1. Immigration—Student Fraud and PolicyRON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First) to the Minister of ImmigrationORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSImmigration—Student Fraud and Policy1. RON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his statements on immigration fraud?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration): Yes. In particular I stand by my statement in the House on Tuesday that this Government takes any type of visa or immigration fraud very seriously. We have invested heavily in verification and risk resources to stamp it out. We have also passed legislation that makes residence class visa holders liable for deportation were it established that any of the information provided on their application was false fraudulent or misleading. Ron Mark: How can he expect New Zealanders to believe that he has taken immigration fraud seriously in the student market when the labour inspectorate in New Zealand employs only 54 officers for the entire country at a time when the Government-promoted work visa approvals have gone through the roof reaching 226000 in the 2016-17 financial year?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: The size of the labour inspectorate is not driven by the number of work visas issued but I should note that the number of staff working in that area has increased by two-thirds in the last 2 years. I have asked them to work more closely with the immigration compliance team which has also got more resources and they have created what I think is something of a synergy resulting in greater prevention detection and prosecution of visa irregularities.Ron Mark: If the Minister is so pleased with the work of Immigration New Zealand in its overseas offices why then did his offshore staff between 1 May 2016 and 19 May 2017 approve the entry of 261 Indian students only to have them deported by his onshore staff after they detected fraud in the documentation?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well it would be nice to think that because this Parliament passed rules and laws nobody broke them but I am afraid it is a reality of human nature that where there are rules people bend and break them. That number has to be set against the more than 100000 students who studied in New Zealand during that same period and I think that is not a bad hit rate.Ron Mark: Is the fact that fraud updates from March 2017 in Manila Beijing Shanghai and Hong Kong identified fraudulent document concerns regarding 224 applications in the Philippines and 73 applications in China not evidence that he has not been taking immigration fraud seriously over the past 9 years?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: No it is not because what the member asking the question has not told the House is that they were prima facie questions about whether or not fraud might have occurred. In over 170 I think—178 of those examples—none was detected.Ron Mark: How can he possibly say he has been taking immigration fraud very seriously" over the past 9 years when a Chinese national gained a student visa despite being rejected by US authorities on numerous occasions and flagged by Australian immigration and border protection yet his department did not know anything until it received an intelligence notification about a national security concern? How did that guy get in?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well I do not have the details of that particular example but it is a single example of one of over 800000 people who came here after having successfully applied for a visa. Again I do not think anybody should take from that anecdote that there are widespread problems.Ron Mark: I seek leave to table a series of answers to Official Information Act (OIA) requests from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment dated 31 July 2017 regarding fraud updates by each Immigration New Zealand office.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that OIA release. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is not. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House."