A clear path through the visa system.

The Skilled Migrant Category remains the main residence pathway for skilled workers aged 55 or under. It is points-based — points turn on skilled employment in New Zealand together with occupational registration, qualifications or income level, and New Zealand work experience — and it runs in stages: an Expression of Interest, an Invitation to Apply if selected, then the residence application itself, where most of the evidential work sits. Some Green List occupations also carry their own dedicated residence pathways.

For temporary work, the Accredited Employer Work Visa is the workhorse: a job offer of at least 30 hours a week from an employer holding current accreditation, pay requirements set by immigration instructions and reviewed regularly, and — with limited exceptions — a role first advertised to New Zealanders. When an AEWV goes wrong it is usually on the employer's half of the file, so we check both halves before anything is lodged.

Partnership visas turn on one test: a genuine and stable relationship. Immigration New Zealand expects the texture of a shared life — joint finances, shared accommodation, communication across time apart — and thin relationship evidence is the most common reason these applications fail. The settings across all of these categories change often; we work to the rules in force on the day of lodgement, not last year's.

Every applicant is assessed against the character requirements of the Immigration Act 2009. Convictions, prior deportation, and false or misleading statements can all raise character concerns, and residence applications are held to a higher threshold than temporary ones. A character issue is not automatically the end: waivers are available in many cases, but they must be argued — written submissions, evidence of rehabilitation, and an honest account of the history.

Overstaying carries consequences that compound: liability for deportation, re-entry bans of one to five years that follow into every later application, and restricted access to work, banking and services while unlawfully in the country.

With character issues and overstays alike, the pattern is the same: candour and early action beat concealment every time. Approaching Immigration New Zealand before it approaches you — sometimes paired with voluntary departure — is treated very differently from being found through enforcement, and the worst outcomes we see follow attempts to minimise history that was always going to be found.

A declined visa is not always final. Depending on the visa type and the ground of decline, some decisions can be reconsidered by Immigration New Zealand internally; others carry a right of appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, an independent body that decides most matters on the papers.

The deadlines are short and rigid — typically 28 or 42 working days from the decision — and once they pass, the appeal right is gone, leaving only harder roads such as fresh applications. The first step after any decline is therefore always the same: identify the review path and its deadline immediately.

Tribunal work is written advocacy. The grounds have to be identified precisely and the evidence pinned to each one, which is where representation earns its keep. We prepare Tribunal appeals as formal written cases, not as letters of protest.