Immigration complaints back-up as tribunal sits idle

A list of complaints about the conduct of licensed immigration advisors is building up as the tribunal set up to deal with them sits stagnant in the absence of someone to lead it.

The Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal was established to deal with complaints about immigration advisors, who from June 2008 were required to be licensed under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act.

Such complaints first have to be deemed by the Immigration Advisors Authority (IAA) to include genuine concerns and meet a strict set of criteria.

But the tribunal can only operate legally with someone at the helm, and there is understood to be a growing level of frustration within the industry, which now includes over 400 licensed advisors, that such an appointment is taking so long.

The IAA said as of this week there was a backlog of 20 complaints waiting to be dealt with by the tribunal.

David Cooper, operations manager for advisory practice Malcolm Pacific, said the situation was negative both for migrants and the industry.

"These complaints are backing up and what is happening is that the victims, being the migrants where the government has passed a law to protect them, are not getting any sort of recourse from whatever damage has been created to them," he told NZPA.

Mr Cooper said he knew of some clear breaches of conduct, including passports being withheld for outstanding payment or fees being taken from people without contracts having been signed, "which is all basic business management enshrined in this code of conduct to which we are licensed".

If operators were continuing to get away with breaches because of a lack of accountability, migrants were not getting protection.

Mr Cooper said some businesses had invested heavily to ensure they offered good services and didn't risk losing their licences.

"We are not trying to put the boot in ... but to me it just seems ridiculous. We have been put through a very expensive, time-consuming process of being licensed. Everyone in various different ways has had to refine their businesses and a lot of people lift their game. You have to have it working in all respects don't you?"

He said it wasn't a question of trying to drum people out of the business, as in some cases it would take some simple counselling to get wayward operators back on track.

Under the law, appointments to head the tribunal are made by the Governor-General on advice from the minister of justice.

A spokesman from Justice Minister Simon Power's office said of the 20 complaints before the tribunal, the first was not passed on until January this year. He said it was important to get an applicant suited to the role and the ministry was "actively working on making an appointment".