Source: Radio New Zealand
Immigration lawyers Pooja Sundar and Stewart Dalley. Supplied
Lawyers say an in-house immigration complaints process is a toothless tiger for visa applicants.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) received more than 6500 complaints in the last year, down from 9500 in 2019.
Immigration lawyers Pooja Sundar and Stewart Dalley say people who are overseas when they apply are given vague, or no, reasons why their visa has been rejected.
Decisions about temporary visas – such as tourist or family visits – can only be appealed if travellers are already in the country renewing a visa, or changing to a different one.
In those situations, INZ has to provide written reasons, as well as an opportunity before the decision is made to respond to concerns about an application.
It was unfair such a mechanism was not offered to offshore applicants who could instead only access a complaints and feedback process – which does not look at whether the decision was correct, Dalley said.
“I think there should be someone who’s looking at the actual merits of the application more than just the process followed,” he said.
“If there isn’t such a mechanism available, then you’ve got officers who are given so much discretion in their roles with absolutely no oversight, other than just procedural oversight.”
Challenging flawed decisions
“Where the officer knows in the back of the mind that nobody can review this decision, that’s not subject to an appeal, there’s no reconsideration then where’s the incentive to make a proper decision? And how many incorrect decisions are getting made when there’s no oversight?”
When decisions are appealed to the immigration and protection tribunal, more than a third of residence rejections are overturned, he said.
Sundar would like to see officers asking offshore applicants – whose visitor visa fee rose 60 percent a year ago to $341 – for more information if they are unsure about their application, and allowing reconsiderations of decisions.
“I’ve heard stories and I’m aware of situations in which there have been family trying to visit from various parts of the world, come to New Zealand for very specific events, or if they have holidays on their end of the world,” Sundar said.
“And they will have reasons to return [home] and they will have provided this to Immigration New Zealand, but because of potentially where they’re from or because of what immigration assumes with the application itself, they are declined.
“And in that position, the option is to reapply or to make a complaint. But the complaints process isn’t really going to go anywhere. And so the person looks at paying for those flights again, potentially, and paying the visa filing fees again, and going through the process again. And if it’s declined again, then we go back to square one, apply again, or the complaints process.
“A credible system requires transparency, clear reasoning, and a genuine path to challenge flawed decisions.”
Courts had previously ruled that where someone is engaging with New Zealand, the country’s laws apply to them and they were entitled to the rights of natural justice.
But Dalley said the office of the Human Rights Commission cannot investigate immigration-related issues and the only recourse was an expensive judicial review in the High Court.
“So we have excluded this under the Human Rights Act, which seems somewhat ridiculous that we are signing up to an international treaty on human rights but yet we’re going to trample all over them when it comes to our immigration policy settings. There’s something wrong with that.”
Immigration New Zealand [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/332479/immigration-nz-s-complaints-procedure-falls-short-lawyer
reviewed how it dealt with feedback] more than a decade ago and brought in a new system in 2017.
It was criticised for shrinking the scope of what people could complain about – as it could not be about the decision itself.
INZ complaints manager Katy Goodwin said while temporary visa applicants outside of New Zealand do not have a formal right of appeal or reconsideration “immigration officers may reconsider an application if new and compelling information is promptly provided”.
“If someone based overseas has had their temporary visa declined, they should submit a new application with all the correct and required information, answering any concerns that were outstanding from the declined application. If applicants are uncertain on what is required, they should check the requirements for each visa type on the INZ website.”
She said last year’s complaints numbers were at the lowest since the new feedback system started.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
