COMPLEX SOLUTIONS
Sometimes a visa application will encounter difficulties for various reasons. Perhaps there are concerns about your employment or your employer, your health or character, or something else makes your application more complex. If so, it is vital that your case is presented properly to Immigration New Zealand with regard to the surrounding legal circumstances. We can help with this.
When applying for a New Zealand visa, the onus lies on the applicant to present the strongest case with relevant evidence to support their application. If the application is not correctly prepared, then it might affect the end result of the application. Our specialist team is made up of legally trained professionals who are capable to provide legal assistance to all aspects of immigration law, including difficult cases or appeals. We understand each situation is different and our advice reflects this. Our knowledge and the depth of our industry experience allows us to predict and pre-empt issues you may have.
If your visa application to visit, enter or stay in Australia is refused, you should get expert advice immediately as to your legal rights and your chance to apply for a reconsideration. This is because if your decision is reviewable, it is critical that you act fast to be advised necessary steps to lodge your reconsideration request. The right for reconsideration expires after 14 calendar days after you received the decline decision. Further, if you let your visa expired without considering your appeal option, you can effectively become unlawful and be prevented from making another application in New Zealand.
Before proceeding with the reconsideration request, we will make sure you understand the reasons for the refusal and what evidence you will require to convince the decision maker that the matter should be reversed.
Whether you are wishing to migrate to New Zealand or simply wishing to visit temporarily, having a character concern may turn problematic in your visa application. Having a criminal record or a character issue does not necessarily mean that an application will be refused. However, applicants who have been convicted of a criminal offence or have been deliberately dishonest, or have breached conditions of their visas, etc are unlikely to be considered of good character.
It is in best practice that you come to us from the beginning so that we can present a full picture of your case to Immigration New Zealand, as well as assessing the chance to obtain a character waiver. If you come to us at the stage where a Potentially Prejudicial Information Letter (PPI Letter) has been issued, we are still able to help. However, the chance to secure a character waiver will be lower, depending on whether you have been honest with INZ about your convictions, or whether
In case that you are currently in New Zealand but are under investigation for an criminal offence, we offer professional opinions as to consequences of conviction to your immigration status and whether you have a chance to apply for a discharge without conviction. This opinion could be served as a legal affidavit supporting your case before the District Court/High Court.
In case that you are overseas but have previously excluded from New Zealand, you are likely to be considered as being ineligible for a visa. If this is a case, the available option is to submit a request for Special Direction from the Minister of Immigration. Unfortunately, this process is complex and requires significant time investment. Our specialist team will assess and provide you an honest answer on your circumstances and reasons on whether it is worthwhile to try or not try this legal revenue.
Similar to the character requirements, having a chronic or severe medical issue may turn problematic in your visa application. In assessing whether your health satisfies Immigration Instructions, INZ will primarily consider whether you are likely to be a danger to public health; and whether you are likely to impose significant costs or demands on New Zealand’s health services during their period of intended stay in New Zealand; and
Many common medical issues that we are experienced in dealing with and requesting a Medical Waiver include Cardiac diseases, Hepatitis B & C, manic depression and other disorders, etc. Depending on the complexity of your case, we could recommend you obtaining further specialist medical reports or requesting for ab assessment of a Medical Waiver from the beginning, in which we will address your immigration history, your medical background, why you should be considered for a medical waiver with reference to relevant domestic and international laws and regulations.
Overstaying your permitted time can be a serious matter. If so, you have seriously breached New Zealand immigration laws and have become liable for deportation. The longer you stay after your visa expires, the greater the risk you run of being physically detained or deported and of being banned from any kind of visas to New Zealand in the future.
The primary legal option to rectify your unlawful status is to submit a request for grant of a visa under Section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009. A request under Section 61 is very different to normal visa applications. A person who is unlawful does not have the right to apply for a visa, but they might have an option to apply for a visa under section 61 which are normally only granted in compelling cases. This means that INZ do not have consider a section 61 request, and even if the request is considered, INZ might still refuse the visa without the need to provide any reasons.
You might be able to appeal against your deportation liability, depending on your circumstances and the time the liability arose. Options for you in this situation include Appealing to Request for Cancelling the Deportation Liability or Appealing at the Immigration and Protection Tribunal on special humanitarian grounds.
The chances of success in Section 61 Request or with the Immigration & Protection Tribunal can vary greatly depending on your visa history, the reasons that your visa has been refused, and your personal circumstances. Our specialist team with legal/law background will analyse your case and provide effective persuasive arguments in our legal submission on your behalf.
APPEAL TO THE MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION
In limited circumstances, it is possible to seek Ministerial Intervention if your legal revenues seem to be exhausted. An appeal to the Minister of Immigration is essentially one last opportunity to have your voice heard, also is the highest steps in the appeal process, therefore, it is highly important that
We will request a full privacy file of your case and make a careful review of your situation. Following this comprehensive review, we will advise whether your case has a chance at the Minister of Immigration.
Whilst the Minister, in some particular cases, might offer favourable decisions, it is important to note that:
- The Minister will refuse to consider the case if other appeal avenues with Immigration New Zealand are still available. All applications for visas must be made in the first instance to Immigration New Zealand.
- The Minister will refuse to intervene in your case if poor submissions and evidence are provided to support the case. The Minister’s decision is a binding decision. This decision cannot be reviewed or appealed.
- A request to the Minister does not prevent normal immigration procedures applying to an applicant. If the applicant is liable for deportation under the Immigration Act, any deportation action will not be circumvented simply because his/her request to the Minister has been submitted.
COMPLAINT TO INZ’S CENTRAL FEEDBACK TEAM
If INZ does not provide a satisfaction of reason why your visa gets declined, or if you believe that INZ has not processed your application properly or might have treated you in an inappropriate manner, we can review your application and present you on the process of lodging a formal complaint against INZ. Following the complaint, INZ might refuse or accept the complaint, diverse the application to a new case officer for reprocessing, or overturn the previous decline decision and grant a corresponding visa.
COMPLAINT TO THE OMBUDSMAN
If INZ does not provide a satisfactory response over the Complaints and Feedback Process, a complaint can be made to the Ombudsman, a delegated government department which handles complaints and investigates the administrative conduct of state sector agencies.
Depending on the context of the complaint, we can request the Ombudsman to investigate:
Decisions made by INZ on
- Temporary entry (including visitor, work, student and limited visas)
- Whether to accept an expression of interest to apply for residence
- Section 61 and interim visa requests
- Special directions
- Cancellation of temporary entry class visas
Administrative procedural issues
Including procedural issues relating to deportation and the processing of residence and refugee status applications before any decision is made
- Refusal to accept an application for lodgement
- Failure to provide the applicant a chance to respond to INZ’s concerns
- Failure to assess the application in a fair and justifiable manner
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