Thirty men crammed in a three-bedroom house, an overflowing trash bin, just one toilet, and broken sewage facilities–4 Romilly Court in Papakura is not the house of your dreams. Far from it.
The South Auckland property raised a stink this week after migrants, mostly Indians, caught up in a suspected visa fraud and trafficking scam were found to have been living here for months.
They believed their job offers were genuine, given “they came from accredited companies” and Immigration New Zealand (INZ) approved their visas.
Among the victims are skilled welders, fabricators and truck drivers with years of experience in countries like Dubai and Singapore, who were charged up to $44,000 by job contractors to procure Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
“[We] are aware of possible immigration fraud and migrant exploitation in Auckland involving several Indian nationals,” Steve Watson, Head of Immigration Compliance and Investigations at INZ told The Indian Weekender.
“Our investigators are speaking with these people to get the full picture of their situation. Our current priority is to provide welfare support, and we are working with local agencies and NGOs in Auckland who can help us do this.”
President of Union Network of Migrants (UNEMIG) Mandeep Singh Bela says up to 150 migrants duped similarly are living in sub-standard conditions at properties across Auckland.
“[Some of] these individuals possess the necessary licenses to operate as drivers, yet their employers appear to withhold work and instructs them to bide their time,” says Bela, who is working closely with the victims.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) officials say they have begun talking to 115 victims, and reaching out to employers involved.
“We can advise that there are several people and companies of interest pertaining to this case,” MBIE said in a press statement.
At the Papakura property, The Indian Weekender found five people stuffed in a room six square meters big, providing little space to even walk around. Six others were living in a neighbouring room measuring about 20 square metres.
Some had a cardboard spread out on the floor to double up as a mattress. Bela says faulty plumbing in the toilet had filled the house with stench over weeks.
The migrants hail from Punjab to Telangana in India, some even from Bangladesh. Bela says local and overseas contractors took advance payments for job agreements. But when they arrived, the migrants were holed up in such properties with the promise of a job that never came through.
“This scam involving work visas is at an unprecedented level. This is not the New Zealand migrants want to come to,” Bela says.
One of the immigration advisers who helped some of these migrants procure a visa told The Indian Weekender his company is now closely scrutinising job offers being presented by prospective migrants.
“It is evident many of them are not in touch with their NZ employer directly, rather they have been dealing with offshore agents to arrange these offers,” said Victor Ghai of Victor Immigration.
At least 77,000 migrants have arrived in the country since the AEWV was launched in July 2022. As of August 6, 2023, INZ says 164 accredited employers were being investigated for a variety of offences.
Immigration officials have, so far, revoked accreditation of six employers while those of five others have been suspended.
Kanwardeep Singh
"We need help...we need work. We have the skills. All we need is work. We didn't even earn one dollar. We have the skills to help this country. Don’t want anyone else to land in this situation.”
Iqbal Singh
“This is ‘nark’ (hell) land. Our lives have been ruined. We came to New Zealand for work and a better life, but we are just living in hell.”
Gurpal Singh
“We are stuck. Since I landed two months ago, I have been told that I will start getting a job this week…this week. But nothing is happening, and now we are in a situation where we can't even return to India.”
Gurbinder Singh
"There is no hope. We thought we were going to heaven when we came to NZ and would get residency and settle here with our families. But look at the situation we are in.”
Bela strongly asks the government to reassess their accreditation approval processes and ask that feedback from relevant sector unions should be sought prior to approving accreditation, extension of Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa (MEPV) from 6 months to 12 months to ensure migrants feel confident to report exploitation and to allow them reasonable time to leave such exploitative arrangement. He also asks for harsher penalties for those employers who exploit migrants.