Success Stories

Candy Huang applied for residence under the skilled migrant category.  Her application was declined because INZ said she had not studied long enough.

What was the problem?  

Candy had wanted to complete her Diploma as quickly as possible. So, she enrolled in extra courses at night and during the summer. Candy was a great student getting “A” passes and graduated after only 16 months.  Normally these are attributes that are highly sought after. However, INZ refused to award Candy the bonus points as INZ stated that the policy required her to study for at least 24 months. 

In desperation Candy asked TDA’s principal consultant, former Minister of Immigration, Tuariki  

Delamere if he could help. Stunned by what was, by standards of common sense, unreasonable, Mr. Delamere took on Candy’s case challenging the decision.  It was important not just for Candy, but for the integrity and reputation of New Zealand’s immigration system. 

Formal complaints were made to the Minister of Immigration, to the Ombudsman and to the Human Rights Commissioner. The media published Candy’s story and it gained attention here and overseas. Her story was published in newspapers. She was interviewed by television stations. She was even the subject of a debate in Parliament.

Crucially the Minister of Immigration intervened and ordered that Candy’s residence application be approved. The Minister of Immigration went further and changed the policy to make it clear that a person would qualify for the bonus points for their qualification even if the student completed the qualification less than the expected timeframe – just like Candy Huang.  

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/migrant-points-system-under-review-after-student-case/6IWWMV3UQA4JRDBR6RU5VB5RQU/

Sophie Park was devastated when she received this decline decision from INZ.  

“Your LTBV – Entrepreneur application for a resident visa is declined because INZ consider there is no need for Opotiki to have a sushi shop when there are two sushi shops in Whakatane. “

Korean couple, Sophie and husband James had opened their Sushi Restaurant in the small town of Opotiki.  The restaurant had been a huge success and was very popular with locals.  They didn’t know what to do.  INZ had ordered them to leave New Zealand.  

One of their employees was a local Maori girl.  And not only was she upset at the prospect of losing her job, but she was also very angry that her employers were being treated this way.  They were great people who had taken a risk to establish their business in the remote Eastern Bay of Plenty town of Opotiki. 

And so, she contacted her cousin, who just happened to be principal consultant for TDA but also the former Minister of Immigration, Tuariki Delamere, the person who wrote the LTBV Entrepreneur policy.  And also, Mr. Delamere belonged to the local Maori tribe of Whakatohea, and had been the Chairman of the Whakatohea Trust Board.

Mr. Delamere knew the people of Opotiki would be angry at being told by INZ that they would have to drive to Whakatane, 44 kms away, to get some sushi.  He quickly released a press statement to the local Opotiki Newspaper. Next day the whole front page was devoted to the terrible decision of INZ to take away their sushi shop. And then the story was published across all media in New Zealand.

Opotiki has a population of less than 5,000.  But next day more than 1,000 Opotiki residents participated in a street march protesting against the INZ decision to close their sushi shop.  New Zealand’s main television stations sent reporters to televise the protest march.  The local mayor and the local Members of Parliament demanded an explanation from the government and from the Minister of Immigration.

A few days later Sophie Park and James received a letter from INZ admitting that a mistake had been made and that the decision to decline their resident visa application had been cancelled and that they had been granted resident visas.