Saegil advises individuals, families, employers, investors and entrepreneurs on New Zealand immigration, both here and overseas.
Choosing between visa options, or working out how the one you have leads to the one you want.
Whether you are coming for a few months or for good, the visa you apply for now shapes what you can do once you are here — and what you can apply for next. We advise on visitor, student, work and residence applications, and on how they fit together over time. Getting the order right at the start is usually far cheaper than correcting it later.
Most people who come to work in New Zealand now do so on an AEWV, which ties the visa to one accredited employer and one role. The requirements fall on both you and your employer, and a gap on either side holds up the whole application. We act for employees and for employers.
Before an employer can support a work visa, the business needs accreditation and the role needs a job check. Both are documentation exercises with real commercial consequences — a stalled accreditation can hold up hiring for months. We prepare and review these applications, and advise on the obligations that come with accreditation once it is granted.
The investor and entrepreneur categories are for people bringing capital or a business to New Zealand, and they are assessed differently from other residence pathways — on the funds, on where they lawfully came from, and on what you intend to do here. We advise on which category fits your circumstances, what evidence will be required, and how long it is realistic to expect the process to take.
A declined application, an expired visa, a deportation liability notice. These situations have paths forward, and almost all of them have deadlines. The sooner you get advice, the more options remain open.
If a temporary visa application has been declined, you may be able to ask for it to be reconsidered — but only in some circumstances, and only within a short window. If your visa has already expired and you are in New Zealand unlawfully, a section 61 request is usually the route back. Both are time-critical, and neither carries a right of appeal. This is a situation to get advice on before the deadline, not after.
A conviction, a past immigration issue, or a health condition can put an application outside the standard requirements. That is not automatically the end of it: Immigration New Zealand can consider a waiver, and what it weighs is a properly evidenced account of your circumstances. These are matters where preparation does most of the work.
Some decisions — including residence declines and deportation liability — can be appealed to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. The deadlines are short and strictly applied, and the Tribunal generally decides on the papers filed with it. We advise on whether an appeal is available to you, and prepare the case if it is.
Where appeal rights have been used or have expired, a request to the Minister of Immigration may still be open. It is entirely discretionary, it is not a second run at the original decision, and it needs to be put properly. We will tell you honestly whether a request is worth making in your circumstances.
