One hundred and fifty Indian students studying in New Zealand face deportation because the immigration agent they used in India committed fraud. Nine of them spoke to Checkpoint today.

The Indian High Commissioner and others have blamed the authorities and tertiary institutions for not cracking down on rogue education agents.

A protest will be held on Saturday outside an Auckland National MP's office to protest the deportation of dozens of Indian students whose visas have been cancelled because of false documentation.

The Unite union, which is backing the students - many of whom are fast-food workers - said it understood Immigration New Zealand had been given the names of the agents, but it had not changed the situation.

123RF Sixty per cent of international students in New Zealand use agents, Education NZ says.

The students were vulnerable, Unite spokesman Mike Treen said.

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"These dodgy agents have not been held accountable and neither have the colleges where the student studied."

RNZ Checkpoint Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce responds to the pleas of Indian students who wish to stay in New Zealand after the immigration agent they used in India committed fraud.

He said the number of Indian students here had surged in the last two years, and that the Government had made it easier for them to work here, knowing that suited certain low-wage industries.

Indian High Commissioner Sanjiv Kohli​ said he had already spoken to New Zealand authorities about student visa concerns

Although he had not been approached about the current situation, he said the onus lay entirely with the educational institutions which worked with the agents.

It was "grossly unfair" to target students who had already started and invested heavily in their studies.

"Action , if any, has to be against the concerned institutions, their agents and responsibility fixed on those who failed to supervise the process and cleared the visas on the basis of documents presented.

"You cannot be advertising yourself as world-class teaching institutions, admit international students, charge them huge fees and then say Sorry, the visas were given without a proper scrutiny of the documents, or that the institution which has admitted you does not meet necessary standards.

"Why were they licensed and allowed to admit international students in the first instance?"

Prakash Biradar, secretary of the New Zealand Indian Central Association, said it was a real concern.

"If the Government has approved, then it is government's responsibility."

But Steven Joyce, the minister responsible for international education, sheeted the responsibility back to the institutions.

"It's actually the responsibility of the provider to ensure that they know who their agents are and that their agents are acting ethically and legally."

Immigration New Zealand had been tightening up on student visas and about 40 per cent of student visa applications from India were currently being turned down.

A new code of practice had also come into force in July which meant education providers would have their right to bring in students revoked if their agents misbehaved, he said.

Education New Zealand, the body which promotes international education in New Zealand, said all students had to personally sign a declaration that the details in their application were true, regardless of the agent.

About 60 per cent of the 125,000 international students in New Zealand had used education agents, a spokesperson Carole van Grondelle said.

ENZ ran a "recognised agent" programme and education providers had a code of pastoral care.

It was also working with Immigration New Zealand and NZQA to ensure New Zealand institutions had better information about agents and felt that was a better approach than, say, a blacklist.

The students will protest outside the offices of National MP Parmjeet Parmar.

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