10. Immigration—Fraudulent Visas and Exploitation of StudentsIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of ImmigrationImmigration—Fraudulent Visas and Exploitation of Students10. IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) to the Minister of Immigration: Is the immigration system working in the best interests of New Zealand and of migrants?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): Overall yes. Sound immigration policy results in improvements to New Zealand both economically socially and culturally. For migrants the immigration system supports a great visitor or tourist experience work or business start-up and for those staying longer or permanently our settlement support framework is recognised as world leading. Iain Lees-Galloway: Given that answer why is Hyderabad-based immigration agency Kiwi Overseas Services allowed to continue advising people who wish to study in New Zealand given that Immigration New Zealand has identified it and several other immigration agents that are still operating as having committed significant organised financial document fraud"?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: The member draws a nexus between two things that cannot yet be drawn. Firstly immigration advisers offshore were as a consequence of the legal framework the previous Government put in place not subject to the immigration advisers licensing regime. I make no criticism of that—part of the reason for that was it is very difficult to police—but secondly I am aware that Immigration New Zealand is following up lines of inquiry in respect of that organisation and where it is appropriate to take action I know it will do.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If the immigration system is working so well why has the Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) received 143 complaints this year about dodgy education agents based in India giving advice about New Zealand immigration unlawfully?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well I do not have the data to back up the comments in the member's question. They may well be right but what that would say to me is that people have confidence in speaking up when they see breaches of the licensing regime and I would expect the IAA to follow up on them. Rt Hon Winston Peters: To help my colleague I seek leave to table the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's (MBIE's) Official Information Act (OIA) report to us of 5 August dealing with exactly that number relating to my question.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Leave is sought to table that particular OIA. Is there any objection? There is none—[Interruption] Is there objection? There is objection. Iain Lees-Galloway: Why did the Immigration Advisers Authority which is a department of MBIE accredit Vinod Kumar Sharma of Kiwi Studies Private Ltd as a licensed immigration agent able to advise people seeking work visas and all other New Zealand visas when Immigration New Zealand another department of MBIE had previously identified him as being involved in "significant organised document fraud" relating to student visas?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: In respect of the application I am advised that the person referred to in the member's question has been given a provisional licence. Secondly I do not have the information about the specific details but I would expect that the Immigration Advisers Authority believed that that applicant met all of the criteria for admission. In respect of the accusations the member makes they are subject to an investigation and I am watching it closely.Iain Lees-Galloway: Is New Zealand seen as a land of possibility for foreign students because they can get permanent residency easily given that 40 percent of skilled migrant visas are issued to former students and half of those go to people with sub - degree level qualifications?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I am not surprised that New Zealand is seen as a land of opportunity and in a growing economy with a confident nation there are a number of people who want to come here including to come and study to get a world-class education. The member plays with the numbers in respect of those with sub-degree qualifications going on to gain residence. What he does not tell you is that since this Government came into office the number of visas for residence granted has dropped considerably during that time and it does skew the proportions of those with degree and sub-degree qualifications.Iain Lees-Galloway: I intend to seek leave to table a document. It is a document published on a website but it is a Bangladeshi website so it is difficult for members in the House to access it.Mr SPEAKER: Can you describe the document.Iain Lees-Galloway: I seek leave to table a document—[Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order.Iain Lees-Galloway: Is the member all right? I seek leave to table a document dated 7 September 2016 titled "Opportunities for Bangladeshi Students in New Zealand" which contains the quote: "New Zealand has become a land of possibility for the Bangladeshi students. They can get permanent residency"—Mr SPEAKER: Order! We do not need that full description. A brief description will do. [Interruption] No I just need to put some leave first. Leave is sought to table that particular document. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is objection.Iain Lees-Galloway: How can the immigration system possibly be working in the best interests of New Zealand and migrants when it allows fraudsters to slip people through the back door into residency into low-skill low-wage jobs and into the hands of the next person who is waiting to exploit them?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I reject all of the prefacing comments in that member's question. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order!Denise Roche: Does he intend to deport any of the Indian international students who have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous immigration advisers?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: In respect of that cohort each case will be judged on its merits and individual decisions will be made in respect of them. This is not a blanket decision. I would reiterate that any visa application is the responsibility of the applicants to verify the veracity of the data contained in it.Denise Roche: Given that the Government did the right thing and intervened in the case of the Filipino dairy workers who faced deportation in similar circumstances will he intervene to keep Indian students here who were also the victims of unscrupulous immigration advisers?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I would repeat the answer I gave to the previous question but I think it is also worth pointing out that the circumstances around the Filipino farm workers are quite different from those of the Indian students. The Filipino farm workers—some of them—were found to have embellished their CVs but it was also subsequently found that even if they had not done that they would likely have been approved a visa anyway. The Indian students on the other hand have provided false documentations to support the level of English language that they frankly cannot speak and the level of financial means that they do not have. That latter thing leads to the vulnerability—to the form of migrant exploitation—in employment that that member I am sure will agree is not appropriate.Denise Roche: Given that these students have paid tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of studying here will he at least advocate that they get a refund on their course fees if he goes through with the heartless decision to deport them?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well the contract that has been entered into is between the student and the tertiary education provider—usually it is a tertiary education provider—but I repeat that each case will be judged on its merits."