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An examination of selected domestic and international issues in immigration and refugee law.
This course provides an introduction to immigration and refugee law in New Zealand, with particular focus on the Immigration Act 2009. The course will cover the basic features of the 2009 Act, with approximately half the course spent considering immigration issues and the other half of the course on refugee law. The refugee component of the course will review the international protections available under the Refugee Convention, and the associated protections under the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and their domestic equivalents - "refugee status" and "protected person status" in New Zealand. The immigration component of the course will include the following topics: visas, appeals, deportation and citizenship.Note: This course is unlikely to be offered in 2026.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:understand, interpret and apply the Immigration Act 2009, the Citizenship Act 1977 and the Immigration New Zealand Operational Manual;identify legal issues in immigration and refugee factual scenarios and construct responses to those issues;understand, interpret and apply New Zealand’s international human rights obligations in the context of immigration and refugee law; andreflect on the tensions between national interest and the rights of individuals evident in immigration and refugee law and policy.
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:
Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award
Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.
Globally aware
Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.
LAWS202-LAWS206
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Natalie Baird
Evelyn Dyer
Assessment tasks and dates will be confirmed in the first week of lectures.
Doug Tennent, Katy Armstrong, Peter Moses; Immigration and refugee law ; Revised 3rd edition; LexisNexis, Wellington, 2017.
Domestic fee $946.00
International fee $4,850.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Faculty of Law .