This weeks article is inspired by a discussion I had (albeit brief) with an employer via LinkedIn…and when I say discussion, I mean, my comments on one of their posts which resulted in a back and forth exchange related to the visa process. The original post was from a small NZ business, working in the agricultural tech space, looking to bring someone in from overseas. It was common of a number of posts, where employers have embarked on the visa process, assuming its just an online form, but then hitting the reality of how complex and specific it can actually be.

“All we needed was get the job approved by immigration NZ. Two years ago, I successfully brought in a specialist from China, and the job approval process took just a couple of weeks. However, this time, it has dragged on for two months.”

There was more to the post obviously, and I have kept the author anonymous, but this was the core of it. Why did the immigration system not work today, like it did a few years ago (when they last had to deal with it) - and in that lies a pretty obvious issue, that most employers and indeed most applicants completely miss.

Applicants are likely to engage with the immigration system once, twice or at most, a handful of times (some go well beyond this, but that’s not the norm) and most small to medium businesses may have need of this system, once every few years. Bigger employers, or those in specific industries, often engage with the system more frequently but given the size of our small to medium sized business market in NZ, those users are far less frequent.

Yet despite this, applicants and employers and anyone engaging with the system, is expected to fully understand how it works, and not just what the basic requirements are but the various behind the scene processes that unfold as well.

To the above employer on LinkedIn, after some robust back and forth, we discovered that was missing was an appreciation that the system changes often and so the experience of a few years back was about as useful as a solar-powered torch.

As an applicant or an employer, knowing what you don’t know about the visa process is sometimes the best information you can have.

Applicants

I remember a couple of years back (maybe more than my memory is accounting for), INZ put a lot of emphasis on applicants lodging their applications with all of the required documentation, enabling for that application to be “decision-ready”. Less work for the officers in going back and forth on documents and ultimately a faster outcome. We call it “front-end loading”.

A great idea in theory and in fact something that advisers were doing already - knowing that if all of the information is provided upfront, then INZ can move through the assessment process much more quickly resulting in better turnaround times.

However for those who fall in to the do-it-yourself (DIY) camp, the problem with that idea, is that these applicants are completely new to the process, and potentially will only use the visa system once, twice or a few times. They aren’t intending to be repeat customers; so, getting it right on the first try, for most DIY applicants is just not practical or realistic.

**Overnight Experts**

Applicants will likely encounter the visa process only a handful of times, but are expected to be experts for each and every attempt.

Even if you get through every checklist on INZ’s website (including the not so easy to find, internal lists for specific categories) and your documents are squeaky clean, there is no accounting for the myriad of internal processes that INZ uses, that may lead your application to stalling.

We recently assisted an AEWV applicant who had previously completed a medical, so didn’t need to file a new one in their more recent application. The issue however is that INZ’s system didn’t match that old medical to the new file, and hence the system was sat in a holding pattern, waiting on…a medical. It was only because we appreciated how the timelines should work that we were able to identify the reason for the delay, contact the right people and have the application moved along (and approved).

If you have never had to deal with this before, you wouldn’t necessarily appreciate all of the points at which INZ interacts with your application and where information might be missing. Even if you have filed a previous application, systems and rules change - so what worked once before, may not work in the same way now.

Applicants have enough going on when it comes to making the big move - finding a job, setting the family, securing accommodation, getting to grips with their new surroundings, so expecting them to understand the complexities of the visa process on top of that is a pretty big ask. INZ however have tried, desperately, to accommodate DIY applicants with an overwhelming volume of online resources - so many in fact that those have become more confusing than almost anything else.

Even with everything moving online, where applications be filed from your mobile phone, the system is as complex today, as it was 20 years ago and some might argue more so.

Employers

When it comes to employers, and as the source of inspiration for this post, the issue of trying to understand the visa process becomes even more complex. Most small to medium sized employers will encounter the visa process only a handful of times, and unless their core business revolves around bringing in offshore skills for various roles, they are unlikely to have a working knowledge of the visa process in any meaningful form. Recruiters, who can also play a role in the process, are even less likely to know how it works.

What makes this more challenging is that employers are often only involved in a very specific part of the process - for example, securing their Accreditation (which is a very employer-centred application) and then submitting a Job Check, which is all about the employment details and advertising. When it comes to the requirements that the applicant has to go through, to actually secure the visa, they are literally stumbling around in the dark.

**Not In Your Wheelhouse**

Many employers make the mistake of thinking that this is just an online process…getting tangled up in the complexity, taking time away from their business.

That was pretty evident in my exchange with this particular employer online on LinkedIn, who was blissfully unaware of the process involved with character checks for the client, yet in the same breath bemoaning the delays with the Visa being processed.

They did have one good point, in that INZ was slow to respond to queries, and in some cases, with some officers, this does happen, but then equally if you sit back and wait for things to happen, it will take longer than it should.

This employer was also quick to compare the current process, to their experience with INZ a couple of years back - which was apparently much faster. On that point, they were right, considering that a few years ago, INZ was operating under a very set of instructions in terms of what to look at and what not to look at. Under a previous Minister’s instructions, INZ effectively moved to relying on an applicant’s declarations, rather than necessarily scrutinising all of the evidence provided. That situation resulted in large pools of applicants being granted Visas that they potentially shouldn’t have.

The current focus is on checking and in some cases double-checking documents, verifying evidence and making sure that all the documents required are there and in good shape. There is now, far less room for employers and applicants to get away with anything being missed.

There are of course some larger employers who engage with INZ more regularly and those that even have in-house advisers, with the advantage of being able to keep up with how the system changes - however for most businesses, immigration is not in their wheelhouse and what they presume to be a simple, online process, with a form and a fee, can often end up costing them significant time and money, when things don’t go as planned (or as they might have done a few years ago).

Calling In The Cavalry

The unfortunate outcome of applicants and employers not knowing what they don’t know is that applications often end up either being significantly delayed or coming off the rails entirely. What could have been managed very precisely and efficiently from the start, can become a stressful, chaotic mess of delays, repeated requests from INZ and then the very real risk that the application is declined entirely.

We are sometimes called in to try and rescue applicants and employers from these situations and in most cases we can, but some situations have been too badly managed to repair or resuscitate. This can be hard to deal with, particularly when you realise that if the preparation and planning had gone in from the start, the outcome would have been very different.

**Ambulance…Bottom…Cliff**

Intervening in an application that has gone wrong is not impossible, but it can be a lot harder to achieve a positive outcome for a applicant or an employer.

Although the system is designed to be user-friendly and appear as though it can be managed by yourself (whether you are an applicant or an employer) the simple fact is it isn’t.

Sure, there are some applications that are less complex than others and there are people who apply on their own without too many issues, however there are plenty more who make the mistake of assuming that is how it will work for them.

Our industry exists because, despite all of the advancements in online applications, available online resources and even the use of AI to understand the process - visas are assessed by human beings, who don’t always follow the same process. Inconsistency can be an issue in that decision making process, along with the myriad of internal processes, checks and steps that INZ applies, depending on the Visa type, the quality of documentation or even just the country you are coming from.

Bringing in support mid-way through the process, when you realise things have perhaps become a bit too complicated is one way of doing things, but it is by no means the most efficient. We work best when we can assess the situation from the start, layout a really clear plan and strategy and then work alongside both applicants and employers to gather the right documents and provide the right information to INZ, all at the right time.

We can spot when things have stalled, and we can make the move forward again and we can anticipate problems, well before they have a chance to become problems. This leads to more efficient decisions, and the right outcomes for the right applicants.

Most applicants and employers approach visa applications thinking it is just paperwork.

Until it isn’t.

If you had a serious health issue, you would not rely on a few online articles and treat yourself.
If you were buying a property, you would not skip legal advice because the paperwork “looks straightforward”.
If your business was being investigated, you would not try to manage that alone.

Not because those processes are impossible to understand, but because the risks sit beneath the surface. Immigration works the same way. The form might look simple. The checklist might seem clear. But behind that sits a framework of policy and interpretation that most people simply aren’t aware of. And that is the point.

Most people don’t know what they don’t know and getting it right the first time is not about filling in the form. It is about understanding the process behind it.

Until next week!

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