False & Misleading Information
All too often I hear from applicants who have landed themselves in some hot water with Immigration New Zealand (INZ) because they have either failed to declare something or something they declared was in fact not the truth.
INZ treats this stuff pretty seriously and rightly so, and for some applicants it can spell the end of their visa journey…but what happens if you genuinely made a mistake or someone else made that mistake on your behalf?
Providing false or misleading information or failing to update immigration as to a change in circumstances is a pretty serious thing and INZ takes it as seriously with an entire section of the rules devoted to how to deal with it. It also has a habit of sticking around like a bad smell, and if you are caught out once, that will stay with you for each and every application you might need to make.
There are potentially three ways that this problem might arise:
During the course of an application, you provide immigration with information that was false or misleading (either a document or a statement or claim) or you fail to fail to declare information that might be relevant.
You might have failed to update INZ during the course of an application of any materially relevant fact or detail, or a change in circumstances, that could have had an impact on the outcome of that application or your ability to enter NZ (and be granted entry permission) on any visa issued.
Doing the above, in support of someone else’s application for a visa, e.g. providing a fake letter of support or not providing accurate sponsorship information.
I am paraphrasing from the official rules, but the general gist of this section is that if you tell immigration something that isn’t true or fail to tell them something they should be aware of, it can put you in a very precarious position - not one that is easy to get out of.
In my mind there are really two ways this can happen…the first being deliberate and the second being accidental. A deliberate act is where you provide a document that you know to be fake (a forged work reference for example) or you fail to tell immigration a fact or detail that could result in a different outcome (not declaring a conviction etc.). The second way, is generally only when you fail to declare something because you probably didn’t know you had to or didn’t believe it was relevant.
It can be hard for INZ to determine whether something is deliberate or accidental and that makes the quicksand a bit deeper for any applicant stuck in this situation. It is also really important to understand that it doesn’t matter who provided the false or misleading information and whether you knew about it or not, as the responsibility for any application, rests entirely with the applicant.
Am I Doomed?
Well, that really depends on the nature of the issue you are facing. INZ is tasked with assessing the entire set of circumstances and generally will give you an opportunity to comment as well, so for some applicants, it might feel like you have stepped off the edge of a cliff, but in fact there is a parachute available. What INZ will consider is the following:
The significance of the false or misleading information. Was the information relevant to INZ’s decision to grant you a visa or was it peripheral to that decision.
The nature and extent of the applicant’s involvement in providing or withholding that information. Did you provide the information knowingly, or were you reliant on someone else or something else for that information?
The extent to which the applicant tried to provide the correct information to INZ. Did you try to correct the error or update INZ when you knew of the mistake or issue?
When it comes to deliberately providing INZ with false and misleading information (e.g. a fake document), it can be incredibly difficult to explain or justify this and to be fair, I have little sympathy for people who try this tactic. I have been approached by many people wanting my help to unravel this kind of mess and I generally decline to intervene. If you decide to try and get in to this country by pulling a fast one, then you need to wear the consequences.
However there are situations where people have simply misread the rules, made a genuine mistake or just got it wrong. This is really common in cases where someone might have had a previous criminal conviction that has been expunged, not declared this in an application and INZ have found out. The rule book requires you to declare any convictions (even spent or expunged ones) and often people misunderstand this requirement. Immigration rules are complex and it is very easy to do or not do something that ends up with INZ accusing you of providing false and misleading information. Unfortunately, applicants who have made a genuine mistake are lumped together with everyone else and have to try and claw their way back out again.
In cases like this, we do assist and help applicants to explain themselves and their mistakes to INZ. It is often tempting for applicants doing this on their own to blame someone or something else, but the better approach is to just own up and admit the mistake was yours and own it. Approaching something like this can be difficult and technically challenging so its worth seeking out some professional advice.
Prevention - The Best Cure
The best way to avoid this scenario and the stress it can create is to follow some pretty basic rules, when you decide to put forward an application:
Honesty is the best policy - it might be tempting to hold back some details or to tell INZ one thing, when you intend to do another, but the simple fact is this very rarely works and the consequences outweigh any benefits.
If someone is assisting you in the process, make sure they know what they are doing, they are licensed and that they are only providing INZ with the information you provide to them. It is unfortunately common in some circles for unlicensed people (often pretending to be licensed) to charge a fee, to assist with an application, and then to go off an provide INZ with forgeries. If they do that, you are the one who ends up with the problem.
Keep INZ updated - things can and do change during the course of an application and for the most part, these changes will have no bearing on your eligibility - but if in doubt, find out. A change that could have an impact, and isn’t declared can lead to problems later on.
Remember that in most cases, the above “disclosure” rules apply all the way up until you arrive in New Zealand. For example if you are granted a Visa offshore and something changes in terms of health or character (or a number of other possibilities) before you arrive, these things need to be declared, or you might find your stay here to be an incredibly short one.
Never underestimate INZ’s ability to dig for details and even if you think they would never find out about something, chances are they probably already know.
The irony of course, is that in most of the situations, where something has gone wrong and INZ are pointing the finger at the applicant for having lied or been less than truthful, the actual reason for the finger pointing is nowhere near as significant as the fact it wasn’t declared. Usually these issues can be dealt with upfront and INZ is far more sympathetic to clients who disclose the skeletons in their closet, than to those who don’t.
It is also good to remember that even if you managed to deal with this issue once, it will resurface for every subsequent application you make and have to be dealt with each time. It obviously gets a bit easier from the second time onwards, but don’t take being forgiven once, to mean you will be forgiven forever.
If you have made a mistake and that has come back to haunt you, then we can potentially help and we always start by listening to your story, gathering the facts and working through the potential arguments we can put forward to INZ. If we believe that your situation is beyond salvaging, we will also tell you that upfront…to avoid you spending time and money on what will ultimately never work out.
For any applicants, yet to make the move, hopefully the above advice sets you on the right path so you never have to tackle this very stressful situation at all.
Until next week.
