisor declaration and reference
• proof of identity
• a verified passport size photograph
• the application fee
• authorisation and statutory declaration, and
• fee information.

Personal details (section 1 and 2)

The personal details section requires the applicant to give:

• their full legal name, which will appear on the public register of immigration advisers (the register)
• their preferred name, if applicable, which will be indicated on the register in brackets
• any other names they may be known by.

The place of residence section requires the applicant to state if they have been in New Zealand lawfully for more than 183 days in the last 12 months.

Type of licence the applicant holds (section 3)

Applicants are required provide their New Zealand immigration adviser licence number and the New Zealand immigration adviser licence type they hold.

Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice (section 4)

Applicants must have completed courses A, B, C and D of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice within the 12 months before lodging their licence application.

The applicant must provide a certified copy of their academic transcript.

Type of licence applicant is applying to upgrade to (section 5)

Applicants who are upgrading their licence must tick whether they are upgrading to a limited or full licence.

Applicants upgrading to a limited licence must also tick what immigration matters they wish to specialise in.

Contact details and addresses (section 6)

The contact details section requires the applicant to provide:

• the name of their business or employer

• their current status with the business or employer; for example, if they are a director or volunteer

• their business address, which is the main location where the applicant conducts their business
• their physical address for the service of documents
• their postal address (if different from the business address) 

• the business phone number, direct dial phone number, mobile phone number, fax number and business email address that the applicant can be contacted on
• their business website.

All addresses must be in the same country. Under section 77(2)(a) of the Act, the purpose of the register is to enable members of the public to know how to contact a licensed immigration adviser and to facilitate the compliance, audit and other supporting and administrative functions of the Registrar. The register must show a business, service and postal address for where the adviser is located.

The applicant may choose to have their business phone number, direct dial phone number, mobile number, fax number, business email address or business website shown on the public register of immigration advisers.

Fitness for licensing (section 7)

See the Fitness Policy for more information.

Continuing professional development (section 8)

The applicant must list the CPD activities that they have undertaken in the 12-month period before applying for the licence. These activities can be active learning activities or self-directed learning activities.

For more information see Continuing Professional Development in Part C Professional Responsibilities Policies and Procedures Manual for Licensed Immigration Advisers.

Record keeping (section 9)

The applicant must indicate the type and numbers of applications or requests that they have had returned/failed lodgement, withdrawn, declined or approved by Immigration New Zealand since their current licence was granted.

This information must come from the applicant’s own records. Please do not request an Immigration New Zealand activity record from Immigration New Zealand to obtain or verify this information. Approximate figures are acceptable.

Licensed Immigration Advisers Code of Conduct 2010 (section 10)

For assessment purposes, the applicant must provide a copy of their internal complaints procedure.

If the applicant takes client funds and/or mixed funds they must attach copies of:

• bank statements for the applicant’s client account for the last three months
• the client account ledger relating to the bank statements provided.

The ledger provided must be in consecutive date order with no gaps for the three months covered.

Applicants may be asked during assessment to provide bank statements for their practice account and accompanying practice account ledger.

Applicants are required to declare when they provide clients with a copy of the code of conduct and if they display the code of conduct and their immigration adviser licence in a prominent place in their business at all times.

For further information regarding internal complaints procedures, client funds and the client account, display of the code of conduct and display of the licence see Part D: Professional Practice Policy and Procedures Manual for Licensed Immigration Advisers.

Other matters relating to competency (section 11)

This section requires the applicant to answer the following:

• if the Authority requested the applicant to provide evidence of change in business practice at the renewal of their current licence, and if so, how have they addressed this
• if there are any matters relevant to the assessment of the competency that the Registrar should be aware of.

Supervision minutes

Applicants who hold a provisional licence must keep minutes of all supervision meetings that have occurred during the course of holding a provisional licence. The applicant must provide a copy of these minutes.

Supervision reference (section 13)

The supervisor of an applicant who holds a provisional licence needs to provide a supervisor reference. They must address if they have any comments to make regarding the applicant’s immigration knowledge and skill and if there is any reason why the applicant should not be granted the licence they wish to upgrade to.

Photograph (section 14)

The applicant must provide one passport-sized and passport-quality photograph that was taken in the last six months.

The photo must be verified as a true likeness of the applicant by a person who has known the applicant for more than 12 months and is not a family member or living at the same address.

This photograph will be used on the applicant’s wallet card and certificate. It will also be available on the register.

Fee and levy (section 11)

The applicant must pay the upgrade application fee when applying for the licence.

For applicants who are ordinarily resident in New Zealand the initial application processing fee is NZ$546.89 and the immigration adviser’s levy is NZ$1129.55.

A person is ordinarily resident in New Zealand if they have spent more than 183 days in New Zealand in the immediately preceding 12 months and are not unlawfully in New Zealand.

For applicants who are ordinarily resident in New Zealand the initial application processing fee is NZ$475.56 and the immigration adviser’s levy is NZ$982.22.

The immigration adviser’s levy is payable only if the Registrar approves the application. If the application is successful, the Authority will contact the successful applicant to request the levy. The Authority will reduce the levy charged in proportion to the unexpired portion of the current licence to ensure that there is no double payment.

The Authority only accepts payments in New Zealand dollars. An applicant can pay their fee and levy by bank draft in New Zealand dollars, EFTPOS, New Zealand issued cheque and Visa or Mastercard.

Statutory declaration (section 15)

Applicants must declare that the information provided is correct by making the declaration in front of a person authorised to witness a statutory declaration.

The following persons may witness a statutory declaration made in New Zealand

• an enrolled barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand
• a Justice of the Peace
• a notary public
• a Registrar or Deputy Registrar of the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court.

The following persons are authorised to witness a statutory declaration made outside of New Zealand:

• in a Commonwealth country other than New Zealand; a Judge, Commissioner of Oaths, a notary public, a Justice of the Peace, or any person authorised by the law of that country to administer an oath there for the purpose of a judicial proceeding, a Commonwealth representative, or a solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand
• in a country other than a Commonwealth — a Commonwealth representative, a Judge, a notary public, or a solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Fee information table (section 16)

All applicants must provide information about the fees that they charge for the provision of immigration advice. This does not form part of the upgrade assessment. The Authority gathers this information to publish the median and average fees on its website for public reference.

This information also helps the Registrar to form a view as to what fees are reasonable and fair for the purpose of section 8 of the code of conduct.

The Authority does not publish the fees charged by individual advisers.

Assessment of licence applications

Once the Authority has received an application form it will be checked to see if it is complete.

The Authority will not lodge an application where an applicant has not used the correct form. The Authority will not lodge applications that do not contain all the required information.

Once the Authority lodges the application, it will acknowledge the application and provide a receipt for the fee.

The lodged application is then allocated to an assessor. The assessor undertakes a fitness assessment (see the Fitness Policy for more information) and assesses each application against the Immigration Adviser Competency Standards 2013. You can read the competency standards in full.

The assessor will contact the applicant if they require further information. The assessor will not begin to assess the application until they have all the relevant documentation and information.

Once the assessor has finished assessing the application, it will be passed on to the Registrar who will decide whether the application meets licensing requirements and if the applicant should be granted or refused a licence.

Grant of licence

The Registrar will approve an application if they are satisfied that the applicant:

• is not prohibited from licensing
• is fit to be licensed as an immigration adviser
• meets the minimum standards of competence
• has properly completed an application in accordance with the Act.

If the application is approved, the Authority will inform the applicant by letter and will request the immigration adviser’s levy from the applicant.

If the applicant is based onshore they will have 20 working days to pay the levy. If the applicant is based offshore they will have 30 working days to pay the levy. Only once the levy has been paid will a licence be granted. A licence pack containing a wallet card and licence certificate will be sent to the applicant once a licence is granted. The register will be updated with the applicant’s details.

Upgrade licences are valid for 12 months from the date the Registrar grants it or the expiry of the previous licence, whichever occurs first.

If a licence application is refused, the applicant will be informed by letter. The applicant has a right to appeal the refusal of a licence to the New Zealand District Court.