A Samoan national with interim name suppression has been sentenced today at Auckland District Court to 4 years imprisonment and ordered to pay $4,000 in reparation to the victims after pleading guilty to five representative charges of aiding and abetting breach of visa conditions, six charges of exploitation of unlawful migrants and one representative charge of corruption of a public official. A further associate who has also been charged is still awaiting sentencing.

The offences occurred between 2014 and 2021, when the individual, with the support of their associate, employed Samoan nationals unlawfully in New Zealand and supported others to breach their visa conditions.

The individual also took advantage of a contact at Immigration New Zealand’s office in Samoa, paying them money to issue visas at their request and gain favourable treatment when applying for visas for these employees.

Michael Carley, Acting General Manager Immigration Compliance & Investigation says the individual would frequently travel to Samoa to recruit people to their painting business.

“Workers were lured to New Zealand under the offer to make money that they can send to their families in Samoa,” he says.

“The individual would then either directly or indirectly through extended family or friends, sponsor a worker’s visitor visa and manage the process of applying for visas through Immigration New Zealand. Even paying for related visa fees and airfares”.

The individual would also direct employees, while in Samoa, to place cash in papers when attending the Samoa Immigration New Zealand office, in order to influence their treatment by officials.

The individual knew the workers were not lawfully entitled to work in New Zealand and some employees would also remain unlawfully in New Zealand at the expiry of their visitor visa.

The individuals' employees would regularly work more than 40 hours per week and were paid a daily rate of $100, less than the adult minimum wage. They did not pay their workers holiday or sick pay entitlements and failed to provide them with payslips or an individual employment agreement.

The individual provided monetary payment to the associate for providing accommodation for many of their workers and assisted with applying for the visitor visas of at least two people by sponsoring some of them at the individual's direction. The associate knew these visas did not allow the recipient to work in New Zealand and knew that the purpose of their entry was to work for the individual illegally.

When the individual travelled out of New Zealand to Samoa, they would also transfer money to the associate and direct them on how much to pay the workers.

This sentencing concludes a 5-year immigration investigation, initiated in 2020 after being alerted to the individuals offending following a complaint received through Crimestoppers.

Mr Carley says this sentencing sends a clear message that immigration fraud, migrant exploitation and corruption will not be tolerated.

“The callous exploitation of vulnerable migrants and the corruption of public officials, is not just unethical – it's criminal and we will work with our partner agencies both onshore and offshore to take all necessary action to hold those responsible to account” he says.

“Maintaining and protecting the integrity of our immigration system is critical to protecting both migrants and the wider public. Therefore, we expect applicants to be honest about their intentions when entering New Zealand and follow the conditions of their visa”.

“I’m also incredibly proud of our investigations team who undertook a lengthy and complex investigation, working closely across MBIE and INZ Integrity teams, to bring these serious charges before the court”.

MBIE places significant emphasis on the integrity and professional standards expected from our staff and any subsequent breach to the Immigration system by officials will be investigated thoroughly.

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