An Auckland woman claims she paid a man $10,000 and married his brother-in-law so he would find her work.

A woman claims she paid a man $10,000 and married his brother-in-law so he would find her work in New Zealand.

The Employment Relations Authority recently ordered Sukhpreet Kaur's previous employer, Direct Auto Importers Limited (DIAL), to pay her more than $17,000 in unpaid wages, holiday pay and commission payments.

In the decision the authority also expressed "concerns" about how Kaur was originally hired by DIAL.

It comes as concerns grow about immigrants being scammed out of thousands of dollars as they try to find work.

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In Kaur's written evidence, she said in June 2013 she reached out to Harjinder Singh - a man she was boarding with in Papatoetoe, Auckland - to help her gain permanent residency in New Zealand.

According to Kaur, Singh requested money to "buy a job offer" for her.

"He quoted a total of $18,000 for getting a job offer for me. I expressed my inability to raise that huge amount."

She said Singh then presented an alternative offer. If she married his brother-in-law, Dilbag, he could then contribute half of the cost.

"Harjinder Singh introduced me to Dilbag Singh in a restaurant in Auckland in June 2013.

"He told me that I have to marry this man and after marriage, Dilbag Singh will pay $8000 to him and Harjinder will get a job offer for me.

"I agreed to the offer of Harjinder Singh as I was worried about my permanent residency."

Kaur said she met Dilbag on a "few occasions" in 2013 before they were married in the Manukau branch of the Department of Internal Affairs on August 12.

After the marriage Kaur said she gave Singh $10,000. She was not aware whether Dilbag gave $8000 to him.

The newly married couple lived together for only five days.

"On about 28th August 2013, I received a call from Harjinder Singh that I should not contact Dilbag and I should not sponsor him for the spouse visa."

Kaur said she only made contact with Dilbag twice after this to ask for him to sign a dissolution of marriage.

Around six months after the marriage, Singh told Kaur he could get her a job at one of his contacts companies.

The owner of this company was Dilpreet Singh, a director at DIAL, the man she would eventually work for.

"We met Dilpreet in a parking lot near a takeaway for around 10 minutes. Dilpreet promised me that he can get a work visa for me in Super Cheap Vehicles Limited, but he said I would have to start work after 2-3 months from the grant of the work visa. At the time, I agreed to this proposal."

In January 2014, Kaur signed a written employment agreement for an assistant manager position.

It is understood Kaur is now studying and working for a different employer in Auckland under a student visa.