Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Advisers must engage in relevant CPD activities every year to assist them to maintain (if they have a full or limited licence) or develop (if they hold a provisional licence) their skills and knowledge in providing immigration advice.

Immigration Advisers Competency Standards

Section 36 of the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 requires the Registrar of Immigration Advisers to develop and maintain a set of competency standards, and amongst other things states that these competency standards must set out the rules and criteria relating to continuing professional development, required of a licensed immigration adviser.

The Immigration Advisers Competency Standards 2013 apply from 1 January 2013, and from that date a licensed immigration adviser must meet these competency standards in order to be granted an initial licence or renew an existing one. If an applicant for an immigration adviser licence does not meet any or all of these competencies, the Registrar may:

• refuse to grant an immigration adviser licence; or
• grant an immigration adviser licence of a specific type to align with the competencies met.

Competency standard 7 requires advisers who are renewing or upgrading their licence to have evidence of at least 20 hours of professional development activities, undertaken in the last 12 months.

Relevant professional development activities

Any professional development activities undertaken must:

• be relevant to any aspect of the immigration adviser competency standards and/or the licensed immigration advisers code of conduct
• include active learning, and may include self-directed learning.

Advisers should also ensure that they choose professional development activities that best meet their professional development needs.

Continuing professional development and licence renewal

At licence renewal or upgrade, all advisers must explain the connection between the professional development activities they have undertaken, and the aspect of the immigration advisers competency standards and/or licensed immigration advisers code of conduct, that the activities relate to.

The table below shows an example of how an activity (in this case a GST seminar) relates to competency standard 6 and performance indicator 6.3:

Activity	Aspect of immigration advisers competency standards and/or licensed immigration advisers code of conduct that the activity relates to	How this activity is relevant
Free GST seminar offered by Inland Revenue, completed on 6 May 2013 in Wellington	Competency Standard 6 (Performance Indicator 6.3) – ability to manage a business in accordance with New Zealand law and the licensed immigration advisers code of conduct including the management of client services, business accounts and finances, and where appropriate seek the assistance of other professionals.	I work on my own as a licensed immigration adviser and I want to make sure that I am complying with best business practice on GST. I am reviewing my business practice against clause 8(e) of the code of conduct and this seminar helped me understand GST requirements for small businesses.

Planning and recording CPD

For planning and recording purposes, advisers:

• need to think about which competency standards they need to focus on, and what their development goals are for the coming licensing year
• must complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPD a year, which is not just limited to self-directed learning
• need to keep a record of their professional development for the licensing year, and provide evidence to the Registrar of the professional development activities they have undertaken, in their renewal or upgrade applications.

Choosing providers and activities

The Registrar does not recommend particular providers or guarantee the quality of activities, in respect of CPD requirements.

The following activities are clearly relevant to the competency standards and code of conduct:

• Individual modules of the Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice (Level 7) as the Registrar has approved this qualification as meeting all of the requirements in the Immigration Advisers Competency Standards 2013.
• Seminars run by Immigration New Zealand. The Authority and Immigration New Zealand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), under which each branch of Immigration New Zealand will undertake to hold at least three seminars a year for advisers. In some cases however, this may not occur due to low numbers.
• Seminars organised by professional industry bodies such as the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment (NZAMI) and the New Zealand Association of Immigration Professionals (NZAIP).
• Recognition of time spent supervising and mentoring a provisional licence holder, in accordance with a supervision arrangement and agreement that has been approved by the Registrar.

The following guidance may be useful to assist advisers in choosing other CPD providers:

• Talk to providers of education and find out whether they offer courses and activities that relate to the immigration advisers competency standards and/or code of conduct. Listed below are some questions that advisers may ask CPD providers:

• Is the activity relevant to one or more of the competency standards or code of conduct?
• Are there opportunities for active learning?
• Does the CPD provider have a process in place for quality control (e.g. feedback)?
• Are there opportunities for networking with other licensed immigration advisers?
• Is the cost of the course reasonable given what else is on offer in the market? If cost is an issue, consider courses and seminars that are free of charge.

The website www.business.govt.nz lists a variety of training courses, including free courses offered by agencies such as the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC). It also includes some courses that are available online free of charge.

Advisers should include as much active learning as possible in CPD plans. For example, this may include participation in a facilitated workshop where there are opportunities to engage in discussion and practise skills (such as writing agreements or engagement letters).

Advisers should talk to colleagues, managers or other licensed immigration advisers about the types of CPD activities and what they found useful.

Maximising CPD

It is important to ensure that learning is applied to everyday professional practice; advisers should consider the following questions after every CPD activity:

• What did I learn?
• What will I stop doing as a result of what I have learnt?
• What will I continue doing as a result of what I have learnt?
• What will I start doing, or start doing differently, as a result of what I have learnt?
• How will I know when the actions that I have identified to do, have occurred?
• Have I identified further training needs that I need to address?

Advisers should incorporate regular occasions for reflection and evaluation of their CPD plan. This will give advisers opportunities to consolidate learning, cement new behaviours, review practices and identify further training needs.