Blog
Arranged Marriages and Partner Visas
Following concerted protests from the Indian community in particular, and intervention from the Prime Minister, Immigration agreed to review the rules on Culturally Arranged Marriages ("CAM") to allow overseas partners to get visas. The new visa Instructions came out...
INZ’s Absurd Accusations in Character Assessments
We have recently encountered a partnership case where Immigration New Zealand (“INZ”) have accused the applicant of providing false and misleading information to INZ without any valid basis. The provision of false and misleading information to INZ is a serious...
Information Requests – a Key Tool for Immigration Professionals
The Official Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 1993 (“the OIA and the Privacy Act”) are important pieces of legislation in the New Zealand immigration context. With their help, applicants for Visas can get a copy of file information held about them. This...
Is Immigration New Zealand cracking down on partnership visas or are our Partnership rules simply outdated?
Immigration New Zealand's assessment of partnership cases is old fashioned and narrow minded. Uniting families in New Zealand is becoming a mission. As a result, we see families being separated for a good period of time, leaving their kiwi partners and their...
Visa Reconsiderations – a Second Chance
Last year I highlighted a change to the rules around Interim Visas which gave people more opportunities to contest declined visa applications. Since then, we have had increased demand for us to handle reconsideration of a refused visa. Reconsiderations are available...
Relevant legislation, other rules in the immigration context
Legislation is important in the New Zealand immigration context. It is intended to provide a framework for the management of immigration in New Zealand in a way that balances New Zealand’s national interests with international obligations, while protecting New...