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The Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal (IACDT) hears complaints against licensed immigration advisers under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007. Complaints are investigated first by the Immigration Advisers Authority, and only reach the Tribunal if the Registrar refers them. If a complaint is upheld, the Tribunal can caution or censure the adviser, order training, suspend or cancel the licence, bar reapplication for a period, impose a penalty of up to $10,000, and order costs, refunds and compensation.
The Tribunal’s decisions are published, and its stated purpose is protective: the Act exists to protect consumers of immigration advice and New Zealand’s reputation as a migration destination.
If a complaint has been made about you
Anyone can complain to the Authority, free of charge, from anywhere in the world, whatever their immigration status. There are no anonymous complaints, and complaints about a former adviser must be made within two years of the licence ending.
The grounds are broad: negligence, incompetence, incapacity, dishonest or misleading behaviour, and any breach of the Licensed Immigration Advisers Code of Conduct. In practice the Code is the yardstick in most cases, which means the defence usually starts with the Code’s own words and your file.
The stage that matters most is the Authority’s investigation. The Registrar decides whether to close the complaint or refer it to the Tribunal, and a complaint that is closed at that stage is not published. Engaging properly with the investigator, with a complete file and a considered written response, is the cheapest and most effective work in the whole process. Get advice before you respond. We act for advisers nationwide; the Tribunal’s processes are largely in writing, so location is no barrier.
How the process works
- The complaint. Made to the Immigration Advisers Authority. The Registrar assigns an investigator and notifies you.
- The investigation. You respond to the complaint and the investigator’s questions. This is where the matter is most often resolved.
- The Registrar decides. Either the complaint is closed, or it is referred to the Tribunal. A complainant can appeal a closure decision to the Tribunal, so a closed complaint can occasionally revive.
- The Tribunal. The Tribunal determines the complaint, usually on the papers with written submissions. It can dismiss the complaint, uphold it but take no further action, or uphold it and impose sanctions.
- Sanctions and costs. If sanctions are imposed, the Tribunal works from a settled framework: the least restrictive outcome that protects the public, consistent with comparable cases, and proportionate overall.
What is at risk
The full menu: caution or censure; required training or remediation; suspension of the licence; cancellation; an order barring reapplication for a period; a monetary penalty of up to $10,000; costs of the investigation and hearing; refund of fees; and compensation to the complainant or others.
Honest context matters here. The Tribunal has said expressly that cancellation is a sanction of last resort, and its own decisions show mitigation working in practice: penalties reduced for totality where other sanctions already bite, and acknowledgement of wrongdoing and remorse taken into account. The same decisions show the other side: if you plead financial hardship, you must evidence it with documents. Assertions from the bar count for nothing.
Publication is part of the penalty in practice. Decisions are published, and the adviser is usually named, while complainants are commonly protected. Prospective clients search these decisions.
The first week
- Do not respond to the Authority before taking advice. Your first response frames the investigation, and anything you write can be quoted back to you at the Tribunal.
- Assemble the complete client file now. File notes, the written agreement, invoices, correspondence, and lodgement records. Code of Conduct complaints are won and lost on the file.
- Check your professional indemnity position and notify your insurer if you have cover, before responding.
- Do not contact the complainant to talk them out of it. It rarely works and it can become a fresh allegation.
- Be realistic about timeframes. Investigations take months. Decisions made in week one, good or bad, echo through all of them.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my licence?
Cancellation is a last resort, reserved for the serious end. Most upheld complaints end in lesser sanctions: censure, training, a financial penalty, costs. The realistic goals are to have the complaint closed at the Authority stage, and failing that to fight the characterisation and the sanction.
Are IACDT decisions public? Will I be named?
Decisions are published, and advisers are usually named. The Tribunal can suppress evidence or names where the balance favours privacy, but it weighs that against the public interest in knowing of adviser wrongdoing. Complainants are commonly granted suppression; advisers rarely are.
Can a client complain after I have stopped practising?
Yes. Complaints about a former licensed adviser can be made within two years of the licence ending, so giving up your licence does not close the window.
Who pays the costs?
If the complaint is upheld, the Tribunal can order you to pay the costs of the investigation, inquiry and hearing, on top of any penalty, refund or compensation. You bear your own defence costs either way.
What if the complaint is really a fee dispute?
The Tribunal can order refunds and compensation, so money is squarely within its jurisdiction. But the disciplinary grounds still have to be made out, and a complaint that is really a commercial disagreement can and should be defended on that basis.
Can I appeal?
Rights of appeal exist against sanctions, and the deadlines are short. If you are sanctioned, take advice immediately so nothing lapses.
How Andy Bell can help
Andy Bell is an employment lawyer at Lane Neave who defends licensed professionals in disciplinary proceedings. For immigration advisers the highest-value work is early and on paper: the response to the Authority’s investigator, the shape of the file, and, if the matter is referred, submissions on liability, sanction and suppression that use the Tribunal’s own framework. The first consultation is free, and confidential.
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This page is general information, not legal advice. Take advice on your own situation before acting.