Introduction
You are illegally present in New Zealand if your visa has expired and you continue your stay in the country – you are now liable for deportation. Immigration New Zealand will send you a Deportation Liability Notice (DLN). You may even be detained or banned from entering the country again.
Some other factors may also trigger your deportation. Based on the reasons that make you liable for deportation, you can make an appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) against the DLN within a specific timeframe.
What is the role of Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT)?
The Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) hears appeals regarding deportations, refugee or protected person claims and residence visas. It is an independent body set up by the Immigration Act 2009. It is important to note that the IPT does not issue visas and does not work with Immigration New Zealand (INZ). The only purpose for its existence is to address appeals.
If Immigration New Zealand has found you to be liable for deportation, it is your right to make a deportation appeal to the IPT. You can make a deportation appeal irrespective of your immigration status – you may be holding a temporary or interim visa, may be a resident or a permanent resident, or may even be present unlawfully in New Zealand.
Making a deportation appeal with the IPT is a complicated process, and this makes it vital that you work with an immigration expert to avoid rejection. Call us for a 100% free consultation to discuss your situation and find the best way forward.
On what grounds can you make a Deportation Appeal?
For the tribunal to consider your deportation appeal, it must be grounded in at least one of these two factors:
- Based on fact: In this case, you must prove that the deportation order has not considered facts of your case and is thus wrong.
- On humanitarian basis: In this case, the tribunal must be convinced that:
- There are extraordinary humanitarian circumstances that would make it unjust and overly harsh to deport you, and
- Your continued stay in New Zealand will not harm the public interest
If the IPT decides to consider your appeal, it will determine if your appeal:
- will be permitted
- will be permitted, and your liability for deportation from New Zealand will get up to a 5-year suspension
- will be refused
- will be refused, and there will be a removal or reduction in the time you are required to stay out of New Zealand
- will be refused, and a delay will be placed on your deportation
What is the timeframe to make a Deportation Appeal?
The timeframe available to you for making a Deportation Appeal with the IPT largely depends on why you landed in a "liable for deportation" situation. Here are some examples of timeframes outside which IPT will not take up your Deportation Appeal:
| Situation | Time Frame |
|---|---|
| If your visa was approved due to some administrative error | 28 days |
| If it is found that your identity on the visa is not real | 42 days |
| If you used forgery, fraud, concealed, falsified or provided misleading information while gaining your visa, citizenship or entry permission | 28 days |
| If you failed to meet your visa conditions or breached them | 28 days |
| If you have held a resident visa for less than 5 years, and new evidence shows character issues that would have prevented you from obtaining your visa | 28 days |
| If you have been convicted for a crime | 28 days |
| If your New Zealand visa is not valid now | 42 days counted from the time after you were last on a valid visa |
This is not a comprehensive list. The whole process gets even more convoluted once you combine the grounds for your deportation appeal.
Where can you seek help for making your Deportation Appeal?
As you can see, the timeframe and grounds for deportation make it hard for you to decide on how to approach your Deportation Appeal.
It gets even harder as the tribunal will not decide the appeal based on an oral hearing; the decision will most likely be found on the papers you submit. You may sometimes get lucky with the tribunal deciding to hold an oral hearing, but it is not in your rights to request one.
At the same time, you want to make sure you do not have to deal with detention or face a complete ban from entering New Zealand again – this would mess up your immigration dream big time.
Work with our experienced Auckland based team of immigration advisers. We are experts at the Deportation Appeal process, and you can depend on us to represent your case with the tribunal in the best possible way.
Our expert immigration experts at Professional Visa Solutions ensure that your deportation appeal is backed by strong evidence and convincing supporting documents. What’s more, all this comes at a very reasonable rate of NZ$ 3,000 – 5,500.