“Toothless Tiger”: Lawyers Call for Reform of NZ Immigration Appeals System

By Lions Roar News Legal Desk

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (January 3, 2026) — Leading immigration lawyers are demanding an urgent overhaul of Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) internal complaints process, labeling it a “toothless tiger” that offers no real justice to thousands of visa applicants rejected each year.

Lawyers Pooja Sundar and Stewart Dalley, partners at Auckland firm Dalley Sundar, argue that the current system is heavily biased against offshore applicants—those applying for visas from outside the country—who are often left with no explanation for their rejection and no way to appeal.

📉 A System Without Oversight

According to recent data, INZ received over 6,500 complaints in the last year. While this is a decrease from the 9,500 recorded in 2019, lawyers argue the decline is not due to better service, but because the complaints process is fundamentally flawed.

The “Fairness Gap”:

Onshore Applicants: Those already in NZ can appeal temporary visa rejections, receive written reasons, and are given a chance to respond to concerns before a final decision.
Offshore Applicants: People applying from overseas for tourist or family visas have no formal right of appeal.
The Dead End: Offshore applicants can only use the “Complaints and Feedback” process. However, this process only checks if INZ followed its own procedures—it does not re-examine whether the decision itself was actually correct.

“Where an officer knows that nobody can review their decision, where’s the incentive to make a proper one?” asks Stewart Dalley. “How many incorrect decisions are being made when there’s absolutely no oversight?”

💸 High Costs, Low Transparency

Pooja Sundar highlighted the financial and emotional toll on families. Visitor visa fees rose by 60% last year to $341, yet many families are rejected for “vague” reasons, such as officials simply assuming they won’t return to their home country.

Re-applying is the only option: When a complaint fails, the applicant must pay the $341 fee again and buy new flights, often ending up in the same “square one” position.
Success at the Tribunal: Dalley points out that when decisions can be appealed (such as residence rejections), the Immigration and Protection Tribunal overturns more than one-third of them—suggesting a high error rate in initial INZ assessments.

⚖️ The Human Rights Deadlock

The lawyers also criticized a significant legal loophole: the Human Rights Act does not apply to immigration matters in New Zealand. This means the Human Rights Commission cannot investigate discrimination or unfair treatment in visa processing.

The only other path—a Judicial Review in the High Court—is prohibitively expensive for most families, costing tens of thousands of dollars.

The Lawyers’ Demands:

Independent Review: A mechanism to look at the merits of a visa application, not just the process.
Duty to Inquire: Requiring officers to ask for more info before declining if they are unsure.
Right of Reconsideration: Extending the right to have a second officer look at a file to offshore applicants.