Potentially Prejudicial Information (PPI)

Potentially Prejudicial Information or PPI letters are issued by the New Zealand immigration officer handling your visa application when they find something that may harm your visa outcome.

Your visa application has not been decided yet, but the INZ (Immigration New Zealand) appointed case officer has found some issues with your visa application. This is when they issue a Potentially Prejudicial Information (PPI) letter requesting you for more information on specific aspects.

Not responding correctly, clearly, or timely will most likely lead to rejection of your New Zealand visa application.

Triggers for PPI Letters

Pretty much anything that the immigration officer finds unfavourable in your visa application for a positive outcome can be the trigger for him/her to issue you a PPI letter.

They may ask you to provide additional information or evidence for things such as your:

Health
Character
Education
Experience
Finances
Employment offer
Employer’s ability to employ you
Acceptance letter to a university

If you fail to respond to the potentially prejudicial information letter in time, it may lead to rejection of your NZ visa application. Work with an experienced and competent immigration expert to make the most of this opportunity to fix things while you can.

NZ Migration Help has many years of experience in helping its clients succeed with their PPI letter responses. Book a consultation to discuss your case.

INZ PPI Letter Issuance Process

INZ sends out PPI letters in cases where they have doubts regarding the authenticity of the information furnished in your visa application or concerns related to your intent of satisfying the terms of the visa you are applying for.

INZ is required to be “fair” and provide “natural justice” during their visa handling procedures. This prevents them from outrightly rejecting your visa application without giving you a chance to respond to such “potentially prejudicial information”. That is why the immigration officer handling your case has to issue a PPI letter to provide you with an opportunity to address the concerns that prevent them from approving your New Zealand visa.

Does your being in or out of the country when you apply for the visa make a difference in whether the INZ will issue a PPI letter? In one word – YES.

Here is how the INZ decides whether or not to issue potentially prejudicial letters for onshore and offshore applications:

For Onshore Applications

Potentially prejudicial information in case of onshore applications means any information or data that prevents the approval of your visa.

For Offshore Applications

PPI takes on a much narrower definition for offshore applications. In such cases, the information or data in question has to satisfy all the following parameters:

It must prevent a favourable outcome to your visa application, and
It must not have been submitted directly by you or an authorised representative appointed by you, and
You must not have had a previous chance to respond to this, and
It is not available to the general public

As you can see, this means that there is no guarantee that you can expect to get a PPI letter every time the visa handling officer finds something that may impact the case outcome negatively. Your visa may get outrightly rejected without you getting the “fair” chance to receive “natural justice” if you are outside the country, which is not the case if you are in the country when making the application.

Given that most New Zealand visa applications are made from outside the country, there is a high chance you will bear the brunt of visa rejection if you make any mistakes in your visa application process. Our Auckland based team is staffed with some of the best New Zealand immigration brains who know the ins and outs of all kinds of work visas, study visas, visitor visas, visas to invest, and visas to join family, amongst others. Don’t lose your New Zealand dream. Book your consultation with our licensed immigration advisers today.