25/02/18 - NZ's skills shortage may have contributed to illegal workers

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There are suggestions the extent of our shortage in skilled labourers could have opened up space for illegal workers to infiltrate the construction sector.

It comes after nearly 200 illegal workers from Malaysia were deported or stopped at the border during an Immigration swoop.

Many worked under the table as third-tier subcontractors.

The Specialist Trade Contractors Association says law-abiding companies can't compete with the prices under-the-table workers might offer.

And president Graham Burke says they're already struggling to get the staff numbers they need and making it easier for legit companies to bring labour into the country could minimise issues around illegal workers

"It makes me quite angry actually because the vast majority of the businesses in the sector are law-abiding, they are playing plenty of tax, they are training young New Zealanders.

"If Immigration NZ was able to make the process a little bit simpler for good employers it may mean that the market wouldn't encourage this kind of behaviour."

(Source: Newstalk ZB Staff)

24/02/18 - Raids on Auckland construction sites stops nearly 200 illegal workers

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EXCLUSIVE: Immigration New Zealand investigation targets 10 companies, finds 15 immigration fraudsters previously deported.

Nearly 200 illegal Malaysian workers were deported - or stopped at the border - following a six month investigation into Auckland's construction industry.

Operation Spectrum also uncovered a weakness in border security where 15 people previously deported or fled from New Zealand, were able to return under new identities.

Many of these immigration fraudsters registered companies in New Zealand, then recruited other unlawful workers as plasterers, painters, tilers or carpenters. They worked as third-tier subcontractors, below the radar of developers and site managers.

There was little evidence of workers living in poor conditions, or being exploited against their will. Most were paid just $20 to $40 an hour in cash - paying no tax - so those running the underground crews were able to win contracts by undercutting the prices of legitimate competitors.

"It was common to hear 'we got paid every Thursday by a man in a black Audi'," said Alistair Murray, who manages investigations and compliance for Immigration New Zealand.

"We are talking significant cash flow, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

READ MORE: Tradies say NZ's skills shortage lead to illegal immigrants

"So Kiwis are being cut out of jobs. Legitimate Kiwi businesses trying to contract in that market, can't compete with those rates. It's not a level playing field."

Immigration New Zealand investigators drew a target list of 10 companies to disrupt the flow of illegal workers from Malaysia, who were responding to advertisements on social media.

Staff raided construction sites around Auckland and detained and deported 54 people.

On one occasion, at least 20 illegal workers fled and scattered through the streets of Mt Wellington.

"They just scarpered, disappeared when we turned up," said Murray.

"Even on the most simple of sites, it was a massive exercise to do a floor-by-floor sweep with two people blocking each exit. We'd find people hiding in fire exits, stairwells, ceiling cavities.

"Or sometimes they were in the middle of plastering a wall and we'd tap them on the shoulder to say: 'You've been here unlawfully for 10 years, time to go home'."

Another 36 people fled the country before they were caught, while 15 who had visas to live in New Zealand - but not to work - were served with deportation liability notices.

On average, those 105 people had each lived here unlawfully for 5 years.

One had been here for two decades.

"They're living here, enjoying the benefits of New Zealand," said Murray.

"Cutting legitimate businesses out of work. And not one of them paying tax."

Another 85 would-be illegal workers were stopped at the New Zealand border, or sometimes before they even stepped foot on the plane to carry them here.

In total, 190 people were stopped over the course of a six-month period.

Out of those, Operation Spectrum uncovered 15 who had previously been deported, or fled New Zealand before they were caught, but returned under a new identity.

"The ability of someone to be deported, change identity, and be back quickly is a concern," said Murray.

"Because we don't know who is here."

Just two went on to obtain permanent residency; the rest were deported again.

Murray said improved collection of biometric data, such as fingerprints, facial recognition software and database checks by Immigration NZ staff means more dual identities are much more likely to be picked up.

One of the pair who obtained permanent residency under his new identity has now pleaded guilty to immigration fraud.

Adam Gan Bin Abdullah, 39, appeared in the Manukau District Court this week where he narrowly avoided going to prison.

Abdullah, a builder by trade, was deported from New Zealand in 2012 under his previous name of Meng Kuang Gan.

He changed his name in Malaysia after marrying a Muslim woman, as is the custom, and returned to New Zealand the following year.

Abdullah repeatedly failed to declare his previous name or deportation, eventually obtaining permanent residency here until being caught in Operation Spectrum.

This is likely to be revoked and led to a second deportation, his lawyer Michael Kan told the court.

By a "fine margin", Judge John Bergseng agreed with Kan's submissions that Abdullah should be sentenced to home detention.

He will serve 10 months at an address in Flat Bush.

"Truthful declarations are the cornerstone of the New Zealand immigration system. Your offending directly challenged this," said Judge Bergseng.

"You had a deliberate plan to deceive. This was clearly premeditated, fraudulent and repeated. Having been successful once, you thought you'd get away with it again."

(Source: Jarad Savage, NZ Herald )

09/02/18 - Application lodged for 174 foreign worker visas for Park Hyatt Hotel

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Immigration NZ has only just received an application for foreign workers from a local subsidiary of a Beijing-based property developer, which has publicly said it wants up to 200 Chinese workers to help build a high-end Auckland hotel.

In response to Radio New Zealand queries yesterday, developer Fu Wah said it intended to bring in the foreign workers because of a skills shortage in the construction sector.

Fu Wah wants the workers to help finish the $200 million-plus Park Hyatt Hotel on Auckland's waterfront, expected to be finished by March next year.

Following media reports, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway sought clarity from Immigration NZ that the application for work visas was legitimate and in an area of genuine need.

Today he released an aide memoir from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showing that Fu Wah had only informed Immigration NZ of its intentions yesterday.

"On 8 February, 2018, Fu Wah New Zealand's lawyer provided Immigration NZ with a copy of a cover letter for an Approval in Principle application, which they plan on submitting on behalf of their client in the near future," the memoir said.

The cover letter stated that Fu Wah New Zealand has set up a joint venture company with LBY New Zealand Construction, a subsidiary of LBY China. The company wants to bring in 174 experienced workers from China to work with about 100 local workers for the "fit-out" phase of the project.

But the letter does not specify the dates for when the workers will be needed.

It is understood Immigration NZ received the formal application this morning.

The aide memoir notes that the application will be processed in consultation with Work and Income, industry training organisations and the Council of Trade Unions.

Fu Wah New Zealand has supported visa applications for 37 other people since March 2015, mostly for general business visas. These allow visitors to be in New Zealand for up to three months for business meetings and negotiations, but they are not considered to be in employment in New Zealand.

Yesterday Lees-Galloway conceded there was a shortage of skills in the construction sector.

"The previous government failed to invest in the skills that New Zealanders need to participate in that sector."

Government policies including having a year of fees-free post-secondary education and the He Poutama Rangatahi employment scheme - $13 million to get 2000 young people into work in the regions - would help upskill the labour market, he said.

The Government also plans to introduce the KiwiBuild Visa to help build 100,000 affordable homes in 10 years. The visa would bring in up to 1500 foreign workers, conditional on taking on a local apprentice for each foreign worker.

"Where there are genuine skills shortages, and employers need to get workers and to use immigration to get workers, that's where we'll make sure the system works for them," Lees-Galloway said.

(Source NZ Herald, Derek Chang)

07/02/18 - Unemployment hits nine-year low

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Unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in nine years.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent in the December 2017 quarter, down from 4.6 percent last quarter, Statistics NZ said.

The rate still sits higher than New Zealand's lowest-ever unemployment level of 3.3 percent, recorded just before the global financial crisis.

The last time the rate was this low was in December 2008, when it was 4.4 percent.

Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the December result was stronger than expected.

"The June quarter survey showed zero employment growth and a drop in the participation rate, followed by a surge in both measures in the September quarter," he said.

"The continued rise in employment in the December quarter - by more than we expected - tips the evidence more in favour of the June quarter survey being an understatement."

However, the under-utilisation rate - which includes people who are employed but may be looking for more hours - was 12.1 percent, or 340,000 people.

Labour market and household statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said that rate was just as important as the unemployment rate.

"Underutilisation is a broader measure than unemployment alone," he said.

"For example, [it includes] a university student looking for a job in anticipation of graduating, or a parent who has recently returned to the workforce looking to work more days."

While unemployment among men was steady, the rate among women fell from 5.3 percent to 5.0 percent.

The labour cost index - the amount wages and salaries increased overall - rose 1.8 percent.

Statistics NZ said that increase was partly driven by the pay equity settlement for care workers, which was passed into law last year.

The Reserve Bank reviews its official cash rate tomorrow, but Mr Gordon said today's employment numbers would not be a shock.

"The fall in the unemployment rate is in line with their November MPS projections, and the lack of a pickup in wage growth is in line with the RBNZ's concerns about a new low-inflation era," he said.

The OCR was expected to stay on hold all year at a record-low 1.75 percent.

(Source RNZ)

07/02/18 - JP accuses Immigration NZ of employing 'spies' in China who deny visas over Falun Gong links

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A Justice of the Peace is accusing Immigration New Zealand of employing Chinese "spies" in its China offices.

Poutama Tsoi, who has been helping China nationals with their immigration matters, says applicants linked to Falun Gong - a banned spiritual group in China - are being denied tourist visas to enter New Zealand.

"We are not talking about just members of Falun Gong but also their relatives, and they get declined even if they list an agent or a family member in New Zealand who is linked to Falun Gong," Tsoi said.

"INZ staff are employed through a central government agency, it is unwittingly employing spies who abide by China rules rather than New Zealand's."

The agency confirmed that all Chinese nationals working for INZ were employed through Chinese Government agencies, but that it does its own advertising, recruitment and selection of staff.

INZ has 115 Chinese nationals working in its Beijing office and 90 in its Shanghai branch.

Tsoi currently has four cases pending - one of whom has been fighting since 2013 to get visitor visas for relatives from China to visit them in New Zealand.

But INZ area manager Marcelle Foley rejected the claim that people linked with Falun Gong were being denied visas.

"INZ does not ask applicants about their religious or personal beliefs and in any event this has no bearing on whether or not a visa is granted, as long as we are satisfied that the applicant intends a temporary stay for tourism purposes and that they are of good character and meet health requirements," Foley said.

"The onus is on the applicant to satisfy INZ that they meet these requirements."

Foley said the China visitor market was one of New Zealand's largest and most valuable, and about 97 per cent of visa applicants get approved.

Last year 410,130 Chinese visitor applications were processed offshore, mainly in China, and 12,320 were declined.

Over the same period, 25,499 applications were processed in New Zealand and 402 failed to get approved.

"A visitor visa is generally granted for tourism purposes and enables an initial temporary visit for Chinese applicants of up to three months," Foley said.

"(It) enables people to visit New Zealand for a holiday or to visit friends and family."

Flatbush businesswoman and Falun Gong practitioner Jasmine Wang, 40, said none of her relatives have been able to get visas to visit New Zealand — including an uncle, aunt and a cousin.

Her 65-year-old mother, Fang Ling Wang, was granted refugee status in New Zealand because of her close links to the movement.

In the letter declining her uncle's application, INZ said: "We are unable to be satisfied that you have provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that you are a bona fide applicant who genuinely intends a temporary stay in NZ for a lawful purpose."

Wang believed her uncle had met all requirements for a visitor visa.

"How do you prove intent and being bona fide when INZ already have this preconceived idea that they intend to overstay just because they have relatives who are Falun Gong members," Wang added.

(Source NZHerald, Lincoln Tan)

30/01/18 - Tourism boom set to continue but worries about shortage of Kiwi workers

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A major study of the tourism industry shows businesses are confident the boom will continue but remain worried about infrastructure gaps and a shortage of Kiwis to work in the sector.

The survey of more than 350 businesses for Tourism Industry Aotearoa finds 62 per cent of businesses expect their results will improve during the next year in a sector that is the country's top foreign exchange earner.

In the year ended March 2017 international arrivals were up 8.9 per cent to more 3.5 million, the fifth successive year of growth. Overall visitor spend is rising at a slower rate, up 1.9 per cent to $35.9 billion. And while domestic spend was up 4 per cent to $21.4b, international spending weakened 0.9 per cent to $14.5b in the period studied by the Wellington Institute of Technology.

In spite of a change in marketing strategy to attract visitors at off-peak times and away from top tourist destinations, there had been no significant progress since 2014 on increasing the visitor spend in the regions or on altering international visitors' seasonal travel patterns.

And visitor experience data shows there are slipping levels of satisfaction although they remain very high. This country met or exceeded expectations among 95 per cent of visitors in 2015 but this had slipped to 93.4 per cent last year.

The report finds that while infrastructure rates highly or air and tourist service infrastructure — 15th and 19th respectively — port and ground infrastructure is well down the World Economic Forum ranking in 50th place.

''Survey responses not only suggest the impact of inadequate infrastructure constrains growth but it also has a negative effect on the visitor experience,'' said the report authored by tourism lecturer Jamie Smiler.

''International visitors have many destination options and they want to move easily through a destination.''

Infrastructure was of strategic importance for New Zealand's global competitiveness and a theme of comments from respondents suggested that more central Government funding should come from GST collected from visitors with budget allocations based on tourism's contribution to the economy and border taxes.

The Auckland Council targeted rate on commercial accommodation providers - which is used to partly fund tourism promotion - was seen as offering very little value to the industry.

(Source NZHerald, Grant Bradley)

28/01/18 - Big drop in Indian student visa applications

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The number of study visa applications lodged with Immigration New Zealand in India plummeted last year, as did the proportion of failed applications, Immigration figures show.

The agency's India staff considered 9429 study visa applications in 2017, down from 16,380 in 2016 and 25,977 in 2015.

They approved 6425 of the Indian applications and declined 3004, for a decline rate of 32 percent, down from more than 50 percent in 2015 and 2016.

The improvement follows the introduction of tougher rules prompted by a surge of fraudulent applications.
In the Philippines, 1148 applicants were approved last year and 397 or 26 percent were refused.

Immigration turned down 368 applications from applicants in Nepal, 52 percent of the total it received, while in Sri Lanka it approved 552 applications and refused 257 or 32 percent.

In Vietnam, 960 applications were approved, and 296 or 24 percent were refused.

In China, 7327 applications were approved and 542 declined for a decline rate of 7 percent.

Students from countries with offshore visa decline rates of more than 20 percent must meet tougher English language requirements in order to gain a study visa.

(Source RNZeducation, John Gerritsen)

12/12/17 - Skilled Migrant and Essential Skills policy – Changes to remuneration thresholds

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Remuneration thresholds in Skilled Migrant and Essential Skills policies will be increasing on 15 January 2018.

Click here for details.

29/11/17 - Indians bearing brunt of immigration crackdown, advisors say

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Indians bearing brunt of immigration crackdown, advisors say

An Indian migrant - twice denied a work visa - believes he's being unfairly targeted because of his nationality.

Immigration advisers say a crackdown on visas is under way, with official figures showing a sharp increase in the number of work visas being rejected for Indian applicants over the last four months.

Immigration New Zealand figures released to the Immigration Advisers Authority under the Official Information Act showed the percentage of post-study employer-assisted work visas that had been rejected increased from 4 percent to 16 per cent in the 16 months between January 2016 and May 2017.

Indian nationals are the worst affected in recent months, Wellington immigration lawyer and Association of Migration and Investment's policy director Richard Small said.

"Indian requesters for visas who do not have current visas - they're being refused at record levels. For some groups of migrants it is a very desperate landscape."

Indian community leader Sunny Kaushal, from Auckland, said he had been approached by five Indian migrants in the last two weeks over the issue.

"If the government does not review this soon we will be in trouble. There are not enough New Zealanders to take up the jobs that these immigrants are filling."

Mukesh Kumar, from Rotorua, said Immigration New Zealand told him his job as a dairy manager did not match his qualifications, despite having a Graduate Diploma in Business.

He is now appealing his case, but said he had several friends in similar situations.

"They are playing with our feelings, they are playing with our money. When they needed money ... they called us to come and study here. Now they don't need us they are just kicking us out."

The 25-year-old moved from India in 2015 to study business at Waiariki Institute of Technology. He found a part-time job in a local dairy and when he completed his Level 7 Graduate Diploma in Applied Business Studies, he took over as the dairy's manager.

In July, his boss helped him apply for an employer-assisted work visa, but a dodgy immigration consultant failed to process the paperwork in time and it was rejected.

Despite his new lawyer being confident he'd get one, his second application was denied too.
Unable to work, Mr Kumar said he was relying on the charity of his employer while he waits to hear if he can stay in New Zealand.

He has spent close to $40,000 applying for visas and paying for lawyers' fees since 2015, and said his latest troubles had cost him $7000.

Immigration New Zealand said there had been no change in the way it assessed visa applications and last year just over 5 percent of work visa applications from Indian nationals were declined.

The rejection figures for the first four months of this year was not a long enough period to justify a trend, a spokesperson said.

However, Mr Small from the Immigration Advisers Authority said there was a wide gap between what Immigration New Zealand was saying and what immigrants and their advisers were seeing.

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(Source: RNZ, Anusha Bradley)

26/11/17 - The immigration tightrope – a U-turn is risky, pressing on riskier for Government

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Immigration is not part of Labour's 100-day-plan, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the party is still working on the issue.

OPINION: They stood on an immigration crackdown, but reality hit first. 

If voters were lulled into thinking their new Government would make ardent strides to turn around Johnny Foreigner en masse at the border, the rhetoric of the past week might be a sharp wake-up call. 

Annual migration fell to a 10-month low of 70,694 in the year to October, down from a peak of 72,402 in the year to July, according to the latest Statistics NZ update. 

Migration is always awkward: New Zealand relies on it, but risks buckling under the strain of too high an influx.

Economists have forecast the drop to accelerate to varying levels, while the Government's synchronised backdown from a key election policy to reduce migration by 20,000 to 30,000 has been swift. 

Immigration is a tightrope, stretched over a churning lagoon of gnashing jaws with big teeth. Walking it can be an art form: let your weight fall too far either side and you're in trouble.

Annual migration fell to a 10-month low of 70,694 in the year to October, down from a peak of 72,402 in the year to July, according to the latest Statistics NZ update.

It's no surprise to see Labour winding down its messaging on immigration. It may even be a relief to the regions and business, as well as to the party itself.

On one hand, it's an assurance the Government is prepared to forgo populism for pragmatism, while the positioning also sits more naturally with Labour's core principles. 

Importantly, if immigration numbers began to fall for reasons outside the Government's control, then a Government espousing a tightening of the tap would be taking that trend and making it worse. 

Demographer Paul Spoonley explains why net migration is still high despite Labour's tougher stance on immigration.

And it's clearly aware of the stakes. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters were all singing from the same song sheet the past week, saying there will be a reduction in immigration, "but we're not fixating on the numbers". 

Because if it appears to be tightening the screws, while they're tightening anyway, the Government risks choking the supply of workers businesses say they need and regional New Zealand will fare worst. 

In Timaru, factory expansions are crying out for more workers – two major fisheries and a Fonterra mozzarella plant have faced months-long staff shortages, unable to fill hundreds of positions. 

A potential success story might come from the attempts to poach the redundant workers of the old Cadbury factory in Dunedin, provided those workers can uproot their families to follow the job. 

But it goes some way to proving National partially right on immigration, and spokesman Simon Bridges has been quick to point out the belated realisation of New Zealand's low rate of unemployment against a shortage of skilled labour. 

Conversely, Lees-Galloway is right when he talks up an "infrastructure deficit" left by the previous Government – with current services, roads and housing unable to sustain the numbers of people coming in.

Still, the Government is at risk of over-correcting on that tightrope, at a time when it also has plans to build 100,000 houses and plant 1 billion trees.

Former National prime minister John Key used Westpac Stadium to great effect in his 2008 election campaign, by using its 36,000-seat capacity to claim the same number of New Zealanders are moving to Australia each year.  

The Government is re-working its position, but it's at risk of the "stadia of departures" narrative. Trying to get people to return to New Zealand is far harder than keeping them out. 

It campaigned as the party to "get immigration responsibly back under control", but it may not be the immigration story to define them yet.

(Source: Sunday Star Times, Stacey Kirk)