Leadership failures, risk of abuse in post-Covid work visa: report
A review into the visa scheme rolled out after Covid found inadequate risk assessments and a failure by leadership to pay adequate attention when staff raised concerns at Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) was introduced in mid-2022, as the country faced workforce shortages after the pandemic. The intention was to speed up the work visa system by inviting employers wanting to hire overseas staff to apply for accreditation.
Almost 150 employers have had their accreditation revoked, and another 53 suspended as part of investigations into the work visa, as of February 16. There have been more than 2000 complaints against employers and another 174 active investigations underway.
The visa came under fire and was put under urgent review last year, prompted by numerous cases such as the discovery, reported by Newshub, of 115 Indian and Bangladeshi migrants crammed into six houses who had found no jobs when they arrived, or the case of Bao Guo, a Chinese construction worker who could only afford to eat instant noodles after being dismissed after just a few days’ work, reported by Stuff.
Stuff reported last August that INZ staff had been warning for a year that employers were allowed to bring in migrants without any paperwork or financial checks, even when officers feared jobs may be fake, paid for with illegal premiums, or the migrants would be exploited – but were ignored.
The Public Service Commission released the report, led by Jenn Bestwick, yesterday, that found INZ did not adequately assess the risk and impact of speeding up processing times, against the risk of abuse of the visa system, a focus on timeframes over-rode risk considerations, and when staff raised concerns, leadership failed to pay adequate attention.
The scheme was exposed to an increased risk of exploitation by “unscrupulous” agents or employers between July 2022 and June 2023.
Deputy Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott said the scheme did not work as intended and INZ could have, and should have, done more to minimise the risk of abuse.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment chief executive Carolyn Tremain, which INZ sits under, accepted the findings and acknowledged the serious nature of the issues. “The scheme was implemented at the same time as the border reopened after Covid-19 and the review acknowledged the extraordinary challenge that MBIE faced with huge demand for visa to work, study and visit.”
Tremain said INZ had made a number of changes to tighten the settings. There had been more than 100,000 approved AEWV applications.