The office on Botany Road in East Auckland is often as crowded as a busy branch of Immigration New Zealand (INZ) with more people keen to snatch a few minutes of the owner’s time.
Yet, it usually takes up to three weeks to get an appointment with Sarfraz (Saif) Shaikh, Managing Director of Immigration Advice New Zealand Limited.
Processing their applications for business, work, student, residence and visit visas take time and effort but the Company’s reputation for honesty, integrity, forthrightness, transparency and high success rates bring an increasing number of customers to its doors in the Botany office or the inbox of Mr Saif’s computers.
His wife Anahita (Ana) shares his passion for quality service and offers genuine help to those in genuine need.
The Immigration Licencing regime (as often reported in this newspaper) is tough, and apart from obtaining a licence (renewable annually) immigration advisers are accountable for their service and behaviour towards clients and INZ, after obtaining the mandatory licence from the Immigration Advisers Authority.
Mrs Saif recently obtained a Provisional Licence, which allows her to handle some cases with the guidance of her husband.
“This has helped us to share the workload,” she said.
In a field that is so often wrought by people who promise more and deliver less or nothing, the Shaikhs are a breath of fresh air.
Honesty & Integrity
It is their honest approach and the ‘courage’ to inform clients not to proceed with an application to INZ when their case is weak, that distinguishes them from many other immigration advisers.
“It is better to inform clients not to waste their time and money, instead of giving them false hopes; such an approach helps no one, least of all immigration advisers, because our success depends on the reputation built over the years,” Mr Shaikh said.
Armed with a graduate degree in Commerce (BA), he worked in several government agencies including Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and Social Development Ministry.
Mrs Shaikh is a finance specialist and her qualifications (MBA in Finance) and finance and experience as Logistics and Stock Controller at a commercial organisation in New Zealand has proved to be useful for the business.
Tough beginning
The formative years of Immigration Advice New Zealand Limited were tough as they were the only employees, performing a variety of tasks and at the end of each day there were more files and people waiting for their attention.
Their sincerity and high rate of success have brought an increasing number of clients, and it was in their best interest that Mr Saif decided to add to his complement of staff.
Today, the firm has a complement of seven full-time staff and casual workers.
The concept of ‘Work is Worship’ and a company should be like a family appears to be true in the case of Immigration Advice New Zealand, for as the Shaikhs mentioned, they have had to force their staff on many days to leave for their homes following the close of business hours.
“We are blessed with a great team that has helped us to grow the business to become one of the top immigration advisers in New Zealand. Their dedication is a key factor in our tremendous growth,” they said.
Impressive clients
Mrs Shaikh is proud of their clients who include multinational companies, overseas businesses re-locating to New Zealand, overseas investors keen to invest in this country, education providers, international students, families and individuals.
She said that the areas of responsibility of the company are well defined.
“Saif meets clients and looks into the technical aspects of their situation. Once this is determined, my team and I take over the paperwork. This would include preparing the Agreement, ensuring that all documents are in order and lodging applications with Immigration New Zealand (INZ). We also monitor the turnaround period and the financial aspect of the business,” she said,
While love and understanding distinguish them as partners at home, it is strictly business and professional relationship at work.
“Sometimes we agree to disagree but both of us are aware of our responsibility towards our clients and work towards the same goal. We divide our areas of work from the first day in business,” Mr Shaikh said.
Supporting family
They have not yet found work-life balance that often eludes young couples who are together in business.
“It is work-in-progress! Between us and our parents we make sure that everything runs smoothly both at work and home,” Mr Saif said, to which his wife added, “This is one of the biggest advantages of couples working together. We are able to support each other at work and with family life.”
Both hope to find more time to spend with their five-year-old daughter Saniya and two-year old son Zayan.
About Couples in Partnership
This is a new column highlighting the success achieved by couples (one of them should be of Indian origin) who own, operate, manage and franchise a business or groups of businesses. If you are interested in being featured, please write to us with details. While we reserve the right to edit, rewrite or not publish materials received, we are committed to promoting our people, which are indeed the objectives of our other two brands- The Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards and the Indian Newslink Indian Sports Awards.
Email: editor@indiannewslink.co.nz
Photo :
Sarfraz (Saif) & Ana Shaikh
