Making dreams happen for immigrants

By ELLEN READ

Thirty years after immigrating to New Zealand, Paul Eggleton has built an unusual but thriving business helping others do the same.

His company, Bay of Islands Immigration Consulting, sorts out the paperwork for prospective migrants, tourists, students and temporary workers.

Eggleton is the country's only mobile immigration consultant and working in Northland means he regularly visits clients on their boats or even at the beach.

It sounds idyllic, but working for himself means long hours and being prepared to travel.

A typical day begins with checking the email at 7.30am. Phones are switched on at 8am, when he begins preparing a client submission to the NZ Immigration Service. At 9am Eggleton leaves for Whangarei, where he's preparing a work permit application at 10.30am. A new client is signed up for residency at 11am, followed, at noon, by a final meeting with a local employer about immigration accreditations.

At 1pm Eggleton meets an electorate secretary for a local MP to discuss an immigration problem a constituent is having. At 1.30pm Eggleton helps a local employer with an employment agreement for a prospective migrant. At 2.30pm he's in Hikurangi, arranging an indefinite returning-resident visa application. By 4pm Eggleton's back at home, where he attends to urgent mail before knocking off about 7pm.

That's not the end of his day though. As the local Justice of the Peace he's likely to spend the evening signing forms for people or, in his marriage celebrant role, discussing upcoming nuptials. And reading up on new immigration law.

It's not surprising then that this time next year he plans to be fully retired - having sold the business - fishing, visiting his four grandchildren and officiating at the occasional wedding.

Eggleton and his wife, Lynley, set up Bay of Islands Immigration in 1994 - when he "semi-retired" - and they run it from their home in Okiato Point, near Russell.

The couple picked the spot because Lynley is from the area.

Eggleton's long and varied career began in the British police force. Once in New Zealand, he was employed in sales jobs before joining the Labour Department in the 1980s. There, he worked in corporate training "before Rogernomics canned the Industrial Training Service".

In his next role, with the Immigration Department, he was setting up early computer systems and, in 1987, introducing the country's first automated visa-issuing systems.

During the Gulf War, Eggleton set up forensic document examination units in Auckland and at Auckland Airport before moving on to teach immigration law both in New Zealand and at New Zealand immigration offices overseas, including in Beijing, Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Sydney and Suva.

Eggleton's favourite parts of his job involve dealing with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds and getting that permit which makes their dreams come true.

"I get a buzz from reading a news report of a success story or noting a particular promotion and being able to say, hey, that's one of my clients," he said.

The downsides were the Government's timing of legislative changes and its long decision-making processes.

"The experience over the past few years of constant changing legislation has made it difficult to plan ahead and budget with any degree of certainty", Eggleton said.

Another niggle is visa officers who do not have the experience or understanding to make decisions based on such things as financial reports.

It would also make things a lot easier for small businesses if work permits could be issued quickly and for a period of six months or so, he said. This would allow businesses to continue trading or to get up and running quickly.

"Most of our client businesses are small in Northland and this often gets overlooked by immigration officers who are used to dealing with large employers in the Auckland business district."