You've Paid an Immigration Scammer: What to Do Now
Start by establishing one thing: was the person licensed? If they were, the Registrar of Immigration Advisers can act and the Tribunal can order them to refund their fees. If they were never licensed, it is a criminal matter for the Immigration Advisers Authority. That single question decides everything you do next.
Quick Facts
| First step | Search the person's name on the IAA register: app.mbieregisters.govt.nz, from www.iaa.govt.nz. Free |
| If they were licensed | Complaint to the Registrar of Immigration Advisers. The Tribunal can cancel a licence and order a refund of fees |
| If they were never licensed | A criminal offence. The Immigration Advisers Authority prosecutes |
| Unlicensed advice | Up to NZ$100,000 and/or 7 years' imprisonment, paid or unpaid |
| Falsely claiming to be licensed | Up to NZ$10,000 and/or 2 years' imprisonment |
| Effect on your application | Naming an unlicensed adviser means INZ will refuse to accept or will decline it |
| Money paid to INZ | Not refunded once an application is processed, even if declined. The International Visitor Levy is never refunded |
| A reseller's markup | Went to a private company, not the New Zealand government. INZ cannot refund it |
| INZ's anti-scam page | Returned a 404 error in August 2026. Use the IAA register instead |
| Checked | August 2026 |
Before anything else
You are probably reading this at a bad moment, so here is the short version.
Most of what happens next depends on facts you can establish in about ten minutes, for free. Do not send more money to anyone, including anyone offering to recover the first payment. Do not delete the messages, invoices or receipts — they are the evidence. And do not withdraw a lodged application on impulse, because withdrawal after lodgement is one of the situations where INZ does not refund.
The order below matters. Doing step three before step one wastes effort, because the answer to step one changes what step three even is.
Step 1: Find out whether they were ever licensed
Search the person's name on the Immigration Advisers Authority public register at:
https://app.mbieregisters.govt.nz/iaa/ui/start/searchForAnOccupationalRegistration
Reach it from www.iaa.govt.nz. It is free. Search the individual's name, not just the company's, because licences are held by people. If a name search fails, try the surname alone and any alternative spelling.
Three possible outcomes, and they lead to three different pages of this site:
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| They are on the register | They are a licensed adviser and the Code of Conduct applies. The complaints route is open, and the Tribunal can order a refund |
| They are not on the register, but are a New Zealand lawyer | Lawyers with a current practising certificate are exempt from IAA licensing and never appear on that register. Complaints go to the New Zealand Law Society instead |
| They are not on the register and not a lawyer | They may not lawfully give New Zealand immigration advice. This is a criminal matter, not a Code complaint |
A full walkthrough of the register is in how to check an immigration adviser's licence.
Step 2: Work out what you actually bought
"Immigration scam" covers several different transactions with very different consequences. Identify yours.
| What happened | The practical position |
|---|---|
| You paid a reseller a markup for an NZeTA or visa | You probably still hold a valid NZeTA or a lodged application. The markup went to a private company; INZ cannot refund it |
| You paid an unlicensed person for advice | The advice was given unlawfully. If they are named on your application, the application is in danger |
| You paid for "faster processing" | You bought something that does not exist. INZ publishes no expedited or premium channel at any price |
| You paid for a job offer | Employment supporting a visa must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment. Paying for it makes it unacceptable for immigration purposes |
| You paid on a lookalike government site | Check whether an application or NZeTA request actually exists, before anything else |
| You paid after a "decline letter" or a phone call | INZ has warned about fabricated visa-denial letters. Check your real status in your own account |
Step 3: Check what state your application is actually in
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that determines how much is genuinely at stake.
Log in to your own Immigration Online account — by typing the address yourself, not by following a link in any email — and look at the real status of any application or NZeTA request. See how to check your visa application status.
What you are looking for:
- Does an application or NZeTA request exist at all? If you paid a site and nothing was ever lodged, that is a different situation from an overpriced but genuine lodgement.
- Is an adviser named on it? If an unlicensed person is named, INZ will refuse to accept or will decline the application. That is INZ's stated position.
- Has a decision already been made? This determines whether any refund is even theoretically available, because INZ does not refund once an application has been processed.
If a fabricated letter or message triggered all this, compare it against what your account actually says. The account is the record; an email is not.
Step 4: Report it to the right body
Where you report depends entirely on the answer from Step 1.
If the person was licensed. Complaints about a licensed immigration adviser go to the Registrar of Immigration Advisers, who handles complaints and may refer them to the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal. The Tribunal can make decisions including cancelling an adviser's licence and ordering an adviser to refund their fees. That refund power is the single most useful thing in this entire process, and it exists only for licensed advisers. The process is in how to complain about an immigration adviser.
If the person was never licensed. This is not a Code of Conduct complaint, because the Code does not apply to them. It is a criminal offence, carrying up to NZ$100,000 and/or seven years' imprisonment — and the offence applies whether or not they charged you. The Immigration Advisers Authority is the body that prosecutes, and it is where the report goes. Falsely claiming to be licensed is a separate offence carrying up to NZ$10,000 and/or two years.
If it was a website rather than a person. There may be no identifiable individual and no licensing question at all. Report it to the New Zealand consumer and fraud reporting agencies and to your payment provider. Do not send further money to anyone who contacts you afterwards offering recovery.
Do not send readers, or yourself, to INZ's anti-scam page: it returned a 404 error when checked in August 2026 while still appearing in search results.
Step 5: Try the payment route in parallel
Reporting and recovery are different processes and they run at different speeds. Start both.
- Card payments may be disputable through your bank or card issuer. Time limits apply and they are short, so do this early rather than after the complaint concludes.
- Bank transfers are much harder to reverse. Contact your bank immediately regardless.
- Gift cards and cryptocurrency are, realistically, not recoverable. If someone asked for payment in either, that itself was the clearest possible signal — no New Zealand government charge is ever paid that way.
Keep every receipt, invoice, message and screenshot. A complaint or a chargeback both stand or fall on documentation, and screenshots of a website that later changes are often the only proof that it said what it said.
What is not recoverable, and why
It is better to know this now than to spend three months pursuing it.
A reseller's markup cannot be recovered from INZ. If you paid US$149 for an NZeTA that costs NZ$117 to NZ$123, the difference went to a private company. It never reached the New Zealand government, and INZ has no power over it.
INZ does not refund a processed application. INZ's published position is that no refund is available where an application or request has been processed, even if it was declined. Nor for financial hardship, nor for changing your mind, nor for withdrawing after lodgement.
The International Visitor Levy is never refunded. Not on decline, not on withdrawal.
Refunds from INZ do exist, but for a narrow list of situations — you paid a fee you did not need to pay, you paid the wrong fee, your application was not accepted and was returned, or it was never processed. See visa fee refunds explained.
Step 6: Deal with the application itself
This is where a page like this one has to stop being useful, and it is important to be honest about why.
If an unlicensed adviser is named on a live application, or if information supplied by someone else on your behalf turns out to be false, your options depend entirely on your own facts. Setting out which option you should take would be tailoring immigration information to your circumstances — which is the exact conduct the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 regulates, and which we are not licensed to do.
What we can tell you is what exists:
- Reconsideration of a declined temporary visa is an internal INZ review costing NZ$220 — see reconsideration of a declined temporary visa.
- Appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal applies to residence class visa decisions, not temporary ones. Confirm your own deadline from your decision letter and from the Tribunal, not from any website. See Immigration and Protection Tribunal appeals.
- False or misleading information in an application has its own consequences, which are set out in false or misleading information in a visa application.
If someone else filled in your form and you do not know what they wrote, that is a situation where advice from a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer is worth the fee. This time, check the register first.
How to make sure it does not happen twice
- Search the name on the IAA register before any money moves. It is free and takes a minute.
- Type
immigration.govt.nzyourself rather than clicking search results. Official INZ addresses end in.immigration.govt.nz. - Remember there is no paid fast lane. Any offer of a quicker decision for money is not an INZ service.
- Get the scope of work and the fee in writing before engaging anyone — see what immigration advisers charge in New Zealand.
- Never hand over your RealMe login. Advisers use their own account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a refund if I was scammed by a fake immigration adviser?
If the person was licensed, the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal can order them to refund their fees. If they were never licensed, there is no refund power in the licensing system — it becomes a criminal matter, and recovery runs through your payment provider and the fraud reporting agencies.
Will INZ refund my visa fee if I was scammed?
No. INZ does not refund the application fee or levies once an application has been processed, even where it is declined, and the International Visitor Levy is never refunded. Money paid to a third party never reached INZ.
What happens to my application if my adviser was not licensed?
INZ's position is that where an application names an adviser who is not on the register, it will refuse to accept or will decline the application. Check whether that person is named on your file as your first move.
Who do I report a fake immigration adviser to in New Zealand?
The Immigration Advisers Authority, which prosecutes unlicensed immigration advice. If the person was licensed, the complaint goes to the Registrar of Immigration Advisers instead and may be referred to the Tribunal.
I paid an NZeTA website too much. Did I still get a real NZeTA?
Usually yes — most resellers do lodge the request. Check your NZeTA status through official channels. The markup is not recoverable from INZ, because it went to a private company rather than to the New Zealand government.
Is it a crime to give immigration advice without a licence in New Zealand?
Yes. It carries up to NZ$100,000 and/or seven years' imprisonment, and the offence applies whether or not the person charged for the advice. Falsely claiming to be licensed is a separate offence carrying up to NZ$10,000 and/or two years.
Should I withdraw my application?
That depends on facts specific to you, and answering it would be immigration advice rather than general information, which we are not licensed to give. Note only that INZ does not refund an application withdrawn after lodgement, and that a licensed adviser or a New Zealand lawyer can advise on your actual position.
