Fake visas and jobs for sale in New Zealand’s latest immigration scam

Fraudulent foreign agents are contacting New Zealand employers to sell jobs and visas – and some have taken them up on the offer, immigration industry experts say.

Immigration consultants want to crack down on employers who have ‘business partnerships’ with foreign recruiters selling jobs.

And the Association for Migration and Investment says counterfeit visas are also in circulation, including one that appears to bear the signature of US star Oprah Winfrey.

Hundreds of companies that used employer-accredited work visas (AEWVs) are blacklisted or under investigation for various forms of scams and exploitation.

The Serious Fraud Office said it would not confirm or deny whether it had received complaints or opened an investigation, to protect the enforcement of the law and the right to a fair trial.

Auckland-based immigration consultant Brandon Han said foreign job sellers were operating outside the reach of New Zealand’s legal repercussions.

“Even I have been contacted so many times by agents from abroad, and they offer me huge money and ask if I have a job to sell.

“I have heard that many New Zealand employers have been approached with offers of funding and business partnerships.”

He declined to be approached and knows his employer clients did so as well, but spoke out to highlight shortcomings in the system. Other advisors in his network had all been approached in almost the same way by foreign recruiters.

Demand from migrants willing to pay for work made selling jobs extremely lucrative, and it is not illegal in some countries, he said. “In China you register to operate as an overseas ‘recruiter’. The government openly allows this and leaves pricing entirely to the free market.”

Han had heard that in some cases another organization facilitated the job sales.

Migrants buy jobs, but are exploited

“It’s like an intermediary who set up a company overseas to avoid New Zealand’s legal obligations and then built a bridge between the New Zealand employer and the big foreign recruiter. So you can see how the production line works .”

Critics have said the AEWV scheme, introduced during the Covid pandemic, had very few controls and allowed migrants to buy jobs and be exploited.

Han said underpayment of workers continued and that some migrants were complicit in cheating the system. “For example, they make up stories to apply for refugee status. This is an example of abuse of asylum applications. An intermediary approached me with many Chinese migrant workers who were willing to take this path.”

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford spoke to RNZ last week about a 70% increase in asylum applications in recent months and how the government would act to reduce those numbers.

Chair of immigration industry group NZAMI, Arunima Dhingra, agreed some migrants knew when their visas were fraudulent.

She said there was also an increase in reports of fake visas, including one with the logo of former Immigration Secretary Poto Williams and a signature claiming to be from Oprah Winfrey.

“I looked at it and thought, if you’re a migrant, you have to use your common sense. When you pay thousands of dollars for something, you’re starting off on the wrong foot in the first place.

“I sympathize with a lot of migrants who are being fooled, but to be honest, many will come here knowing it’s the wrong foot, but it works for them and that’s why they’ll accept it anyway.”

She said immigration consultants and lawyers had predicted the fraud problems and now wanted to help the government solve them before companies come up for reaccreditation again this winter.

“Immigration and the government have now been given a golden opportunity and a very small window to weed out employers who should not be accredited.

Legal action is being taken against a New Zealand-based immigration consultant accused of providing false or misleading information.

In a statement, INZ said selling jobs is an offense under the Immigration Act and employers could face penalties for compliance and enforcement actions.

“Immigration New Zealand only operates within our onshore jurisdiction, which means we have limited legal jurisdiction over parties acting illegally abroad,” said compliance and investigations manager Steve Watson.

“Selling jobs is a criminal offense in New Zealand as it falls under the migrant exploitation provisions under section 351 of the Immigration Act 2009.

“If an employer is found to have exploited the migrants it employs, it can be held accountable through a variety of compliance and enforcement actions. The Labor Inspectorate also investigates employers and organizations engaged in the exploitation of migrants and takes that into account.”

Immigration lawyer Richard Small said the elephant in the room, which had been ignored for years, was the need to make selling jobs a standalone criminal offence.

“Wage protection is only a civil issue, and that won’t deter the people who make thousands of dollars from these migrants.

“There is a hardcore New Zealand employer who is lining the ticket and unfortunately there are even some consultants who have built their business model on selling jobs.”

MBIE has received 2,384 complaints against recognized employers – 180 employers have already been stripped of their ability to recruit migrants and a further 183 investigations were ongoing.

A further 47 employers were assessed to have their accreditation withdrawn and 64 employers had their accreditation suspended.

More controls have now been introduced on businesses, jobs and migrants to tackle the problem of fraudulent schemes, but this has also increased visa processing times. Employers were told that INZ was trying to improve waiting times, but allow at least six weeks for the visa, in addition to six weeks for accreditation and a further three weeks for job checks.

rnz.co.nz