Potentially Prejudicial Information
Have you received a PPI (Potentially Prejudicial Information) letter from Immigration New Zealand?
This means that the immigration officer handling your case has some concerns regarding your residence or temporary visa application and they need you to provide some additional information.
Note that your immigration officer has not yet made a final decision on your case yet. The way you respond to your PPI letter has a huge bearing on the outcome of your visa application. If you do not do it correctly, your visa application may be rejected.
What is this PPI letter you have received?
Immigration New Zealand officer issues a PPI (Potentially Prejudicial Information) letter to identify the information that may have a negative effect on your submitted visa application.
You may be asked to provide evidence to establish authenticity of documents submitted by you, prove your employer’s ability to support your employment, alleviate concerns regarding your health or character, etc.
You need to work with a competent immigration adviser to make sure the response to PPI letter is correctly drafted to avoid rejection of your visa application.
Book a time now for a consultation with a licensed immigration adviser from our team to explore your best option.
Why are you receiving a PPI letter?
The immigration officer handling your application can issue the PPI letter for various reasons. For instance, they may have questions on genuineness of your reasons to stay in New Zealand, as per the visa category applied for. Or, maybe they have doubts related to your employment agreement.
Immigration New Zealand works under a requirement of “natural justice” and “fairness” that forbids it from denying a visa application when they uncover any “potentially prejudicial information”. Hence, the immigration department issues PPI letters to grant the applicants an opportunity to address any concerns or potential problems related to their visa application.
However, based on whether you are currently residing in New Zealand or not, these “natural justice” and “fairness” requirements work differently.
Onshore application
If you are in New Zealand, PPI is defined as data, material or information that may have an adverse effect on the outcome of your submitted application.
Offshore application
If you are not in New Zealand, PPI definition becomes a lot narrower for you. It is defined as data, material or information that:
- may have an adverse effect on the application’s outcome, and;
- was not directly received from the applicant or an appointed representative, and;
- the applicant has not had a prior opportunity to comment on, and;
- is not in public domain.
What this means is that your immigration officer is under NO obligation to send you a PPI letter unless the newly discovered, potentially prejudicial information satisfies all the above narrowed down criteria.
If the prejudicial information is revealed within the application but falls outside the scope as per the PPI definition for an offshore applicant, it may lead to declining of your visa application without you having an opportunity to respond to the problem.
What steps should you take on receiving a PPI letter?
You must reply to the PPI letter in a clear, comprehensive and logical manner along with supporting evidence and justification. Specific legal sections, that apply to your case, must be quoted in your PPI response to increase your chances of success.
Failure to do so can result in Immigration New Zealand declining your visa application. You will immediately become unlawful and will be deported if you are on an interim visa.
We, at NZ Immigration Help, have been helping our clients deliver successful responses to their PPI letters for many years.
We offer a consultation and answer all your questions patiently. Our goal is to be completely transparent about your options and chances of your success.
Our team of licensed immigration advisers is situated right here, in Auckland – so you can meet us face to face to discuss your case, whenever you like.
We have helped many clients with their complex immigration cases in the past and can do the same for you at a very reasonable rate.
So, go ahead and contact us for your best chance of getting a favourable response when responding to your PPI letter.
Do you want to discuss your case with our licensed immigration advisers?
Book a Consultation Now
