The Case Office Lottery

There is an unfortunate truth in the world of visas, which is not specific to New Zealand, but applicable to any immigration system, where human beings are involved in making decisions that impact on other peoples lives - that truth is that the outcome and the process involved to reach that outcome are very heavily influenced by the person who ends up processing the application.

You can have one set of rules, one set of standard operating procedures and one organisation in charge of all of it and yet, applicants of a similar background with similar situations can end up experiencing the process and coming out the other side, in very, very different ways.

The reality is, that despite attempts by most countries, New Zealand included, to automate visa processing, and to remove the inconsistency that the human element brings, people are still required to decide complex and unusual applications. People are different and immigration case officers (IO’s) are some of the most different you will ever encounter.

This then creates the potential for some very strange things to happen and we experienced that this week, on behalf of an existing client. With a case officer, demanding information that wasn’t necessary to my clients application, and being deliberately obstructive in the process - not to mention being wrong on most counts. It takes a lot to get me wound up, having dealt with hundreds of immigration officers over the years, but this one did have me a little more than frustrated.