Fast-growing law firm K3 Legal has formed an alliance with immigration experts, Pathways NZ, to provide additional services to benefit both of their client lists.
While Covid-19 put the brakes on this year, immigration is likely to be a growth area in 2021 as international students, seasonal employees and business people look to head to New Zealand.
K3 Legal director Edwin Morrison said today: “In addition to our extensive Kiwi clientele, K3 has a lot of Asian and American clients, so if anyone needs expert immigration advice we will now be referring them to Pathways. And, if any of their clients need legal support, they will send them our way. K3 can also offer their customers accounting and consulting advice too.”
The two companies have been working together loosely for about a year but are now firming up their arrangement.
Morrison said K3 and Pathways had collaborated very well on a number of projects recently and it made sense to forge a closer alliance. “We’re two businesses at the top of our respective games and we’re looking forward to our alignment offering clients an even better and more seamless experience. Given more than 40% of Auckland residents are born overseas and New Zealand is increasingly seen as a safe haven, we expected a lot of growth in 2021.”
K3 is based in Auckland, while Pathways NZ has offices in Hamilton and Wellington. www.k3.co.nz www.pathwaysnz.com
Pathways managing director Richard Howard said: “All we do is immigration so K3 Legal will send us any front-end immigration work, such as visa applications. And, in return, we will send them any work that eventuates off the back of that, such as employment, property, commercial or relationship law.”
With 12 licensed immigration advisers, Pathways is the second-largest company in the industry in New Zealand. Howard has been working in immigration for almost 30 years and is a life member and past chairman of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI). He was at the helm when the industry was registered in 2008, and his team has more than 125 years of combined immigration experience.
“We’ve been doing this a long time and estimate we’ve helped more than 20,000 people with their immigration requirements. While China and India have made up the majority of clients in the past, largely because of international students coming here, in the past five years we have helped people from 110 different countries.”
Howard said many people didn’t realise most immigration work was carried out “in country”. At Pathways, “85% of our business is helping people who are already in New Zealand to extend, change or upgrade their visas”.
New Zealand continues to be a coveted destination for migrants. Statistics NZ numbers show that, in the year to June 2019, New Zealand’s net gain was 11.4 migrants per 1,000 population, compared to six in Australia and four in both the UK and USA.
