If you choose to work with a representative, you have two primary options. When weighing up an Immigration Adviser NZ vs Education Agent, it helps to understand exactly what each one can — and cannot — do for your student visa application. (You may also work with a New Zealand lawyer, but this is not as common for student visa applications).

Are LIAs always better than offshore education agents?

No. While it may be beneficial for us to try to convince you of this, we are not interested in spreading misinformation.

There are many excellent and highly reputable education agents available to you in your own country, who are sure to deliver you a high quality of service and positive results. On the other hand, there are also bad LIAs out there, just as there are bad individuals in any profession.

The only thing

Immigration Adviser NZ vs Education Agent: Key Big Differences

There are some clear differences when comparing an immigration adviser NZ vs education agent that you should be aware of:

As mentioned above, many offshore agents are honest, professional, and competent at their work. However, there are many ways a bad agent can lead you down the wrong path:

1. They may give you incorrect advice. Many agents submit visa applications for countries all across the world, so may not be knowledgeable about the New Zealand immigration system (every country’s immigration policies are different!);
2. They may tell you something is normal and acceptable to do in your visa application, when in fact they are advising you to do something against the law;
3. They may submit false information and fraudulent documents to INZ without your knowledge;
4. They may tell you your visa is approved when in fact it has been declined, by giving you a fake visa instead;
5. They may share your sensitive information (such as bank statements, etc.) to malicious third parties who might then steal your identity, for example.

Of course, a bad or dishonest LIA might also do the same things as above. However, there is a difference: if you an LIA did any of these things, you would have significant legal protection: you can make a formal complaint against the bad LIA to a New Zealand government agency, which would then lead to prosecution by the Ministry of Justice. This right is available to anybody, including foreigners who are overseas.

On the other hand, since there is no regulation of education agents you would have very little hope of getting any kind of compensation, punishment for the agent, or recognition that you were a victim of poor service and not a dishonest or low-quality applicant. If an agent submits a bad application on your behalf, you bear the consequences from INZ.

How to tell a disreputable offshore education agent from a good one

Doing your own due diligence and researching your education agent is highly recommended. For example, you might want to know whether they regularly submit student visas for New Zealand.

But there are two tell-tale signs that an education agent may not be the best option for you to pick:

1. They offer to personally handle your partner or child’s visa applications, despite not holding a license to provide immigration advice.

Very clearly, it is completely appropriate and legal for an offshore student agent to help you on your student visa and submit it on your behalf. This is allowed and regularly done.

However, it is illegal for an offshore unlicensed agent to submit applications under any visa category other than student visas (See Section 11(h) of the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 (https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2007/0015/latest/DLM407312.html).

If INZ finds out that your partner or dependent child visa applications were submitted by an illegal/unlicensed immigration adviser,  then they will immediately reject or decline your family’s visa applications.

Please note, however: a few large education agents actually employ licensed immigration advisers on their staff. Therefore, it would be okay for an education agent to offer to help with your partner and child’s applications if they confirm that an LIA would be handling the case.

However, please bear in mind that the LIA should work directly with you personally (and not ‘behind the scenes’ as back-line staff). The LIA should be the one emailing you, not their clerical staff.

Furthermore, you can and should check the name of your allocated ‘LIA’ on the website of the Immigration Advisers Authority, just to make sure they are really licensed as they say they are. This can easily be done by anyone in just a minute or so by anybody with an internet connection (https://www.iaa.govt.nz/).

   2. The agent offers to write your entire student visa SOP on your behalf

Some education agents even have dedicated ‘SOP writers’ on their staff who spend their work day writing Statements of Purpose (SOPs) for students.

While this appears to be very convenient, it is a form of impersonation and INZ does not permit it. The whole point of an SOP is that the student must write it in their own words.

Furthermore, if you believe that an agent can write your SOP, it means that you do not understand what the SOP is, and what it isn’t. Writing an SOP is not like fixing a car, a specialist skill that is best left to the experts. It is our strongly-held view that only the student can write a truly high-quality SOP. We have a separate article on SOP writing on our website, if you would like to learn more about how to write an SOP. (https://www.choosenewzealand.com/news/sop-writing-tips-new-zealand-student-visa/)

  3. Something doesn’t ‘feel right’ and you think the agent is trying to hide something from INZ or do something that is not allowed

Honesty is generally not a technical concept in any way, when it comes to a visa application. INZ requires applicants to be very honest and transparent, to provide all information relevant to their eligibility, and to not conceal any relevant information from the agency. If you believe the agent may be trying to trick INZ for you to get the visa, you should at least ask them to explain what they are doing. It is a good idea to trust your intuition in matters involving honesty.

If you want to find out more, get in touch with someone at Choose New Zealand!

Choosing the right LIA or education agent is an extremely important decision that may change your life, so make sure you pick the right person to do the job!

If you would like us to help you with your student visa application, please get in touch with us today! https://www.choosenewzealand.com/contact-us/