The Migrant Workers' Association is calling on the Government to provide amnesty to exploited migrant workers, students, and whistleblowers. Laura Walters looks at the country's shameful migrant exploitation situation, which in some cases has been described as a form of modern slavery.

Each year, tens of thousands of Chinese and Indian families are sold a dream.

Agents in their countries promise an education, jobs, a better life, and even a permanent life in New Zealand.

These families aren't rich - many are lower-middle class - but they're aspirational, and willing to do what it takes to try and forge a new path. So they hand over between $20,000 and $50,000, often acquired through some kind of loan, and set sail for New Zealand.

READ MORE:

* Government to tackle migrant exploitation, regional skills shortages

* Immigration NZ has to pick and choose cases to investigate

* Legal loopholes allow for 'disgraceful' labour-hire worker exploitation

In reality, only 17 per cent of these migrants will gain permanent residency.

When they arrive in New Zealand, some of them realise they have been sold on "makeshift colleges", which give out "meaningless qualifications", jobs where they work for less than the minimum wage without breaks or holiday pay, and sometimes substandard accommodation and a lack of proper food.

In the most extreme cases they are physically held; their passports confiscated.

"In their home country they spend their day under the blazing sun, picking crops," reads the draft of a speech the immigration minister will give on Wednesday.

"When they come to New Zealand they spend their day under the blazing sun, picking fruit, but at night they sleep on a concrete floor."

SOLD A PIPE DREAM

The Migrant Workers Association says vulnerable people, desperate for a chance to succeed, are sold a "pipe dream".

"The name of New Zealand will turn to s... if we don't sort this out," Migrant Lives Matter campaigner Joe Coralan says.

The new government has promised to make cracking down on exploitation a priority.

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has spoken openly about under-resourcing at Immigration New Zealand (INZ), and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) labour inspectorate.

He promised to increase money and resources, including doubling the number of labour inspectors by 2020.

The fruits of both the current government and the former government's recent crackdowns are showing. Not a week goes by without a headline about a fresh case of migrant exploitation being prosecuted.

And already the number of visa applications are dropping.

INZ staff in India considered just 9429 study visa applications in 2017, down from 16,380 in 2016 and 25,977 in 2015. There were 7869 from China, down from 8843 in 2016, and 8889 in 2015.

The Migrant Workers Association's Anu Kaloti says while policies to wipe out exploitative agents, education providers, and businesses are well-intended, the ones who continue to miss out are the migrants.

When schools and businesses close it's the migrants left out of pocket, without qualifications or jobs.

Lees-Galloway says this doesn't mean the Kiwi dream is dead, but a raft of horrific cases in the past five years have woken New Zealand from its blissful slumber.

"The dream of living in New Zealand and living a prosperous life here and creating a future for your family here is one that is absolutely available to a huge number of potential migrants.

"We have to be absolutely honest with people about what their prospects are. There are some people who are being sold that dream when it isn't available to them and that is what's damaging our reputation."

While the minister takes advice from MBIE on the best way forward and keeps his fingers crossed his Budget bid wins out come May, migrants continue to be exploited.

Last year, a group of Indian students were deported after it was discovered their supporting visa documents were forged by agents in India.

SUPPLIED Indian students deported from New Zealand are struggling to adjust to life back home, as the Ombudsman investigates how they were treated by Immigration NZ.

SOLD A NON-EXISTENT JOB

Other migrants are paying up to $50,000 for a job in New Zealand. They are then bonded to that job due to their visa requirements.

"More and more what we are seeing is there is no job," Kaloti says.

SUPPLIED Anu Kaloti, spokeswoman for the Migrant Workers' Association, says it's always the migrants who miss out.

Labour Inspectorate national manager Stu Lumsden says too often inspectors are encountering people who are working long hours, being paid far less than the minimum wage, are being deprived of other entitlements, such as holiday pay, and being made to pay a premium for employment.

A recent case involving workers at 3 Kings Food in Birkenhead revealed a worker was doing at least 10 hours a day, six days a week, without any breaks, in what was described as "a form of modern slavery" by an Auckland District Court judge.

One of the first high-profile cases in New Zealand was that of the Masala Indian food chain. Between 2012 and 2014 some Indian migrant workers were forced to under record the hours they worked, return some of their pay back to their employer and were not paid any holiday pay.

And in 2016, the first person in New Zealand was sentenced for human trafficking.

​Faroz Ali enticed Fijian workers to come to New Zealand after answering advertisements placed in Fijian newspapers by Ali's Fiji-based wife and sister-in- law.

The migrants were charged large sums of money but when they arrived here they were forced to work illegally for long hours, live in cramped conditions and were paid little, if anything.

These cases are happening around the country, and are not limited to any one industry, although MBIE does have a focus on sectors where it has been most prevalent, such as horticulture, retail, and hospitality, Lumsden says.

CHRIS MCKEEN/FAIRFAX NZ Faroz Ali was found guilty for multiple charges of human trafficking and exploitation. This was NZ's first successful human trafficking prosecution.

"What these cases illustrate, is the willingness of some individuals and businesses to take advantage of vulnerabilities and power imbalances to execute control over their workers for their own profit, removing from workers their most basic employment and human rights.

"This is an issue which affects all of us. It's an affront to the humanity of these workers, legitimate businesses who are undercut by these practices, and New Zealand's reputation as a fair place to work, live and do businesses."

Some ongoing cases include:

- A well-known pizza chain, where an owner was found to be working Indian students, upwards of 70 hours a week but only paying for 20, while holding their passports.

- A horticulture business which recruited migrants from Papua New Guinea on visitor visas, putting them into unsuitable, uninsulated, accommodation without suitable clothing, and with only rice to sustain them.

- A horticulture business where two Samoan nationals were held against their will and forced to work six days a week, with passports withheld, and their only remuneration was tobacco.

- A chain of pharmacies where more than $120,000 is owed to employees after they failed to pay migrant workers minimum wage or correct holiday pay.

AUTHORITIES UNDER-RESOURCED

Tackling these issues will take everyone working together, including government, businesses, industry bodies, and the communities in which this behaviour is taking place, Lumsden says.

"We all have a responsibility to take action to remove this abuse from our society, whether through refusing to buy products from businesses which do not provide their employers with minimum standards, or taking steps as a business to ensure this is not happening within our supply chain."

SUPPLIED Labour Inspectorate national manager Stu Lumsden says it's everyone's responsibility to stop migrant exploitation.

Inspectors proactively visit businesses and employers who have a history of non-compliance, however, most of the severe cases of exploitation have emerged through members of the community, groups, or migrants reporting it to the inspectorate.

Kaloti says the rates of exploitation are likely higher than anyone realises, and more should be done to catch exploitation before it goes too far.

Figures released under the Official Information Act earlier this year showed nearly half of the 11,000 migrant exploitation and fraud tipoffs sent to INZ were not investigated in the six years to 2017.

From the 5700 cases that were investigated, less than 150 prosecutions were made. Almost 500 cases, some four-years-old, remained open.

Migrant worker campaigner Joe Coralan says the exploitation at Masala and some other restaurants along Auckland's Dominion Rd and Sandringham, were one of the worst-kept secrets among locals.

It's difficult for the employees to speak out against their employer or education provider. If they do so, they risk losing what little they have left.

They risk not gaining their qualification, losing their job, and being deported.

The Migrant Workers Association is calling on the government to change the regime so students and workers, especially those who whistleblow, are in a less vulnerable position if they raise the alarm.

In extreme cases, where people have been physically held, or their passports confiscated, the government has granted them amnesty, but the threshold is high.

"We need to create an environment where migrants feel comfortable and confident about coming forward," Lees-Galloway says.

DAVID UNWIN/STUFF "The dream of living in New Zealand and living a prosperous life here and creating a future for your family here is one that is absolutely available to a huge number of potential migrants. We have to be absolutely honest with people about what their prospects are," Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says.

He's currently taking advice from officials on the possibility of a scheme where a work visa isn't bonded to a single employer, or one that allowed migrants to change employers in cases of exploitation.

As for the agents selling the "pipedream": working visa agents of advisers have to be legally licensed, but at this stage the market of study visa agents is unregulated.

Authorities have been working with education providers, to let them know the onus was on them. The self-regulating system seems to be improving the situation, but if it doesn't have the desired effect, the government will regulate those agents, he says.

MODERN SLAVERY

On Wednesday, 33 organisations, 13 businesses, and seven industry groups will meet to address the risks of modern slavery.

New Zealand's business representative in discussions related to the Bali Process on people smuggling and human trafficking, is running the symposium with Lees-Galloway.

The plan was to gain a better understanding of the growing problem of modern slavery and human trafficking, explore what businesses are doing already, and discuss how business and government can work together more effectively to address these issues, Fyfe said.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Rob Fyfe is the business head for the global push to end human trafficking and modern slavery, as part of the Bali Process.

The forum will also look at legislative requirements for businesses operating in Australia and the UK to report on measures to address modern slavery in their supply chains.

Lees-Galloway says it's possible there are instances of modern slavery within big Kiwi companies' supply chains, and there has been one successfully prosecuted case of human trafficking in New Zealand.

But there's a chance there are other undetected cases in New Zealand that would count as "modern slavery".

"As best as we can tell, we're really talking a very small number, at the extreme end. But I do think we're right to be worried about the exploitation of migrants, and that has the potential to harm our reputation if we don't take action and are seen to be taking action," he says.

If you are a victim of exploitation, or have witnessed behaviour that could be considered exploitation, you can call MBIE on 0800 20 90 20.

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