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Immigration Act 2009

Repeals, transitional provisions, saving provisions, and related matters - Transitional and savings provisions - Offences, evidence, and classified information

457: Evidence in proceedings

You could also call this:

“How immigration officers' certificates are used as evidence in immigration cases”

If you’re involved in a case about immigration, either in court or at the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, there’s something important you should know. An immigration officer can write a certificate about a person that talks about certain things. This certificate is treated as proof that what it says is true, unless someone can show it’s not true.

The certificate can include information about things like whether someone has permission to be in New Zealand, if they’ve applied for a visa, or if they’ve been told to leave the country. These are just some examples of what might be in the certificate.

If someone wants to prove the certificate wrong, they need to show evidence that makes it more likely than not that the certificate is incorrect. This is called proving something “on the balance of probabilities”.

Remember, this rule applies to any case about immigration matters under the Immigration Act 2009.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1441413.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Immigration and citizenship > Border control
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 12 Repeals, transitional provisions, saving provisions, and related matters
Transitional and savings provisions: Offences, evidence, and classified information

457Evidence in proceedings

  1. In any proceedings relating to any matter under this Act, whether before the Tribunal or a court, a certificate signed by an immigration officer and containing a statement in relation to any person to the effect of 1 or more of the matters described in section 143(1) of the former Act is deemed to be proof of the truth of the statement, in the absence of proof to the contrary established on the balance of probabilities.