Immigration advice to staff: Dos and don'ts

Current or prospective migrant employees may turn to small business owners for advice on immigration matters.

“Knowing how you can legally help will not only protect your business and employer reputation, but ultimately assist your employees with their immigration matter,” says Catherine Albiston, Registrar for IAA.

However legally, employers cannot provide New Zealand immigration advice without being licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) or being exempt. Exempt people include New Zealand lawyers and Immigration New Zealand staff.

Immigration advice includes:

• Advising a person on what New Zealand visa they best qualify for.
• How to best answer a question in a visa application form.
• Representing a person to Immigration New Zealand. 

However, you can legally:

• Give information to employees directly from the Immigration New Zealand website or from a visa form.
• Suggest employees contact Immigration New Zealand for help so they can find out what visa they need and complete the application themselves.
• Direct employees to the Immigration Advisers Authority website to locate an adviser.

“If visa applicants are not honest on their form about the help they received, the application may be declined and Immigration New Zealand may refuse future visa applications,” Albiston says.

“Don’t risk not being able to hire the staff you need. Ensure your prospective employees use a licensed immigration adviser if they need immigration advice.”