This is your chance to play a key role in shaping New Zealand. Immigration has the potential to improve the quality of skills available in our workplaces, reunite families and impact on the cultural mix of our communities.

You'll receive full training and work in a supportive, team-oriented environment. And if you prove yourself in this role, you'll be given plenty of opportunities to progress. Growth possibilities include team leadership, relationship management and career advancement.

Opportunities exist in our Contact Centres and in branches located across the country.

Customer Service Officers in the Immigration Contact Centre

Working at the Immigration Contact Centre means dealing with people from different countries and different cultures. People call the Contact Centre to find out how their application is progressing and with general inquiries around working and living in New Zealand.

Every call is different. The Officers are making a real difference to the people they serve. The main focus for questions is on visas and permits. There can be questions about policy and procedures, how to fill in the form, what different questions mean, and which kind of visa to apply for. The Customer Service Officers have the support of Senior Customer Service Officers who provide assistance with more complex inquiries.

This role is all about people, so you need to have really strong customer service skills. You need to be able to explain complex procedures to people in layman's terms, without getting frustrated. It is a challenging role, we are, after all, assisting people with completing the necessary procedures to move to a new country.

An important part of the culture at the Contact Centre is to make sure staff find a healthy work/life balance. The work is about resolving problems on the spot, therefore you rarely need to take work home with you. The Immigration Contact Centre operates Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm, with six rotational shifts.

People here never stop learning and there are workshops to keep up to date with current policy. In terms of career development, there are opportunities to become a Senior Customer Services officer or an Immigration Officer in one of the branches.

Immigration Officers

Working days in an Immigration Office are spent processing applications for different visas and work permits, such as visitor permits and residency applications.

Immigration Officers are well trained; they first take a five day course to become a warranted Officer. Then there is lots of ongoing training on the practical side of the job, such as letter writing, interviewing skills and customer service.

Each Officer is assigned a caseload and has different targets to reach. Every case is different. This means a universal approach cannot be applied to all applications, each case needs to be handled with its own sensitivities. It's important to be a people person, with an open mind and the ability to understand different cultures.

The main challenge in handling each case is to remain professional and to not let personal feelings cloud your judgment. Officers face lots of different scenarios, where investigative skills are important like marriages of convenience, or receipt of incomplete information.

There's a collegial feel within the branches. Staff are supportive, many of the Officers feel it is like a ‘big family', where everyone looks out for each other and enjoys their work.

Officers who treat the role as a career and not just a job, can go far. There's a clear path for development with opportunities to move into the role of a Technical Advisor.

Immigration Technical Advisor

Technical Advisors give specialist advice and expertise to Immigration Officers on more complex immigration cases. Because of the specialist expertise required. Advisors are employed from within our teams.

As well as giving guidance to other immigration staff in the office, they are often called upon to consult on difficult situations, this includes making a decision to call in external agencies where required.

The scenarios they face can be quite distressing, for example, families of ten living in a garage with no electricity and unwell people who have over-stayed their visas.

It's important to be the kind of person that sees the human side of things. Life skills are crucial, because Advisors need to understand human motivations and different cultures. These skills allow Advisors to understand the unique elements of each case.

The challenge is to be consistently fair. Advisors must stand back from the situation and decide what is best for the individuals and for New Zealand.