Immigration advice for your visa application

Immigration advice for your visa application must come from a licensed immigration adviser (LIA), or person who is exempt from being licensed.

The application process

Who can give immigration advice

Anyone can help you fill in your visa application form — but any advice you get on immigration matters must come from someone who is licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) or is exempt.

This could be:

a licensed immigration adviser (LIA), or
someone who is ‘exempt’ and does not need to be licensed, such as a lawyer, diplomat or offshore education agent.

The IAA is responsible for licensing immigration advisers and regulating the advice they give.

Find out more about who can give immigration advice, and the rules they must follow:

Applying on behalf of someone else

Who can give advice — Immigration Advisers Authority

What is ‘advice’?

Advice is any information or assistance a person provides that is tailored to your individual needs and situation, such as:

what type of visa you should apply for
what supporting documents you might need
how you should answer a question in the form
how you should answer any follow-up questions from Immigration New Zealand (INZ)
what type of visa you may be eligible for at a later date.

It does not include help to simply fill in an application form, using details you provide.

It is important to know who is allowed to give you advice, and who is not. Make sure you find an adviser who specialises in what you need.

Finding an adviser

The IAA provides information on who can give you immigration advice, how much it should cost, and any limits on the advice they can give you. For example, offshore education providers can give immigration advice without being licensed but are restricted to advice about student visas.

Who can give advice — Immigration Advisers Authority

Licensed immigration advisers

Before you ask an immigration adviser to help you, check the IAA register to make sure the person has a current licence.

Licensed immigration advisers must meet competency standards and follow a Code of Conduct set by the IAA.

If you have any difficulty finding a licensed immigration adviser, or you want to complain about one, you can contact the IAA directly.

Alert

If an adviser named in an application does not appear on the register of immigration advisers and is not exempt, INZ will return the application. We will also contact the IAA, because if someone provides immigration advice when they are neither licensed or exempt, they are committing an offence.

Find out more about licensed immigration advisers and the standards they must meet on the IAA website:

Code of Conduct — Immigration Advisers Authority

Competency standards — Immigration Advisers Authority

Advisers who do not need to be licensed

Some people have a job or responsibility that means they do not need to be licensed to give immigration advice.

Overseas, this includes:

education agents who are permitted to give immigration advice about student visas
employees of the New Zealand Government who provide immigration advice as part of their job
foreign diplomats and consular staff.

In New Zealand, this includes:

lawyers with a current certificate to practise
Members of Parliament and staff who provide immigration advice as part of their job
government employees who give immigration advice as part of their jobs
volunteers at Community Law and the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

Find out more about advisers who do not need a licence:

Who can give advice — Immigration Advisers Authority

Advice must come from valid experts

The Law Society website can help you find a lawyer or legal firm, or check that your existing lawyer has a current certificate to practise in New Zealand.

Find a lawyer — New Zealand Law Society

Information we can share with your adviser or lawyer

The INZ Customer Service Centre and Privacy Team can provide visa information to your immigration adviser or lawyer, when they request it.

Requests for visa information

Your licensed immigration adviser (LIA) or lawyer can ask us for information about you, and the visas you have been given or have applied for, by:

calling our Customer Service Centre, or
sending our Privacy Team a written request.

Before they are given any information, they must confirm that:

they are representing you, the visa applicant
their professional details are listed on the IAA or Law Society websites.

New Zealand Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA)

The New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa (NZLS)

Note

You can request to see or change the information we hold about you, or make a change to the personal details on an application.

Request or change your personal information

The types of information we can share

We can share with your LIA or lawyer details about:

the visa you currently hold
applications you have completed
your previous visas
the processing of any current applications
medical examinations you have had
police certificates you have provided
your travel movements
word-for-word (verbatim) copies of any file notes
how to contact INZ staff who are dealing with your application.

Find out in more detail the information we can provide to your LIA and lawyer, when they ask for it:

Information we can share with LIAs and lawyers

If you want to complete a visa application yourself

You can find the visa you need and complete your visa application yourself, using this website.

Each visa type has an application form and a guide to help you. We recommend that you read the guide carefully before filling in the application form.

If you have any problems completing the application, you can contact us for help.

Find and choose a visa