What NZ licensing means for immigration advisers, and how to check it

What it permits

• Giving New Zealand immigration advice, onshore or offshore, for a fee. Unlicensed advice is an offence under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007, and the offshore reach is unusually broad — it applies to advisers outside New Zealand advising on New Zealand visas.
• Appearing on the register maintained by the Immigration Advisers Authority, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
• Licences come as full or provisional; provisional licence holders must be supervised.

What it does not tell you

The limits matter as much as the permissions. A licence answers one question precisely and says nothing about the others.

• Whether the adviser works with families or with school-age students specifically.
• Whether they are supervised. A provisional licence is a real licence, but it carries a supervision condition that a school should know about.
• Whether an education agent recruiting for New Zealand schools is licensed at all — many are exempt because they do not give immigration advice.

How to check one yourself

1. 1Open the public register at iaa.govt.nz.
2. 2Search by adviser name or licence number.
3. 3Check whether the licence is full or provisional, and note any conditions attached.
4. 4Confirm the licence has not expired — New Zealand licences are renewed annually.