An immigration scam encouraged by the New Zealand government
OPINION: Most immigration scams are committed against the government – but one of the biggest immigration scams I know of has been committed by the government.
The scam works like this: New Zealand government agencies encourage students from poor countries to mortgage their family’s property so they can come to New Zealand to study a business diploma. They tell them that this course will lead to a job and permanent residence in this country. Spoiler alert: it seldom does, leaving them struggling to pay their debts.
The victims of this scam are students from the Indian subcontinent.
Of course, since Covid-19 closed our borders, it’s not possible for most overseas students to come here to study. But the scam is still being promoted.
At the time of writing, there is still a checklist on the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website which says that students from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal can present evidence of loans to pay for their studies in New Zealand in support of visa applications.
And Education New Zealand’s website is still encouraging people in India to approach its ‘ENZ-recognised agencies’ – the very education agencies spinning lies about how easy it is to study, find a job, and get approved residence in New Zealand.
In fact, even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, when INZ stopped inviting people to apply for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category, only about 20 per cent of fee-paying students ended up being approved residence.
In recent years, India has been New Zealand’s second-top market for fee-paying students, after China. Mostly these students have been encouraged to take the shortest and cheapest qualifications that allow them to be approved Post-Study work visas.
This has led to an oversupply of Indian students with business diplomas in the New Zealand marketplace. You can often meet some of these students who have completed their studies serving you at your local petrol station, bottle store or dairy.
In other words, working in dead-end jobs which are unlikely to lead to residence here.
Those graduates in New Zealand are the lucky ones
These graduates in dead-end jobs are actually the lucky ones – at least they’re paying back the ‘education loans’ their parents took out to pay for their tuition fees and living costs.
They typically hold a two- or three-year Post-Study work visa, which allows them to work in any job – except prostitution – once they have completed their diploma-level or higher studies in New Zealand.
Worse off are the 5685 people holding Post-Study work visas who took a break back home after completing their studies in New Zealand, and are now unable to return here due to Covid-19 restrictions.
People like Sukhchainpreet Singh, whose family mortgaged their house and their car to pay for his one-year diploma in accounting in 2019, borrowing the equivalent of $20,000.
Having completed his diploma, Sukhchainpreet returned to India in early March 2020 when he heard his grandfather was in hospital.
That was the month New Zealand closed its borders to temporary entrants, so Sukhchainpreet was unable to return, even though his Post-study work visa is valid until February 2022.
After a few months in India, his grandfather still needed hospital treatment, but the money to pay for it had run out.
“We didn’t have enough money, because I’m the only income source in my family, but I couldn’t get back to New Zealand to find a job,” Sukhchainpreet told me.
“So, later on in 2020 my grandfather expired, and I think I am the one responsible.”
Sukhchainpreet is paying the interest on his family’s $20,000 loan, but hasn’t been able to repay any of the capital. He recently sold his motorcycle to help keep up with the interest.
We elect politicians to act, not just say they care
About 10 days ago, I asked the Minister of Immigration, Kris Faafoi, whether the government was considering allowing extensions of Post-Study work visas so that the 5685 people stuck outside New Zealand can return to look for jobs once our border reopens.
It seems only fair to extend visas by the same length of time that the border has been closed. It would not solve visa holders’ money problems, but would at least give them some certainty. At the moment they have none.
The minister didn’t reply to my email. However, in Parliament, he has acknowledged the problems faced by people who are stuck outside the country, separated from friends and family in New Zealand. This week, he announced that family members of healthcare workers in New Zealand on temporary visas will be able to join them here.
It took the government a year to act, after facing a large amount of political pressure from protesting migrants and their families overseas, immigration advisers including myself, and the Opposition in the form of Erica Stanford MP.
Meanwhile, work visa holders such as Sukhchainpreet remain stuck outside New Zealand, struggling to repay the loans our government encouraged them to take out to pay for their education in New Zealand.
We need to keep reminding the government about people like Sukhchainpreet.
DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute immigration advice. Individuals need to seek personal advice from a New Zealand licensed immigration adviser or lawyer to assess their unique situation. Ankur can be contacted at info@visamatters.co.nz.
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