Overstayers speak out after immigration dawn raid reports surface, calls for amnesty and residency pathways

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni at a recent community meeting about overstayers. Photo / Migrant Workers Association

There are an estimated 14,000 people living illegally in New Zealand, known as “overstayers”, and some are still subjected to dawn immigration raids. Many arrived here legally under the impression it would be a pathway to residence - only to have shifting immigration policy sweep that dream from under their feet, writes Michael Neilson.

Harpreet (not his real name) arrived in New Zealand in 2014 to study business, but it was the fact the student visa he came in on was also a potential pathway to residency that had him most excited.

“I felt blessed being able to come here, it was like a dream.”

He said he paid more than $30,000 in fees for his courses, plus travel costs and agent fees, and his family in India took out loans and sold items to support him.

But as he neared the end of his two-year course, which would have allowed him to apply for a post-study work visa and put him on that residency pathway, his educational institution went under. It was later investigated by NZQA.

He was told to transfer to a new college, but said he couldn’t afford it.

“I’d spent all of my money. I couldn’t afford to go back. I couldn’t face going back to my family, I felt shame.”

Nearly seven years later, Harpreet is still here. Unable to work legally or access any social services, he has been living off the goodwill of friends.

He works the odd job where he can but is always open to exploitation. The Covid years, the lockdowns, have been especially tough.

He fears being found out and deported every day and so barely leaves the garage where he lives.

Harpreet’s story is not isolated. The Herald has spoken to several people living in New Zealand unlawfully, all of whom came into the country legally, and were sold a pipe dream of making this country their new home.

The issue of overstayers has made news again recently after Tagata Pasifika revealed dawn raids, or “after hours” immigration checks, were still occurring despite a historic Government apology in 2021 about how the practice had historically disproportionately impacted Pacific people.

The Government has now called a halt to dawn raids and there are refreshed calls for an amnesty for overstayers and pathways to residence, which the Government says it is “actively considering”.

According to Immigration NZ’s latest data, in 2017 there were about 14,000 people in New Zealand unlawfully, or “overstayers”. INZ is updating that estimate this year.

Of those, just over 1000 were children. The largest number were from Tonga (2498), then Samoa (1549) followed by China (1529) and India (1310).

Of the more than 700 overstayer deportations since 2019 over half have been Chinese, and about a quarter Indian. A breakdown of the 19 dawn raids that occurred since June last year shows similar proportions with 10 Chinese and four Indians. Three were of Pacific origin.

Deportations dropped dramatically during the pandemic but have recently started to increase again.

Migrant Workers Association spokeswoman Anu Kaloti assists people who have found themselves in situations where they have overstayed their visas and said in recent years there had been growing numbers from China and India.

She said many were affected by dodgy educational institutions being shut down and/or exploitative and immigration agents that are not regulated, while others came in on work visas with residency pathways only to have immigration policy shifting with the political winds sweep it out from under their feet.

Others had misfortune arrive - deaths in the family, mental health issues, living complications that meant they couldn’t fulfil their visa obligations. Some - including those spoken to by the Herald - have children here now.

Most overstayers had also arrived from low-income countries and taken out major loans to get here, meaning returning home was not a viable option and one riddled with shame.

“They’ve basically been sold a pipe dream and the Government is complicit in this,” Kaloti said.

“Because of that huge debt, those people feel embarrassed and ashamed to return to their home countries because their parents have invested whatever money they have.

“There’s a financial investment, and a social and emotional investment as well. They’d rather overstay here than returned empty-handed, and consider themselves a failure.”

Kaloti said many trapped here were severely depressed, and there have also been cases of suicide. During the pandemic, their situation became a health issue too.

Many lived in “squalid conditions”, she said and were open to exploitation.

“Some are in three-bedroom homes with 15 to 20 people. A lot of them work for cash under the table, which is like, you know, it’s precarious.

“It’s not a dignified way of leading one’s life, always in fear, second or third class citizen in a country is just very demeaning.”

There were limited criteria under the Immigration Act through which they could apply for visas, which relied on ministerial discretion.

Kaloti said they were not advocating for anybody to overstay, and recommended everybody obey their visa requirements.

“But most of these people are overstayers as a result of bad immigration policies.

“So what we are asking from this Government is to give people already here a pathway. And then the Government also has to make better immigration policies so that we don’t have overstayers in the future.”

Green Party immigration spokesman Ricardo Menéndez March says "shifting goalposts" of immigration settings has contributed to conditions for people to become overstayers. Photo / Supplied

Green Party immigration spokesman Ricardo Menéndez March said successive governments had shifted the goalposts for migrants creating the conditions for many to have no pathways to residency and ending up becoming overstayers, creating hardship and leaving them open to exploitation.

“We urge the Government to not only commit to introducing an amnesty before the election, but to make the settings as broad as possible to bring justice to all the people who have been caught up in an unfair and often exploitative immigration system.”

Ireland, where there are about 17,000 undocumented migrants, recently launched an amnesty scheme.

New Zealand has not had an amnesty scheme in place since 2000, when “well-settled” overstayers at the time were able to apply for a pathway to residency, covering about 7000 people.

Pacific leaders have long petitioned the Government over such a scheme, which gained momentum after former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered a formal apology in 2021 to those impacted by the dawn raids in the 1970s when officials racially targeted Pacific overstayers.

Immigration Minister Michael Wood said the Government was “actively considering” the issue of granting amnesties for migrant overstayers. He had taken advice, and spoken to ministers about it, including the Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds.

Wood said while it was the responsibility of individuals to adhere to the conditions of their visas, he agreed “in the past there has been a lack of clarity in the past for migrants as to whether or not they had a path to residency or not”.

Making these pathways clear, and tightening up the rules around post-study work visas, was part of the recent immigration rebalance, he said.

For those already here, Wood said he had an “open mind” on options such as an amnesty.

“I’ve received advice on the matter and the Government is considering the advice. I’m looking to give clarity on the matter soon.

“This is a complex issue so we’re making sure we’re taking the time to fully consider the logistical challenges, possible precedents it would set, and issues of fairness around who would be included and those who have already self-deported, for example.”

Overstayers and migrant advocates are holding a rally today in Auckland outside Wood’s electorate office in Mt Roskill.

Harpreet said having a pathway to residency would “be a blessing”. If he could work legally he would like to enter the trucking industry, which currently is facing major worker shortages.

“This is the most beautiful country I have ever been in, yet I don’t feel that I can enjoy it.

“I want to be able to work, to be able to contribute, to pay taxes and contribute to New Zealand.

“I don’t go out alone, I am always dependent on other people. Every second of every day I am afraid.”