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Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007

Regulation of immigration advisers - Offences

63: Offence to provide immigration advice unless licensed or exempt

You could also call this:

“You can only help with immigration if you have permission or don't need it”

You are not allowed to give immigration advice unless you have a licence or are exempt from needing one. If you do this knowingly, you are breaking the law. You are considered to know about this rule if someone from the authority told you about it in writing within the last year.

If you give immigration advice without a licence or exemption, even if you didn’t know you needed one, you are still breaking the law. However, you can defend yourself if you can show that you didn’t know you were giving immigration advice and you tried really hard to make sure you weren’t. You can also defend yourself if you didn’t know you needed a licence and you did everything you could to check if you had one.

If you knowingly break this law, you could go to jail for up to 7 years or pay a fine of up to $100,000, or both. You might also have to pay extra money decided by the court.

If you break this law without knowing, you could still be fined up to $100,000 and might have to pay extra money decided by the court.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM407372.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law Immigration and citizenship > Visas Immigration and citizenship > Becoming a citizen Business > Industry rules
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62: Conditions of authorisation, or

"Rules for inspectors who check immigration advisers"

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64: Offence of holding out as immigration adviser unless licensed or exempt, or

"You can't say someone gives immigration advice if they're not allowed to"

Part 1 Regulation of immigration advisers
Offences

63Offence to provide immigration advice unless licensed or exempt

  1. A person commits an offence if the person—

  2. provides immigration advice without being licensed to do so under this Act or exempt from the requirement to be so licensed, knowing that he or she is required to be licensed or exempt; or
    1. provides immigration advice without being licensed to do so under this Act or exempt from the requirement to be so licensed.

      1. For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a person is deemed to know that he or she is required to be licensed or exempt if, at any time within the 12 months preceding the date of the alleged offence, that person had been informed of that fact in writing by the Registrar or a person appointed to the Authority.

      2. It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1)(b) that the person to whom the charge relates—

      3. did not know that he or she was providing immigration advice and had exercised all reasonable care and due diligence to ensure he or she did not provide immigration advice; or
        1. did not know that he or she was not licensed to provide immigration advice and had exercised all reasonable care and due diligence to ensure that he or she did have a licence.

          1. A person convicted of an offence under subsection (1)(a) is liable to—

          2. imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or a fine not exceeding $100,000, or both; and
            1. any additional amount imposed by the court under section 71 or 72.

              1. A person convicted of an offence under subsection (1)(b) is liable to—

              2. a fine not exceeding $100,000; and
                1. any additional amount imposed by the court under section 71 or 72.