The client was made liable for deportation as a result of serving his notice period with his previous employer when he had a visa granted to work for a new employer with an immediate start date.

INZ received a false complaint that the client was getting paid cash under the table. The client was found to be working for his previous employer in breach of his visa conditions although he was just serving his notice period. The client got scared and intimidated by the sudden interrogation and he provided a false name to the Immigration officers who were investigating the complaint.

We believed that there are grounds for cancelling deportation liability and we decided to take the case and help the client to reverse the INZ’s decision on the same.

The client was on open work visa what allowed him to work for any company and he had also signed an employment agreement, hence there were no factual grounds for the complaint received by INZ. The client was not paid for his two weeks for the reason that he had not given his IRD number and hence he was entered into payroll late. He only worked there for two weeks before resigning, so not enough time had passed for payroll to be sorted out and wages to start appearing in his bank account.

As the evidence showed that the events and information leading to the DLN being served have credible explanations within the bounds of the law, and the suspicious about a cash arrangement were unfounded, just simply due to administrative delays. We argued that the performing of the notice period should not be considered as a breach of the visa condition since the client was just following the employment law – since the employment contract is legally binding.

We agreed on the point that it was not right to provide a false name, however, we believed it should not be taken as an overall reflection of his character, because it is a relatively minor thing to have done and it was under stress and pressure.

Based on our representation and provided evidence, INZ decided to cancel the liability for deportation and gave the client opportunity to make a positive contribution to New Zealand and comply with the laws.