Government to crack down on immigration consultant scams

Immigration consultants will be licensed under a new law designed to weed out unscrupulous operators.

The bill will make it compulsory for advisers to adopt a code of conduct and meet recognised standards.

The industry is currently unregulated and only a small number of consultants belong to professional bodies. About 1000 advisers will be affected by the legislation.

Providing immigration advice without a licence will become an offence liable for a maximum fine of $100,000, seven years' jail or both.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain said the bill, which will be introduced to Parliament in May, will bring New Zealand in line with countries such as Canada, Britain and Australia.

"This legislation sends a strong message that the Government will not tolerate the small number of crooks who prey on vulnerable people wanting to live here," he said.

Last year the Immigration Service took seven prosecutions against people who had committed offences relating to immigration under the Crimes Act, the Immigration Act and consumer protection laws.

A spokeswoman for the service said most problems weren't reported, but it still received complaints on a weekly basis from people who had been ripped off by consultants.

Mr Swain said the costings of the scheme were not finalised, but licences were expected to cost between $1000 and $2000 a year.

He said an independent regulatory body, the Immigration Advisers Authority, would be set up within the Department of Labour to provide minimum standards for the industry, administer a code of conduct, organise professional training and establish complaint procedures.

Once the legislation is passed, the Immigration Service will refuse all unlicensed applications.

All immigration consultants will have to be licensed within two years of the act coming into force.

Bill Milnes, former chairman of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment, said the association had been working for five years to get such legislation.

He was pleased the bill also applied to overseas advisers, who he said had caused problems in the past.

Former Immigration Minister Aussie Malcolm, now an immigration consultant, said the legislation was timely and justified but he thought it was a fundamental mistake lawyers were exempt from requiring licences.

Mr Malcolm said some of the worst damage in the immigration industry was created by lawyers.

Recent scams

An agent charged a migrant $150,000 for a resident's permit when she could have got one for the price of administration fees.

Last July a consultant vanished with tens of thousands of dollars and passports belonging to Chinese students who paid to study at Auckland University.

A Chinese factory worker was charged last year over a marriage-for-residency scam and paying young Aucklanders more than $10,000 to take part.
In 2003, 14 Romanian students, who each paid $11,000 to travel and settle here were given six-month visas.