So wrote the Public Service Commission in its review report "Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme".

The scheme was established in July 2022 after COVID-related border closures resulted in a desperate shortage of workers.

To shorten visa processing times, Immigration reduced the number of checks immigration officers would normally undertake before making decisions.

The Commission's review found that the newly established scheme led to migrant workers being able to buy jobs. The "employers" they'd bought the jobs from exploited them when they arrived in New Zealand.

The whistleblower

Last August, in an anonymous letter to the former Immigration Minister, a whistleblower alleged exploitation.

In it concern was expressed about the fast-track visa processes Immigration NZ was following.

The former Minister was concerned. He wanted to know if Standard Operating Procedures were being followed properly as he'd been given to understand.

Jenn Bestwick led the Public Service Commission's investigation into the allegations mentioned in the letter.

The Commission's report

Bestwick's subsequent investigation and report into whether Immigration NZ had mitigated the risk of migration exploitation found much to be concerned about.

It found that while reducing the checks was reasonable under the circumstances, Immigration didn't adequately assess the risk and impact the changes could have on visa abuse.

It resulted in ineligible employers being granted officially accredited employer status and some workers never being paid. Various other abuses occurred.

When Immigration staff raised concerns, their managers "failed to pay adequate attention" the review found.

But initial concerns staff raised about exploitation were too general to act on. This was a comment from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive Carolyn Tremain, who has overall responsibility for Immigration.

Not so, the Commission report says.

It says multiple staff members raised concerns with senior managers.

They were especially concerned that migrants had paid large amounts of money to secure a job and visa, and were giving scripted responses to officials to conceal this fact.

These staff members told the Commission they felt the responses from senior management were dismissive and the issues they were raising were "swept under the carpet".

Deputy Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott says changes to the scheme did not work as intended and ,though unscrupulous employers exploited migrants, the risk could have been mitigated.

"Immigration could have and should have done more to minimise the risk of that happening" she says.

She says Tremain is undertaking the necessary changes to the scheme to ensure it better protects migrant workers coming into the country.

"I expect the chief executive will continue to make improvements in line with the recommendations identified in the report. And the chief executive has assured me this will happen" she says.

Dozens and dozens investigated

Tremain says she has been "very clear" with the Head of Immigration about her expectations.

There are 174 investigations underway and one licensed immigration advisor is facing prosecution.

Tremain says some 145 have had their accreditation revoked and 53 have had their accreditation suspended.

Of 33,000 accredited employers, she says post-accreditation checks have been conducted on 2,700.

Source

• Otago Daily Times
• Radio New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand

Concerned Immigration staff say employers are being allowed to bring in migrants without any paperwork or financial checks, even when immigration officers fear jobs may be fake, paid for with illegal premiums, or the migrants will be exploited.

Instead, they say, they've been told to focus on faster processing times.Read more

Most of the operations with Cobwebs Technologies are being kept secret, but one government organisation they are working with is Immigration NZ.

Cobwebs was one of seven foreign companies accused in late 2021 by tech giant Meta of setting up fake accounts to spy on almost 50,000 people. The targets included journalists, human rights activists, politicians and others in more than 100 countries.

Meta, formerly Facebook, reported it had identified "customers" of Cobwebs in at least seven countries, including New Zealand.

"In addition to collecting information about their targets, the accounts used by Cobwebs' customers also engaged in social engineering to join closed communities and forums and trick people into revealing personal information," the report claimed.

Cobwebs was set up in 2015 by ex-Israeli defence special forces members and is now based in New York.

RNZ forced officials in New Zealand to release information about their own dealings with Cobwebs for the first time by appealing to the Ombudsman.

The OIA documents released this week show Immigration NZ has been a customer of Cobwebs for about two years.

Immigration NZ required the firm to be able to covertly collect data including people's "political information" and "religious preference", the documents show.

It also has to be able to collect banking, health and family relationships information for Immigration.

To get the contract, it was required by Immigration NZ to leave no trace behind and totally protect analysts' identities.

RNZ understands police have trained with Immigration on Cobwebs tools.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the Cobwebs operations were legal, closely controlled and vital.

They helped it meet its "legislative responsibilities", in an undefined but "specific" area where there were active threats, the ministry told RNZ in its OIA response.

Cobwebs' work is the latest example to come to light in the public sector of an approach known overseas as "surveillance for hire".

Others include New Zealand Police accessing private CCTV camera footage; and Internal Affairs setting up a master agreement to hire facial recognition services.

Meta, in its investigation into spyware makers, claimed Cobwebs activates counterfeit accounts for its clients that conduct surveillance online.

Source

RNZ

Arianna Alfonzo, 12, is autistic and communicates through body language and gestures.

Her father, Allan, has been living and working in New Zealand since 2016. He and his wife, Gail, received their permanent residence visas in 2017.

However, Arianna's visa was rejected in 2018 due to the acceptable standard of health policy. She and her mother have been living in the Philippines since then, unable to immigrate to New Zealand. Read more

With the staged border re-opening announced last month, visa waiver travellers from countries like the United Kingdom, United States and Canada will be able to hop on a plane for Auckland or Christchurch. Read more

It's a move that has disappointed a disability advocate, who says people with Down syndrome contribute to their communities, and not all have additional medical needs.

The 17-year-old Indian citizen, whose name is suppressed, came to New Zealand on a visitor visa in 2016 with her parents and younger sister.

In 2017, her parents and sister were granted residence, and in 2019 they were granted permanent residence. Read more