www.lianz.

org

02/12/2015

Ms. Catherine Albiston
Registrar of Immigration Advisers
Immigration Advisers Authority
Level 2, 52 Symonds Street,
Auckland, New Zealand

Representation from Licensed Immigration Advisers in India

Dear Ms. Albiston,

On behalf of LIANZ, I thank you for the opportunity to bring to your kind
attention the problems of LIAs operating in India.

This document outlines our plight at the hands of other government agencies
including Education New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand and we seek
your timely intervention into the matters highlighted in this representation, so
that the sanctity of the licensing regime is upheld and accountability comes into
play in the sensitive markets like India.

Your intervention and help will go a long way in achieving the objectives of the
Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007, i.e. protecting the prospective
immigrants and upholding the reputation of New Zealand as a migration
destination.

About LIANZ:

Licensed Immigration Advisers for New Zealand (LIANZ) is an association of all
the advisers based in India, who are licensed by Immigration Advisers Authority,
under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007.

LIANZ has been formed to make formal representations to IAA, INZ, ENZ and
other stakeholders of the New Zealand Immigration industry. In addition, LIANZ
intends to contribute constructively to the industry by providing various
approved CPD opportunities in India for its members.

As of now, we are 24 members and the bearer of this memorandum – Mr. Munish
Sekhri, is nominated as the spokesperson of LIANZ and is authorized by the
members to make a submission to IAA and INZ on behalf of LIANZ.

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Background to our problems:

India is an important market for New Zealand, as it brings thousands of full fee
paying international students to New Zealand, many of who decide to work here
and settle in this beautiful country. India is primarily a “migrant’s market”.
However, the last few months have seen a dramatic increase in international
students from India coming to New Zealand. This has resulted in situations that
have adversely affected the reputation of New Zealand as study or migration
destination.

ENZ and INZ have identified that a vast majority of these students had poor
immigration advice in India, where a large network of unlicensed immigration
advisers sell them a dream of settling in New Zealand and earn commissions
from New Zealand based institutions. These commissions range from 15% to
40% of the 1st year’s tuition fee. Universities and most of the ITPs offer
commissions at the lower end of this scale and a majority of PTEs offer
commissions towards the higher end of the scale and also make many “other
types of payments” to the agents in India in the garb of “marketing budget”.

In free and democratic economies of India and New Zealand, this is not a crime,
but, in the absence of any regulations in place and motivated by high commission
structure, the unlicensed advisers are playing with the careers and lives of
thousands of students who are landing in New Zealand, just to see their dreams
shattered and tarnishing the image of New Zealand Inc.

In New Zealand, Immigration Advisers Authority regulates the immigration
advisers, both onshore and offshore. In India, there are less than 30 LIAs at
present who are regulated by New Zealand legislation and are lawfully serving to
achieve the objectives of the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007.

However, INZ Mumbai deals with around 1200 agents, including the LIAs. But,
according to the information from Government of Punjab, there are more than
10,000 agents or visa consultants operating in Punjab only, i.e. 1 state of India.

LIAs in India are trying their best to uphold the reputation of New Zealand as
a good study destination as well as bringing in migrants from India under
SMC and Investment policies of INZ. But, are not being given their due
recognition as a trusted partner by government agencies like ENZ and INZ.

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LIANZ, by this memorandum, intends to draw the attention of IAA to the
situation of LIAs in India and we would also take this opportunity to put forth
our suggestions as to how IAA can intervene and help balance the immigration
equation in a fair and lawful manner.

The Representation:

1. Part 1 of the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 provides for the
regulation of immigration advisers. Section 3 of the act defines Purpose and
scheme of Act:

“The purpose of this Act is to promote and protect the interests of consumers
receiving immigration advice, and to enhance the reputation of New Zealand as a
migration destination, by providing for the regulation of persons who give
immigration advice.”

2. India is a market full of potential migrants. Some qualify under the Skilled
Migration Category, some apply as investors or entrepreneurs, and many of them
travel to New Zealand to be reunited with their families. But, the majority of the
people use the pathway of “Study to Settlement” in New Zealand.

3. The investors and skilled migrants are a group who are well educated and well
traveled; they don’t really need much protection against immigration fraud as
they make their decisions after due diligence. The most vulnerable are the
international students going to study in New Zealand, as they are the ones
inviting their partners or family to New Zealand and are the largest group of
potential immigrants to New Zealand. They need to be protected against the
immigration frauds; they need to use the services of LIAs.

4. Being a high-value market, India is also a high-risk market; particularly the
Northern states of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, but
the migrants come from all other states of India as well.

5. Punjab & Haryana contribute the highest number of student visa applications
and also, unfortunately, the highest number of immigration fraud is originating
from these areas. This has tarnished the image of genuine applicants residing in
these areas and in effect, also the reputation of New Zealand as an immigration
destination.

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6. Despite the fact that immigration advice constitutes advising on any visa-
related matter; offshore student visa agents/advisers are exempt from licensing,
whereas all onshore advisers in New Zealand need to be licensed.

7. Unlicensed agents in India are abusing this exemption and many a times, IAA
and INZ have been told about it, with evidence, but no action has been taken
against these unlicensed advisers. This raises a question in the minds of the LIAs
in India - what is the real need for us to apply or renew our licenses when we can
get away by doing anything in India. Unlicensed advisers are blatantly
advertising the services, which otherwise only LIAs can provide, but there is no
action against them.

8. The points above make us go back to point no 1 and introspect – are the students
really protected - has the Act really achieved its purpose?

9. The majority of the LIAs in India started out as student visa advisers and then,
on recommendations from various NZ Agencies, made the effort to be licensed,
to add value to their student visa consultancies. We suggest that unlicensed
student visa advisers in India be instructed to hold Limited Licenses for the
purpose of student visas only with a strict provision that they do not advise on
any other type of visa. Applications received from student advisers who do not
have a Limited License should be returned by INZ.

10. ENZ, the crown agency entrusted to promote the export of NZ education
recognizes certain agencies in India as ENZRA. The criteria of such a selection
were never made public. Now, ENZ says that ENZRA is a program under review,
but the ENZRA members continue to advertise their credentials and are dealing
with all types of visa applications, just by flaunting the ‘silver fern’ given to them
by ENZ.

11. ENZ runs an agent training online and anybody can click through it and be
certified as “ENZ trained agent”. This has created a huge number of “certified”
agents in India market, who are providing advice in all areas of immigration and
are befooling people with their “Certificate from ENZ”.

12. Do these ENZRA members or “Trained Agents” have any code of conduct to
follow or do they have to just generate numbers for ENZ? We as LIAs have to
follow the code of conduct, need to maintain written contracts and records and
are auditable/accountable for our actions. Are the unlicensed agents accountable
to anyone?

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13. INZ, in its official communication to the education providers in New Zealand
in June 2015 has conveyed that in the India market – LIAs and ENZRA should have
more “skin in the game”, so that accountability can be brought to this industry.
When contacted at various occasions, ENZ refuses to recognize the LIAs as any
stakeholders in the education industry. This has motivated the education providers
to focus their budget and energy on non-LIAs, who generate numbers for them.

Our requests / demands / suggestions:

IAA needs to intervene urgently to help us by getting ENZ and INZ to recognize
us a important part of the equation of the immigration industry.

1. We the LIAs, members of LIANZ, demand to be recognized by ENZ and INZ as
valuable regulated professionals, who play a vital role to carry out the purpose of
the Act. ENZ and INZ need a refresher course to understand that LIAs are bound
by a stringent code of conduct and have professional responsibilities towards the
students and anyone else applying for a visa for New Zealand. Student visa
applications lodged by LIAs should be processed on face value, because LIAs
have their “skin in the game” and are accountable for the actions, in contrast to
the unlicensed advisers.

2. On the lines of LIA Support provided by INZ Henderson branch, we demand a
dedicated contact point for all LIAs at INZ offices in Delhi and Mumbai.

3. IAA must make it mandatory for offshore student visa advisers to have a
Limited Licensed as mentioned above.

4. ENZ must provide marketing support to LIAs to promote New Zealand
education sector in an organized manner, at least at par with the support given
to current ENZRA members.

5. IAA and ENZ together should earmark some funds for creating awareness
among the masses as to why they should take the services of the LIAs. We, the
members of LIANZ are willing to make a financial contribution to run such
campaigns in India, if IAA and ENZ also contribute. ENZ as of now spends a big
budget on promoting its ENZRA members in India.

6. Many education providers have approached LIANZ and have expressed their
desire to work exclusively with LIAs, only if INZ and ENZ recognize the value of
doing so.

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7. We demand that the legislation should be brought to regulate the amount of
commissions being paid for recruiting international students.

8. We would like to invite the registrar of IAA to India to experience the market
first hand. We suggest that a meeting should be held in India jointly with LIAs
and representatives of ENZ, INZ and IAA so that these matters can be discussed
at length and that the shroud of secrecy regarding such policies is lifted and our
concerns are suitably resolved.

9. We believe that a solution will result in a much higher quality of students and
immigrants for New Zealand, a country which we all love, admire and respect.

We hope that IAA will understand that we are not making any unreasonable
demands or requests. This representation is being made for betterment of our
industry and for all the values that you and us stand for. We hope that you will
work closely with ENZ and INZ to strengthen and promote us, the LIAs and
together we will meet the objective of the Act that is the reason for our existence.

We will be more than happy to provide you with further information and look
forward to opening of a dialogue with you and the other stakeholders of the
industry.

Yours truly,



Munish Sekhri
Spokesperson for LIANZ

munish@sekhriacademy.com
NZ: +64-220-866-936
India: +91-97799-07951