Immigration Minister Andrew Little announced on Thursday he’s requesting an independent review into the operations of the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
The visa was introduced in July last year by Little’s predecessor as a simple way for employers to bring in foreign workers in a range of different roles.
In the wake of Covid-19, labour shortages have been a major problem for sectors across the economy, and the Government faced significant pressure to remove barriers for temporary migrant workers.
But almost as soon as the visa was introduced, immigration experts raised concerns about the potential for migrant exploitation. At the same time as Immigration New Zealand staff attempted to ramp up processing times, immigration agents overseas began advertising money-for-jobs connected to the AEWV.
Earlier this month, I travelled to Hamilton to meet two Chinese workers who alleged they’d been mistreated and abandoned after paying more than $16,000 for jobs under the AEWV.
Q+A asked the immigration minister whether the worker allegations were a sign of a much bigger problem. (Source: 1News)
Fu Hai and Zhao Yao are experienced construction workers who were employed by an Auckland-based sub-contractor to work on the Government’s Waikeria Prison redevelopment. But after eight weeks of work the two men were abruptly told not to return.
They were given no notice and both claimed to have been underpaid. When they sought clarification, their employer stopped replying to their messages. Upon attempting to transfer their visas and gain work with another employer, the men discovered that neither of them had been registered with the IRD.
When we met them, Fu Hai and Zhao Yao were sharing a bedroom in a freezing flat on the outskirts of Hamilton, unsure how they’d manage to survive in New Zealand much longer. It was grim.
But the men’s experience was not uncommon. Immigration experts we spoke to said it was a typical experience for many migrants arriving on the AEWV. Although most employers act responsibly, the design and operation of the visa and the staffing at Immigration New Zealand meant insufficient checks have been completed on employers when they sought accredited status.
Although more than 27,000 employers have been granted accreditation, just six have had accreditation revoked in the year since the visa was introduced.
Although Immigration New Zealand has a target of checking 15% of employers, Minister Andrew Little says only about 2% have been checked so far.
Clearly then, demand for the visa has outstripped the capacity of Immigration New Zealand to complete proper checks. As well as the widespread concerns over exploitation, there are legitimate concerns about the skillset of some of the people being brought to work here.
Although many AEWV migrants are working in skilled professions, official records show that pet groomers, shelf-fillers, and more than 1000 fast-food cooks have also been granted the visa.
There’s good reason to think the visa design was rushed. Close to 80,000 people have arrived here on the visa, but it’s resulting in exploitation and fuelling the kind of low-skill economy we were supposed to leave behind after Covid-19.
The review can’t come soon enough.
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