Visa Word Salad

I was listening to the radio earlier in the week (NewstalkZB) which is part of my usual morning ritual on the commute to work and on this morning a recruitment specialist was being interviewed in relation to the labour market situation in New Zealand as well as ongoing skill shortages in specific areas. Naturally that discussion turned to immigration at which point I started paying more attention.

Usually these conversations tend to focus on numbers and the more general state of affairs when it comes to people crossing the border, but in this instance, the conversation turned to how complex our rules are and do they need to be that way. Being the only one in the car, I announced quite loudly (to myself) - “Damn straight!”. Our immigration rules are complicated and that complication brings about a number of issues and unintended consequences.

I might add here that most countries have complicated visa rules, which is probably not news to anyone, however our rules are complicated because they are often layered on top of each other, with new rules, trying to patch up holes in old rules. They have also, in recent years, been rushed to market, meaning that they are less concise, often written ambiguously and usually lead to misinterpretation by applicants and also case officers.

During this radio interview, the recruitment agent commented that you almost need a Master’s degree to be able to keep up with visa rules and all the various changes and she is not wrong. I would go so far as to suggest that the equivalent qualification required to fully understand our immigration rules might be a PhD in quantum physics.

Its All In The Interpretation

To illustrate how easy it is for the rules to be misinterpreted, I can give you a very relevant and recent example. There is a set of rules for people who happen to be here on a Migrant Exploitation Visa, rules that refer to what an applicant needs to do, in order to secure a further one of these Visas. One of the requirements for the grant of that further visa is that the applicant has tried to find work here over a specific period of time, written like this “having made at least two attempts to seek employment throughout a period of four months or more”.

Translating the Rules

New Zealand’s immigration rules are complex, layered and often misunderstood, but both applicants and immigration officers alike.

Now to most people, including a number of advisers and applicants, debating this issue, the simple version of this, is that you need to have tried to find a new job, at least twice over a period of at least four months on the first Visa you held. Makes sense, given the intent of these rules (and these Visas) is to give people an opportunity to find a new job and move to a different type or Work Visa. If they can’t or dont bother then ultimately they need to leave. INZ’s take on this however was far more specific. They interpreted this to mean that the two attempts to find work, must have happened in the first and fourth month specifically. So, for example, if an applicant looked for a job in month one, and then month three, but did nothing else, they failed that test.

Technically, that interpretation could be seen as correct, however from a common sense, plain language perspective, it is completely bonkers. Equally how an applicant, many of which hold English as a second language, are supposed to know that’s how INZ views it is equally as ludricous.

INZ however stood firm on that view, stating that managers, technical advisers, officers and everyone in between all agreed that their understanding was the right one. Until of course it wasn’t.

A couple of weeks after having this rather strange interpretation pointed out to them, they then backed down, agreeing it was ambiguous and that people could indeed spread those two job search attempts over four months, in any which way they wanted to. Great news for applicants now, but not so great for all those applicants who might been denied a Visa previously because INZ saw things in a different way.

Remember that immigration rules, in the New Zealand context at least, are essentially a guide to officers and INZ itself as to how to process a visa and so for more vague or ambiguous sections of the rule book, it will ultimately boil down to how each individual word is interpreted and not always with the right amount of common sense being applied.

Check The Fine Print

Logically most applicants will want to try and minimise their costs and inevitably that leads to the ‘DIY’ approach to the visa process. How hard can it be right? Everything is online, the rules are all there and there are even handy guides, provided by INZ along with forms that even have instructions and guidance written on them.

The Devil in the Detail

You can find different versions of the rules, on INZ forms, websites, and then of course within the rule book. They often aren’t the same thing.

The problem with all of that however is that what you read on the INZ website, will differ to what might be added to the form, which will differ again to what is required under the instructions. Remember, the instructions are written as guidance to case officers to decide an application, websites and forms are written as guidance for applicants seeking to apply. Those two things use very different language, context and perspectives. So as you fill out the form, thinking it all looks pretty straight-forward, what you wont be seeing is the vast volumes of rules and criteria that sit directly behind those forms and guides. Think of the form as as the tip of the iceberg and the rules is the bit underneath the water. You don’t always see the enormous problem under the surface that might ultimately put a hole in your boat.

Speaking from experience, INZ’s online forms almost feel like they were stuck together with sellotape and as each new set of rules is released, the forms are updated to take account of those changes, however in many cases questions on the form that should be changed or removed just stay there. Applicants can often be submitting documents they don’t need to submit or worse, leaving things out that they do.

INZ’s website is designed to attract migrants and essentially sell this wonderful country to the world. However at the other end of their machinery are officers who believe they are there to protect New Zealand from the oncoming waves of migrant hopefuls. Those two things are obviously at odds with each other and so the website and the forms are going to be sending quite a different (simplified) message to the applicant, without necessarily explaining all the details.

It is also useful to know that as an adviser, it is my job to understand as many of the rules as possible, so I can assist people in varying situations - whether it be a Work Visa or Residence, partnership or investor, I am trained to understand and be able to interpret all of those different criteria. Most INZ case officers, know only one visa type - the one they are employed to process. If they are then sent off to process a different visa type, its like asking the bus driver to now fly charter helicopters - you better buckle up tight.

The message here is that the details, which drive and govern the success of your application are not always obviously and certainly not that clear when you jump online and in many cases it is those details that catch people out.

Simplicity Is Key

Whilst there is no way to have the perfect set of rules (they will always be a bit messy and hard to understand), we could do a lot to make the existing hodge-podge of rules that we do have a lot easier to understand. One of the reasons they are so confusing is down to the fact that successive Governments have simply layered new rules on top of old rules, on top of even older rules. This means that between the layers there are gaps and those gaps lead to unintended consequences.

The more complicated rules are, the easier it is for both officers and applicants to misinterpret them and as we have seen, this can happen very easily. In most cases these lead to delays or confusion, but in other situations, they can lead to disaster. Understanding the subtleties of these rules, how they are interpreted and ultimately being able to challenge those interpretations if they defy common sense is all part of the art and science a good licensed adviser can bring to the process.

So if you fancy your visa being a little more garden salad and a little less niçoise, then perhaps consider engaging someone who is able to wade through the interpretations, rules and processes for you.

Until next week!