Complaints
Complaints process is a critical component of the policies followed by the INZ (Immigration New Zealand). The agency has adopted a formal complaints process so you can report dissatisfaction against its staff behaviour, processes, services, etc.
The INZ works under the MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) umbrella. MBIE is well-known for its excellent complaint handling system, where they commit to acknowledge any complaint within 5 days and respond to it before 20 days.
INZ has also committed itself to a complaints process so anyone can access their easy to use complaints system to submit their grievances or feedback (both negative and positive) about their policies, procedures, and services.
INZ Complaints System
The only way you can expect to get a response from the INZ on your dissatisfaction or complaint is by lodging a formal complaint in their complaints system. The grievance or feedback can be related to their staff behaviour, products, tools, or processes. You have to initiate your complaint in their CFS (Complaints and Feedback System).
In case you have been dealing with INZ for a while, please note that the older CCRP (Client Complaint Resolution Process) has been replaced with the CFS.
This is how the Immigration New Zealand complaints process works:
- The CFS routes your complaint to the CFT (Central Feedback Team)
- The CFT records, investigates, and forwards the complaint to the appropriate office – this typically ends up with the branch or office where the matter surfaced
Now, the issue is that the CFT may not accept your complaint. There are many reasons INZ can fall back on to ignore your complaint. Not happy? Well, that is the way it is. Work with an expert immigration team who knows how to get your complaint in and elicit a response.
NZ Migration Help has put together a team of the best minds in the New Zealand immigration business. Why not rake advantage of our insights into the INZ complaints process? Book a consultation to allow us to show you our value.
Complaints Worth Making
Now, there could be umpteen reasons for your being unhappy with the INZ. However, INZ has the right to ignore your complaint unless it falls in the bracket of what they “have to” look into.
Here are some common areas where you can expect to get a redressal from the INZ:
- Publication mistakes in their IACs (Internal administration circulars) or other publications
- INZ systems
- Improper facilities
- Dissatisfaction with services, such as inappropriate staff attitude or behaviour
- Delay in advice or communication – mostly, delays in processing time for a visa
- Process issues
Complaints likely to be dropped
Note that the INZ is not obliged to take up your complaint and the CFT does drop most of the complaints that have to do with:
- Explanation of how a visa application was decided by the immigration officer (and what case merits were considered)
- Interrogation into how the immigration law and procedures were interpreted while deciding on an immigration case
- Fairness of a decision based on the impact on the beneficiary or his/her family
- Overturning the INZ decision (for visa terms compliance or application)
The list is much longer and hard for a naive immigration customer to sort out. If you feel you have a genuine complaint and want to get it through so you can get a response, allow our immensely experienced immigration team from our Auckland office help you out. We have an excellent conversion rate for the complaints we file on behalf of our customers. Book a consultation to see how we can help your grievance make a difference.
Complaints That Go Beyond the INZ Jurisdiction
There are occasions when the CFT may take in your complaint, but the issue may be beyond the INZ’s jurisdiction. In such cases, the complaint will be forwarded to the relevant department of the MBIE.
A few examples of such complaints that may get transferred are:
- Grievances against NZ government immigration policies
- Allegations against INZ staff for corruption, fraud, or dishonesty – these will get forwarded to the MBIE integrity team
- Complaints related to INZ’s outsourced services. For ex: Visa Application Centres
- Objections associated with corrupt immigration parties – such as employers, educational institutes, etc.
- Protests against the services of other NZ government or their authorized agencies
Timelines for Filing an INZ Complaint
You have six months to file a complaint (counted from the day of the alleged incident) – unless it is about a delay. INZ may make exceptions in some cases and pick a complaint outside this window, but don’t count on it.
If you have a complaint associated to a particular case, you must submit it before 6 months of the episode occurrence. INZ will, however, take up your complaint outside the prescribed window if it considers your case to be exceptional. At the end, the CFT holds the key to the gateway – it decides what goes through (even if the complaint is made after the prescribed limit), and what gets dropped.
As you can now see, the INZ has done well to set up a structured complaints process, but you have to know how to get in. Our immigration team has many years of experience of getting responses from the INZ complaints system – of course, it begins with getting your complaint into the CFS and accepted by the CFT. Trust one of the best immigration teams with your INZ complaint addressed – book a consultation now.