Immigration Law

Licensed immigration advisors (LIA) are professionals in NZ immigration law. All LIAs must be licensed and most are also qualified. An LIA does the same job as a specialist immigration lawyer, the main difference being that the LIA qualification is much more detailed than the single immigration paper that law students study at university, and LIAs practice only immigration law, not other areas of law as lawyers can do.

As professionals in immigration law, LIAs must maintain high standards and show an absolute comittment to client care and competency at all times. As dedicated professionals, only dealing with immigration law, a LIA's level of experience and knowledge of immigration is usually very high. This is important because immigration law in NZ changes often and we need to stay up to date at all times to keep doing a good job. 

Lawyer or licensed immigration adviser

Lawyer's will choose an area in law to specialise in which could be anything from criminal law, family law, tax, land, tort, immigration and so on. The LLB degree covers a wide range of law in the 4 year duration of the degree, but does not focus on one area to the extent that the GDNZIA or CGNZIA does. The GDNZIA is a 120 credit 1 year full time course, while the only paper offered for the LLB is a half year 15 point paper. Half of the LLB immigration law paper is also on refugee law, which while interesting and relevant, does not actually make up most of the work we do.

We are often asked what is the difference and which is better, but we do not believe this is necessarily the right question to be asking. It depends what you need and it depends on the lawyer or advisor. In general it would be accurate to say that the average LIA would be much more competent with immigration and visa applications, and general immigration matters than your average lawyer. But a good LIA should also be about the same as a good immigration lawyer. In the end, the best professional for immigration is ususally dependent on experience, knowledge and skill with immigration matters, regardless of whether they are a lawyer or a LIA.

Why you should use a professional

The New Zealand authorities do not usually require that people use a lawyer for most legal work as long as it is done for themselves. So if you have to go to court to defend yourself after being charged with an offense, in most cases you are not actually required to engage a lawyer to represent you. All of us know that if you care about the result (i.e. don't want to go to jail) then it makes sense to get professional legal representation. The same applies with immigration in New Zealand as well. 

Using a professional protects you from potential fraud and risk that mistakes may prevent you from gaining residence in the future. The costs for professional fees are also less than if you have to make multiple applications or even need to leave NZ because your application was not managed properly.