September 15, 2015 digital edition.pdf

HOMELINK
Immigration officials
scoff at dodgers
Kamil Lakshman
The new Immigration
legislation is causing a
lot of concern.
The number of
persons providing misleading
information to Immigration
New Zealand (INZ) is on the rise
since the commencement of the
Immigration Act 2009.
The legislation has a low
threshold and strict liability test.
This means in the years to
come,many more migrants will
be denied a visa on this basis
because of character concerns.
Increasing denials
The failure to declare that a
previous INZ visa application
was declined can become
one such basis of providing
misleading information. The
current thinking is that failure to
declare a visa refusal constitutes
providing misleading information
as it illustrates a character issue
as a lie is being told.
From a logical and common
sense viewpoint, it is difficult
to fathom how you can mislead
a decision-maker of a decision
that they have already made;
but in the immigration, you can.
Thousands of dollars are spent
through official and judicial time
over such matters.
Memory lapse
It usually comes about,
amongst others, because the
applicant cannot recall the date
and nature of the visa refusal;
or the applicant thought that
INZ was already aware or had
previously mentioned it in an
application; or a third party is
filling the application form and
does not ask the applicant the
question and assumes no visa was
refused; or the applicant does not
realise that a decline residence
constitutes a visa refusal.
These matters in the scheme
of things are arguably trivial,
as it really does not constitute
misleading in the strict sense. At
its best it possibly is a mistaken
belief.
System clogged
Such cases have the potential
of clogging our system, wasting
resources and we are missing out
on potentially good migrants that
deserve a second chance.
These can be avoided if
INZ could do away with this
requirement and develop
in-house systems through its
‘Vision 2020’ platform, which
is an online system, which could
be programmed to load this data
by linking it to a client number.
This preloading avoids
all issues currently being
faced,allowing INZ and the
Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment to concentrate
on more important issues.
Depriving the deserving
What is even more astonishing
is that the current legislation
has the potential of depriving a
person of residence on this basis.
Section 158(1)(b)(ii) of the
Immigration Act 2009 states that:
A residence class visa holder
is liable for deportation if any
of the information provided in
relation to the person’s, or any
other person’s, application,
or purported application, for a
visa on the basis of which the
residence class visa was granted
was fraudulent, forged, false,
or misleading, or any relevant
information was concealed.
The future looks increasingly
bleak. Beware, a small mistake
may potentially cost you and
your family the opportunity to
reside in New Zealand.
A small tweaking of the system
could prevent the despair of many
migrants who are put through this
rigmarole.
It would make more sense for
the system design to be proactive
rather than punitive.
Kamil Lakshman
is a Lawyer & Principal of Wellington based law firm
Idesi Legal Limited. She can be contacted on (04)
4616018 or 021-1598803. Email: kamil.lakshman@
idesilegal.co.nz
Indian Newslink September 15, 2015
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