New Zealand work visa scheme under fire after reports of worker exploitation

New Zealand’s accredited employer work visa (AEWV) scheme has once again come under fire after five migrant workers fell victim to abusive work arrangements upon arriving in the country.

Originally from Punjab, India, the workers were issued AEWVs to work for a local restaurant. However, they accused the owner of extorting them for money, forcing them to work long hours, and even withholding their pay.

Jagmeet Singh is one of the migrant workers who accused the restaurant owner of abuse. He arrived in New Zealand in September and started working at the establishment, RNZ first reported.

“The owner stopped paying us since December and, when we enquired, he threatened us with visa cancellation,” he recalled. Jagmeet said a friend had given him a reference about possible employment in New Zealand. He reached out to the restaurant owner and was given an AEWV.

Jagmeet and other workers from India allegedly paid their employer large sums in exchange for visas and job placements. The money that they paid was sent to bank accounts both in India and New Zealand.

An investigation into the restaurant owner’s supposed bank accounts revealed that a total of NZ$30,000 had been deposited. An additional NZ$20,000 to NZ$25,000.

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Exploitation of migrant workers in New Zealand

Jasjeevan Singh is also a migrant worker who was recruited to work for the restaurant. He claimed that the owner only paid him for the first few weeks of his employment.

“The last pay that I got was in January,” he said. “After that he [has] only paid me NZ$300.”

Aside from not paying them enough, the workers also accused the restaurant owner of forcing them to work for 40 to 50 hours on average per week.

“Most of us have definitely worked more than 40-plus hours a week and never got paid even for the 30 hours,” Tejbir Singh, another employee of the restaurant, said. “We were working from 11am to 12am with a three-hour break.”

Manjot Singh, a fellow migrant worker of Jasjeevan and Tejbir, said he deposited around NZ$50,000 to the restaurant owner’s brother in India in exchange for job placement in New Zealand. He has kept the bank statements of the transactions.

Meanwhile, Harkirat Singh Sekhon said he was told he could not be given the work visa because he could not afford to pay the full processing fee. However, after he deposited NZ$4,700 to the restaurant owner’s bank account in India, and another NZ$9,800 to his associate’s account in India, he was finally given his visa.

When Harkirat arrived in New Zealand, the restaurant owner asked him to pay the remaining NZ$30,000 of the visa fee if he wanted to work at his establishment.

"It was hard for me to gather that much money, and my friends in NZ said it was too much and not a normal processing fee," Harkirat said. The owner supposedly even threatened Harkirat’s family in India if he refused to pay the amount. "He told me that he would send goons to my family back in India if I didn't pay him soon," he said.

In February, the migrant workers contacted the police about their situation. The matter has been referred to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

READ MORE | Migrant workers left vulnerable after paying for visas

The AEWV controversy continues

This is not the first time that the AEWV scheme has been linked to alleged employment abuses since it was launched in 2022. A growing number of migrant workers have accused their employers of exploitation, including termination after paying for their work visas. Many of them are left with no other means of employment or returning to their home countries.

The case of the five Indian workers comes shortly after the Public Service Commission released its independent report on accredited employer work visa scheme. The Commission found that Immigration New Zealand (INZ) failed to properly assess the program’s potential for visa abuse.

MBIE Chief Executive Carolyn Tremain acknowledged the importance of addressing the issues raised in the Public Service Commission review.

“Since 30 June last year, Immigration New Zealand has made a number of changes to tighten the settings, introducing more checks and, as a consequence, processing times have increased,” she said.

However, the case of the migrant workers from India suggests that the INZ’s changes may not be enough to prevent the issue. The workers arrived in New Zealand between September 2023 and January 2024.

As immigration officials struggle to find ways to address the situation, calls to pause or scrap the AEWV scheme entirely from the public continue to grow.