Indian Students To Be Deported From NZ Over Fake Documents

IMMIGRATION:

The New Zealand government has been accused of treating a group of Indian tertiary students unfairly by moving to deport them. Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont said the nine students, who had been studying in Auckland, have been served with deportation notices because their India-based agent used fake documents to get them into the country. Mr McClymont said the students got their student visas through an education agent based in India, who submitted fraudulent documents on their behalf. The students had no idea fake documents were used, and deporting them for something that was not their fault was wrong, he said. The students had each spent about $30,000 on their studies and were about to graduate.

“It’s extremely unfair because all of these students were victims of a scam by their agents, they knew nothing about the frauded documents. They’ve now spent their life savings, families have taken out huge loans to pay for their studies here in New Zealand, they’re about to graduate, now Immigration are saying you’re going to be deported, you’re out of here,” he said. Mr McClymont said the students should be allowed to stay, just like the hundreds of Filipino dairy workers who were allowed to remain last year despite their agents having submitted similar fake documents.