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Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007

Regulation of immigration advisers - Offences

67: Offence of asking for or receiving fee or reward for immigration advice when neither licensed nor exempt

You could also call this:

“You can get in big trouble for charging money for immigration advice if you're not allowed to give it”

You can get in trouble if you ask for or receive money for immigration advice from someone who isn’t allowed to give it. This applies if the person giving advice doesn’t have a licence and isn’t exempt from needing one.

If you knew the person wasn’t allowed to give advice, you could be punished more severely. The law assumes you knew if someone official told you about it in writing within the last year.

If you didn’t know the person was giving immigration advice, or you didn’t know they weren’t allowed to, you might not get in trouble. But you need to show that you were really careful to check these things.

If you knowingly got money for unlicensed advice, you could go to jail for up to 7 years, or pay a fine of up to $100,000, or both. If you didn’t know, you might still have to pay a fine of up to $100,000.

In both cases, you might have to pay extra money on top of the fine. The court decides this extra amount based on sections 71 and 72 of the law.

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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=DLM407376.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas Crime and justice > Criminal law
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66: Offence to provide false or misleading information, or

"You can get in trouble for giving wrong information when applying for a licence"

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68: Offence of employing or contracting unlicensed or non-exempt person as immigration adviser, or

"It's against the law to hire someone as an immigration adviser if they're not allowed to do that job"

Part 1 Regulation of immigration advisers
Offences

67Offence of asking for or receiving fee or reward for immigration advice when neither licensed nor exempt

  1. A person commits an offence who—

  2. asks for or receives a fee or reward for the provision of immigration advice by a person who is neither licensed under this Act to provide immigration advice nor exempt from the requirement to be licensed, knowing that the person is neither licensed nor exempt; or
    1. asks for or receives a fee or reward for the provision of immigration advice by a person who is neither licensed under this Act to provide immigration advice nor exempt from the requirement to be licensed.

      1. For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a person charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a) is deemed to know that the person providing immigration advice was neither licensed nor exempt if, at any time within the 12 months preceding the date of the alleged offence, the person charged 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 immigration advice was being provided and had exercised all reasonable care and due diligence to ensure that such advice was not provided; or
        1. did not know that the person concerned was not licensed to provide immigration advice and had exercised all reasonable care and due diligence to ensure that the person 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.