Don’t Get Scammed

I come from migrant stock and my parents (both of whom have passed away), made the big bold move to shift their lives from the Netherlands to New Zealand in the 1950’s. Back then, migrating was a very different exercise - the New Zealand Government was actively seeking out tradespeople from specific countries (we had a very geographically targeted program) and my father attended an interview at the local New Zealand consulate.

Qualifying was more about whether the particular assessing “officer” liked you and if you came from the right country as opposed to meeting specific criteria, points or skills systems. There were very few targeted policies in place and the system was largely discretionary, with a focus on people being settled here to add to our population and labour pool. Their was a strong focus on migrants from the UK and other European nations and migration from other parts of the world was significantly more controlled.

I still have the approval documents provided to my father, typed up on an old-fashioned type-writer, accompanied by some luggage tags. To get here my parents had to sail for six weeks, and popping back to the Netherlands for a family visit was a once in ten year event. My father, followed his two brothers who had also made the move, and their presence here helped endorse his visa approval.

Apart from the occasional letter from his brothers, my father had very little knowledge of what NZ was like, and for my parents, making this move was literally like stepping out in to the void. They had little to no access to information and really did take a leap of faith - which clearly worked as they made their home here, raising four children.

In 2025, our immigration systems are largely digital, people apply using their phones, and there is so much information available to the prospective migrant it is in fact quite overwhelming. Where my parents went in blind, today applicants are bombarded with information, some of it useful, but most of it complete rubbish. In fact there is now a greater potential for things to go very wrong, given the sheer volume of unqualified people who seem to know how this process works. Of course along with those who might have good intentions but lack the knowledge, there are also those who are intentionally out to scam migrants out of their hard-earning money.

So how do you know the difference between what’s real and fake, and what do you need to look out for - well that is the subject of this week’s article.

The Myths, Fake News & Scams

I once had to tell one of my clients off (in the nicest possible way of course) because every time I responded to one of her queries, she would reply with “but I read on Facebook…”. She had become involved with about four different Facebook groups, all set up for South Africans, making the move here, and was soaking up the advice being offered by armchair advisers. Some of these people had once applied for their own visa - and therefore knew how the system worked for everyone, and some had never lodged a visa before, but seen a lot of YouTube videos (which clearly makes you an expert). I once had a look at a few of these sites and attempted to right some wrongs…there just weren’t enough hours in the day however.

Social Media

Too many migrants seek advice on their move from social media, falling victim to both the scammers and the unqualified armchair immigration experts.

My client however became so obsessed with these groups, that she actually landed herself in a fair degree of strife with INZ, but we were able to thankfully remedy that issue for her. Lesson learned.

Social media can be incredibly useful as a tool for migrants, but only if you filter out the noise. People often share really useful insights in to the process they went through or the challenges they faced when making the move and that can give the prospective migrant a good balanced view - however relying on these platforms (any of them) for specific advice on how the process work, often leads to disaster. Social media groups, where migrants congregate are often breeding grounds for myth and rumour, which tends to grow very quickly. As I often say to potential clients, you wouldn’t perform surgery on yourself with the assistance of a YouTube tutorial - so don’t put the fate of the biggest move of your life in the same hands.

All too often, I have seen social media create fake visa news as well…someone, somewhere hears something that might be about to happen in the visa space and it becomes the next forum post headline. People pile in and before you know it, the internet has created a new visa policy or update that doesn’t actually exist.

Of course the more sinister side of this, are those internet citizens, looking to scam desperate and often vulnerable migrants out of a few dollars (in some cases thousands of dollars). Scams range from offering visas services to people who would never qualify, through to fake job adverts and at the worst end of the spectrum fake visas - some of these fakes are obvious, others can be quite convincing. Unfortunately for some applicants, the promise of a new life in NZ, for a few thousand dollars, without having to do much to get it, is too attractive to resist.

The message here, is that while social media can be very helpful for certain parts of your move, and you can also find shared experiences and a place to vent your visa frustrations - tread carefully. Placing your future in the hands of armchair advisers is just foolish and if something online seems to good to be true - it probably is. Do you homework, and double-check everything, there is a lot to lose, if you get this part wrong.

Who To Trust?

The next obvious question is how do you work out who is telling the truth and who isn’t…which is actually a pretty complex question, although there are some basic things you can do, to ensure you get the right advice from the right people.

The first place to start is by identifying if the person you are seeking advice from has a license. Our industry is regulated by the Immigration Advisers Authority and you can check the license status of an adviser online, very easily. However, having a license is just one part of the process, because you should also have a look at how long that person has been practising. Whilst tenure isn’t always a guarantee of competence, it does help to know whether your potential adviser has been in the industry for a while, particularly if your case is not as straight-forward. Email a few advisers and test the water - how quickly do they respond, what information do they give you, and are they asking the right questions. You will soon work out, who is genuinely interested in helping you, versus who is simply trying to get a sale.

Do Your Research

There is so much information out there, it is hard to know what is real and what isn’t. However if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.

Be wary of unofficial accreditations or awards - there are advisers out there, often working in groups, who claim to have additional certifications or memberships - none of which have any official standing. This is very common within the Student Visa industry, where so called “Counsellors” claim to have some form of official accreditation (with incredibly small fine print that says it isn’t).

Flashy gold badges, claims of 100% success rates and wildly exaggerated claims of affiliations with certain companies, high-profile individuals or even INZ itself, are often things that should raise a red flag - it’s pretty easy to fake a selfie with a politician. Like any online purchase, you need to be able to sort the fact from the fiction, so doing a bit of background research is often a good idea. AI has become pretty useful in this exercise, because it can often do that heavy-lifting for you in terms of checking for reviews (good and bad), although also treat that with a pinch of salt.

Finally, if someone is offering to literally give you a visa, without you having to do much to get it, something is clearly off. The same applies to job offers, which inevitably form part of the visa process. I was approached once by a client, who very happily told me he had been offered a job in NZ for $150,000.00 and he had never even had an interview - apparently someone found his profile online, his social media comments about wanting to relocate and had decided to offer him a job. Of course it was a scam, and while the company referred to on the offer was real, the job offer was very much a fake.

Securing a visa requires your input, either through interviewing or a job or providing documentation to secure the visa itself. If someone offers to give you a visa and all you have to do is open your wallet, then odds are, its not real. Generally whenever a new visa is announced or a change is made, scammers will take that opportunity to piggy-back off the news and press, to try and hook a few people in - and sadly it works. When the Digital Nomad news was released earlier this year, I saw someone on Facebook selling “Digital Nomad Visas” - strange because the Digital Nomad idea is just a change to the conditions attached to a normal visitor visa. No new visa and certainly no quick-fire way to get one.

If you are considering a permanent move here, or even just coming on a temporary visa to visit, study or work, there will be a process involved and you will need to do some of the work to secure the visa - a good place to start is to make sure that whoever is offering to help you is licensed, has a good history and perhaps some real and genuine reviews.

Keeping It Real

One of the things my clients often comment on, is the fact that my articles and social media posts are not all sunshine and rainbows, meaning I don’t just present the rose-tinted version of the move - and there is a really good reason for that. Migrating is actually a very complex process, not just in terms of visas, but also in terms of the emotional challenges, the logistics and also the financial commitment. I want anyone considering the move to be as aware of those things as possible, because forewarned is forearmed.

We firmly believe in telling people what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear, because when you are shifting yourself, your family and your entire life to the other side of the world, having a realistic view of that process is really important. We back that up, every step of the way, reminding clients of the challenges and risks, guiding them safely through to the other side.

No flashy gold badges or sparkly awards, just practical, common-sense advice, when and as you need it. This is also why we turn away a lot more people than we bring on as clients, because our very first step is to work out what your options are, through an assessment process - and if the options don’t exist we will tell you that - plain and simple. As disappointing at that might be, we have probably just saved you a lot of time and a lot more money.

For those that we do bring on to assist, we manage their move from start to finish, often pulling them back on to the rails, when we feel they might have started to drift off. Our team is paid to keep you on track. I often explain to my clients that you will like me at the start, love me at the end (when visas are in hand) but might not be so fond of me in the middle - because I will be telling you what and what not to do at each and every turn.

So if you are of a mind to make the big move, do your homework, tread carefully through social media and if you are looking for help, find someone you can trust, to give you realistic, practical and honest advice.

Until next week.