Taking title of NZ’s worst government department
ANKUR SABHARWAL
OPINION: I’m calling it – Immigration New Zealand is our worst-managed Government department.
An 80-page official report details the massive blunders Immigration NZ made in approving work visas to thousands of people with fake jobs in New Zealand.
From mid-2022 to mid-2023, Immigration NZ simply waved migrants through our borders on empty promises that they were coming to work in genuine jobs for genuine employers.
It is clear from the report that Immigration NZ was poorly prepared to implement the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme when it opened in May 2022.
Here are the eight worst blunders that Immigration NZ made in implementing the scheme.
1: TIGHT TIME TARGETS
Before the scheme opened, Immigration NZ committed to taking two weeks to decide employer accreditation applications, as well as applications for “job checks” (approvals for employers to hire workers from overseas). It was only possible to meet these targets if Immigration NZ made almost no checks on the employers or the jobs they were offering. That is what happened.
2: UNDERESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS
Immigration NZ always does this. Always.
3: ITS NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM WASN’T ABLE TO PROCESS APPLICATIONS FOR 10 DAYS
Within three days of opening, Immigration NZ had received 1151 online applications for employer accreditation through its new ADEPT computer system. However, it took 10 days after the employer accreditation scheme opened until ADEPT was able to process the applications in its system. Instant backlog.
4: STAFF WEREN’T FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM, SO IT TOOK LONGER TO PROCESS APPLICATIONS
Well, you would expect that – wouldn’t you?
5: IMMIGRATION NZ PANICKED, AND LET ITS GUARD DOWN
Because there were more applications than Immigration NZ had anticipated, and they were taking longer to process than Immigration NZ expected, its promised two-week processing times were not being met. It was under pressure from employers and the Government to meet those targets, so it stopped checking applications.
The review report writers were flabbergasted that Immigration NZ gave these instructions without assessing the likely risk of not checking.
6: IMMIGRATION NZ SUSPECTED THAT IT WAS BEING RIPPED OFF, BUT CARRIED ON REGARDLESS
By February 2023, Immigration NZ had sampled 1225 approved applications, and found that 83 of them (6.8%) showed signs of not being genuine.
This rate was considered to be “within risk tolerances” and comparable with historical levels.
Why is this dumb? Because the 6.8% of fraud that is occurring increases exponentially unless you do something about it. It just tells the fraudsters “You’re getting away with this, and you can carry on getting away with it.”
7: STAFF TOLD MANAGERS IMMIGRATIONNZWASBEINGRIPPED OFF, BUT THEY WERE IGNORED
Immigration NZ had two systems of staff feedback called “No Surprises Fact Sheets” and a question-and-answer forum known as “Ask Me Anything”.
Staff told the review team they felt INZ managers’ responses were dismissive and that issues raised had been “swept under the carpet.”
8: THE NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM KEPT CHANGING
The report stated: “ADEPT [Immigration NZ’s $57 million IT system] was changing constantly as bugs were fixed and new functionality was added.
“Changes were poorly communicated, often ‘last-minute’ and without clear rationale, leaving staff with little or no time to prepare and a lack of understanding of the reason for the change or its impact ahead of working with the changes in the system.
Ankur Sabharwal is the owner of immigration advisory Visa Matters. He is a licensed immigration adviser.