Who may advise on a New Zealand investor visa?
Check the individual, current licence and permitted scope before taking investor-visa advice. Understand licence types and the limits of exemptions.
Licences belong to individuals, not firms. Exemptions have conditions; the offshore student-advice exemption does not cover investor residence. Authority to advise is not an approval guarantee.
An agency name is not an immigration adviser’s licence. Before taking advice on a New Zealand investor visa, identify the person who will assess your circumstances. New Zealand’s licensing requirement generally applies to immigration advice given overseas as well as within the country, unless the adviser is legally exempt.[1][2]
Check the person and the current record
Only individuals can hold an Immigration Advisers Authority licence; companies cannot. Establish who will make substantive recommendations, then use the register reached through the Authority’s official website to check that person’s identity, current status and authorised scope.[2]
A name appearing in the register is not enough. Entries may show an expired, surrendered, refused, suspended or cancelled licence. The Authority uses Current for a licence that permits practice under its requirements. An old certificate or screenshot cannot establish today’s status. Licences normally last 1 year, so status also matters during a continuing engagement.[2][3]
3 licences, different conditions
A Full licence covers advice on all immigration matters. A Provisional licence also permits advice across immigration matters, but its holder must work under the supervision of a Full licence holder. A Limited licence covers only the matters specified on that licence.[2]
For investor-residence advice, check the actual restriction on a Limited licence and the supervisory relationship for a Provisional licence. Neither label should be reduced to a simple assumption that the adviser can—or cannot—handle the application.
An exemption needs its own basis
Some people may lawfully advise without an immigration adviser’s licence. A lawyer holding a current New Zealand practising certificate is one example; the New Zealand Law Society’s register is the relevant place to check that professional status. Other exemption categories also exist, so absence from the adviser register alone does not settle the question.[4]
The exemption for offshore student-visa advisers is narrower. It does not extend to advice on work or residence pathways. Helping with a student application does not, by itself, authorise someone to advise on investor residence. Operating from an overseas office does not remove the licensing requirement.[4]
Administration is not the same as tailored advice
Sharing public information, translating documents and recording information supplied by an applicant differ from recommending a visa route or assessing an individual’s eligibility. Applying public information to someone’s circumstances can itself amount to immigration advice. Calling the work an information service does not determine its legal character.[1][5]
Before engaging an adviser, align the named individual, permitted work and any supervision with the written service scope. Licensed advisers must provide a written agreement setting out services and fees.[2] This checks authority to advise, not the likelihood of approval. Immigration New Zealand decides applications, and applicants may apply without hiring an adviser.[1]
This is general information about checking professional authority, not an assessment of any named adviser or firm or a substitute for individual advice.
Official sources
General policy information; individual circumstances and the competent authority’s requirements govern each application.