Woman's Indian husband has visa declined four times: 'We've tried everything' New Zealand woman may never get to live with her Indian husband, after his visa to New Zealand was declined four times. Indian man Inamul Haque met his wife Sofia Ali Malik, a New Zealand citizen, in September 2015 on Facebook. Ms Malik said they began talking about their family connections to India, fell in love, and Mr Haque decided to come to New Zealand. He applied for a culturally arranged marriage visitors visa, which allows someone to marry a New Zealand citizen within three months of arrival, then apply for a 12 month work visa after living together. Immigration New Zealand's director of operations for visa services Peter Elms said there were about 200 applications each year, and only a third got through. "We are quite cautious about assessing those applications, and the staff that do assess those applications are very familiar with the cultural arrangements in place, so that they're able to satisfy themselves that it is a genuine relationship, or a genuine culturally arranged relationship," he said. In Mr Haque and Ms Malik's case, officials didn't believe the marriage was genuine because the pair hadn't lived together. Immigration lawyer said culturally arranged marriage visitor visas were normally given for marriages between families - rather than individuals arranging their own and making their own choice. Mr Haque tried to get a visa again four months later and was declined. The couple married anyway in 2016 in Fiji but Ms Malik returned to Auckland to her office job, and had a miscarriage. A third application - this time for a partnership visa - was rejected. Lawyer said that decision was understandable. "What do you expect to get out of trying to convince Immigration New Zealand that you're in a genuine and stable relationship after only living together for two weeks?" he said. After another trip to Fiji to be with her husband, and another miscarriage, Sofia Malik is back in Auckland and struggling to get enough work and Inamul Haque has failed to get even a visitors visa. Ms Malik said she was suffering from "extreme stress and anxiety". "I don't have any confidence. They will decline again I know because we've tried everything, visitor's visa, marriages and everything, even a lawyer. They know, they're the professional." Mr Haque was now in Delhi, and Immigration New Zealand said after four rejections it was unlikely he will be granted a visa. To read the actual article, visit here.
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Visitor visa holders may apply for a variation of conditions to undertake seasonal work in the Tasman region after the Ministry of Social Development declared a seasonal labour shortage. As a result of the declared labour shortage, visitor visa holders (including those from visa waiver countries) may apply for a variation of conditions which will enable them to undertake seasonal work for up to six weeks in the Tasman region. Seasonal work includes planting, maintaining, harvesting and picking crops in the horticulture or viticulture industries. Applications for variations of conditions should be made on the paper application form 'INZ 1020 Application for a variation of conditions'. The fee for a variation of visitor visa conditions is NZ$170. Immigration agents have been caught illegally rubber-stamping bulk applications made by unlicenced advisers overseas. More than a dozen agents, including a former immigration officer, have been hauled in front of its disciplinary panel, which says it has had a series of complaints about the practice. In what the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal described as one of the worst cases of its kind, Wellington adviser Howard Levarko, a former Immigration New Zealand officer, set up a rubber-stamping operation with a recruitment company in Canada. Mr Levarko signed off the company's visa applications as a licensed adviser but was caught when he lied to one of the would-be immigrants, Andrej Stanimirovic, about his knowledge of his case. "I am satisfied Mr Levarko fabricated that information which he provided to Mr Stanimirovic," said the tribunal in its decision. "The fabrication was intended to deceive Mr Stanimirovic and cause him to believe that Mr Levarko had his immigration affairs in hand, whereas in fact he had no knowledge of them. "The behaviour was dishonest and misleading. It occurred in the context of an illegal rubber-stamping operation and the gravity of the dishonesty is to be measured against that background. "For the reasons discussed, rubber-stamping is a criminal offence under the legislation that gives Mr Levarko the status of being a licensed immigration adviser." Mr Stanimirovic eventually arrived in New Zealand on a visitor visa, and was turned around on arrival as border officials suspected he was not a tourist and was instead looking for a job. "The provision of the necessary immigration services in the manner required by the Act and the 2014 Code would have ensured that Mr Stanimirovic could have made an informed decision whether to come to New Zealand, and if so entered New Zealand under the relevant policy," the tribunal found. It said he "disparage New Zealand's immigration system as part of the deception to hide his own unprofessional actions," saying he or the Canadian company made "hundreds and hundreds" of applications and the New Zealand embassy in Washington provided poor customer services. Mr Levarko said the immigrants were not his clients and he did not provide them with immigration advice. He said that he consulted the New Zealand Immigration Advisers Authority which confirmed the arrangements he was entering into with the Canadian company were appropriate and complied with all immigration laws and rules. The tribunal can impose fines or licence sanctions for the breach. It has previously dealt with similar operations set up between New Zealand advisers and the Philippines and Australia. It has also stamped down on unlicensed people providing services at New Zealand immigration practices where a colleague with a licence has signed off their work. To read the actual article, visit here |
AuthorImmigration Trust Team Archives
January 2025
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