Immigration To New Zealand

The New Zealand Government’s immigration policy is designed to attract desirable individuals from overseas to help New Zealand built its society and grow its economy. However, due to the ever-changing needs of the country’s economy, New Zealand’s immigration rules also change frequently in line with the needs of the economy.

While the New Zealand Government welcomes applications for New Zealand residence and provides comprehensive information about the rules and application criteria, all applications are also considered strictly against these criteria. It’s important to note that Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) operational manual that deals with the immigration policy is over 1000 pages long. In other words, the policy and its rules are complex!

Remember, no two residence applications are the same. When it comes to moving to a new country, every individual case is unique and your application may have a better chance of success under one visa category than another.

The key with applications for residence lies in applying for the right visa category for your unique situation and in presenting your application properly to INZ. Immigration officers tend to favour applications that have been completed right first time. They naturally prefer not to have to engage in convoluted correspondence with an applicant to get information or supporting documents that should have been included with the submission to begin with. When it comes to a residency application, you really only have one chance to file a correct and compliant application.

Immigrating to New Zealand? You have two options when applying for residency

There are two options open to you when it comes to applying for permanent residence in New Zealand:

• You can submit and process your own application directly with Immigration New Zealand (INZ) under either the skilled migrant visa category, or under one of the business visa categories, or under the family unification visa category.
• Or you can take advantage of the expert advice that is available by instructing an immigration lawyer to assess your options and help you successfully negotiate the application process according to the relevant visa category.

While INZ will provide you with all the information you need to submit your own application, they will not help you interpret the rules correctly or provide you with personalised advice in terms of your particular circumstances or the best way to go about achieving residency in light of your unique circumstances.

Getting the application wrong can make all the difference between success and rejection. Expert advice from a qualified immigration consultant to help you tailor your application to the immigration rules and deal with any potential issues that arise during the process will make all the difference.

Your immigration lawyer not only keeps up to date with the ever-changing immigration policy and its rules but, as a qualified legal professional, understands INZ’s regulations and procedures in sufficient detail to ensure you submit a complete application for the right visa category. Your immigration lawyer will also effectively monitor the progress of your application.

While moving from one’s home country to a new one is exciting, it’s often also a difficult, even stressful process. Having someone to guide and help you expertly through the complicated ‘paperwork’ will go a long way to reduce the levels of stress.

Ian Mellett and members of the Quay Law team have immigrated to New Zealand themselves. They’ve had personal experience of the immigration process, so they understand what it’s like to be a prospective immigrant.