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THE Government is moving to regulate immigration agents to protect prospective migrants from being ripped off. This would mean the agents being registered, as they are in Australia.
Immigration Minister Paul Swain said most immigration agents acted responsibly and professionally but there were many examples of incompetent and unethical practices.
"These include giving inaccurate advice, theft of money and documents, failure to lodge applications and appeals, failure to pass on information from the NZIS (New
Zealand Immigration Service) to the customer, and knowingly submitting false information or fraudulent documents."
Mr Swain said the move to regulate immigration agents was largely in response to feedback from migrants.
Many immigration agents did not belong to any industry or professional body, he said.
Under the proposal agents would be required to be licensed, and minimum standards would be set.
An independent governing body would be established to administer a code of conduct.
NZIS would be able to refuse applications from unlicensed agents and agents could be penalised for operating illegally.
There would be proper complaint and redress procedures in place to deal with unsatisfactory service.
The Minister said he was keen to include agents operating overseas.
Education recruitment officers who provided immigration advice would be exempt from the regulatory requirements when advising on student visa and permit applications.
Lawyers providing immigration advice,' would also be exempt because there was adequate regulation of their industry.
There was a range of not-for-profit organisations which helped people with immigration applications which the Government also wanted regulated, although the issue of licensing fees needed to be sorted out so they were not discouraged from doing their good work, Mr Swain said.
Officials were working on the details of the proposal, including the cost of registration. They would report to the Cabinet towards the end of the year. Legislation was planned for early next year.