Put simply, a lawyer must have attended law school as well as being registered as a member of the New Zealand Law Society, among other formalities. A lawyer may have studied immigration law as part of their curriculum, however, it is only a small part and currently, most law schools do not allow for students to specialize in immigration law. A Licensed Immigration Adviser must successfully complete a year long graduate diploma which focuses entirely on immigration law, to be licensed to practice by the Immigration Advisers Authority.

Given the nature of the work, who is better suited is dependent upon that individual’s experience rather than their formal qualifications. Good advisors and lawyers can be a godsend whereas bad ones can make the application process more arduous. Therefore, an applicant must look at the advisor or lawyer they wish to engage closely before they decide to sign up with them.

It all depends upon your personal circumstances, however, unless you believe that your case is likely to need the judicial system where you will need the formal representation only a lawyer can provide, it is unlikely to matter whether you sign up an advisor or a lawyer. If you would like to check if our team is the one for you, book a free consultation session with us and see if we are what you need.

If you are considering hiring an adviser/lawyer, we hope the information on this page may prove helpful. As a visa applicant, you have the option of either lodging your application yourself or through an adviser/lawyer. We believe that no-one, but the applicant is the best person to decide how they go about their application. If you believe that you have done your homework and are able to represent the application and its merit to INZ you may consider lodging the application yourself. However, we recommend that you take the following into consideration before you click on that submit button on the visa application:
Although an adviser/lawyer cannot guarantee a positive outcome, we can ensure that your application is decision ready to decrease the likelihood of unnecessary delays and questions from INZ. If INZ is going to raise concerns on your applications, we have the expertise to pre-empt these and ensure you know what to expect.
We take a professional approach and if we ascertain that your application is likely to be declined, we will ensure that you know as soon as we become aware of the issue. Instead of ‘let us give this a go anyways’ approach, we believe in offering viable alternative solutions that would help you achieve your immigration dreams.