In April 2024, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) introduced the Immigration Employment Infringement Scheme, a new enforcement tool designed to promote fair treatment of migrant workers. This allows employers to be fined for committing immigration violations, including employing people in breach of their visa conditions or who are unlawfully in New Zealand.

Six months after the introduction of the scheme, Acting General Manager Compliance and Investigations, Michael Carley says that we have begun to see its effects on employers.

“Since April, there have been a total of 54 infringements issued across the country. Of these, 20 occurred in the Auckland region, 10 in Wellington, and 7 in Canterbury, leading to a total of $196,000 in penalties.”

Most of these fines have ranged from $1,000 to $3,000, but notably, two substantial penalties of $12,000 and $15,000 have been imposed on two businesses for multiple offences.

The sectors that faced the highest number of infringements included Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing, which received nine infringements. Close behind were the Construction, Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade industries, with eight infringements each.

Michael Carley acknowledges that many employers do the right thing, however there is still a small number of employers who aren’t following the rules.

“The infringement scheme is an additional tool we have to help employers understand that there are consequences for not adhering to the rules around hiring migrants.

While we will still prosecute where we see serious breaches of immigration law, the introduction of infringement penalties provides a new avenue for swift and high impact action.

“We can now tackle non-compliance with greater efficiency and speed, making sure that employers follow the regulations and safeguard migrants from exploitation.”

Notes:

This covers infringements issued from April 2024 to 25 September 2024.

Infringements can be issued for employing people in breach of their visa conditions, employing a person unlawfully in New Zealand, or failing to comply with a 10-day information request.

Infringements carry a minimum fine of $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for corporations or other entities and automatically added to the immigration stand down list. Additionally, penalties can include the loss of accredited employer or Recognised Seasonal Employer status, as well as a temporary suspension from sponsoring further visas for migrant workers, depending on the number of infringement notices received by the employer.

Penalty fines go into the Government’s Consolidated Fund.

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