8. Immigration—Exploitation of Students and Fraudulent VisasHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of ImmigrationImmigration—Exploitation of Students and Fraudulent Visas8. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his statements policies and actions?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Minister of Immigration): Yes in the context in which they were given made and taken.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When he was advised by officials of organised fraud by Sri Lankan student visa applicants why did he take no action to establish how widespread the fraud was?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Well because Immigration New Zealand was already in the process of taking that action.Hon Michael Woodhouse: What was that action?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: That action was to manually review the 895 applications that were received through the Mumbai office for visas from Sri Lankan nationals during 2017 and see which ones of those involved the finance company in question.Greg O'Connor: What action has he taken to address issues of international student exploitation?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: The best remedy is to ensure that Immigration New Zealand has the resources it needs to address these issues. When I became Minister I discovered that the Immigration New Zealand memorandum account was $50 million in deficit. What we are doing as a Government is consulting on immigration fees and levies to ensure that the system is properly funded and resourced.Greg O'Connor: What further action does he intend to take to address student exploitation?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: We have recently consulted on post-study work rights proposals. These changes are intended to maintain the quality of New Zealand's education industry and reduce the exploitation of migrant students. The results of this consultation will be announced shortly.Hon Michael Woodhouse: What action will be taken against students found to have committed fraud on their applications?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Well the challenge of course is to verify whether students used the finance company's services fraudulently. The challenge here is that going back and retrospectively reviewing those applications requires a source to verify that financial information. The one and only source is the fraudulent finance company. So what Immigration New Zealand is doing is identifying which students may be involved and should those students seek to extend their visa in New Zealand those visas will be scrutinised carefully and it will be made absolutely certain that they have the source of funds they need to support themselves in New Zealand.Hon Michael Woodhouse: What signal does that answer send to future applicants who might be tempted to lie on their applications and suffer not one single negative consequence?Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY: Well the future for Immigration New Zealand is that the applications that involve that finance company will no longer be accepted and that the patterns of behaviour that were detected when this fraud was identified are being looked for across the immigration system to find other opportunities to detect fraud early. What we need to make sure of is that this immigration system has integrity. I am focused on the future not on cleaning up the mess that occurred under that member's watch.