A Wellington immigration agent faces a lengthy ban from the profession and possible criminal charges after charging Indian migrants for 'fake' jobs at a non-existent IT company so they could secure New Zealand residency.

A Stuff investigation, The Big Scam, last year exposed how Peter Graeme Ryan, managing director of Capital Immigration Services, ran the fake job scheme with Whangārei restaurateur Gurpreet Singh.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Immigration advisor Peter Ryan.

Stuff revealed how 17 predominantly Indian nationals secured residency visas through Ryan's fake IT consultancy, Bite Consulting NZ/BC International, and how Ryan also handled immigration paperwork for other migrants who said they had been exploited by Singh.

In one case, migrant Karamjeet Singh (unrelated) was told he'd get a $42,000-a-year IT job in Wellington if he paid $35,000 to Ryan - but the job never existed. Instead, he had to work a cash job in an Auckland factory, while returning his Bite wages - plus extra, to cover the tax. He later withdrew his residency application.

Read more: The Big Scam

David White/Stuff Karamjeet Singh lodged a complaint against Peter Ryan.

The stories prompted an investigation by the Immigration Advisors Authority, who laid charges before the Immigration Advisors Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal. Karamjeet also laid a complaint.

The tribunal found Ryan guilty of breaching the Immigration Advisors Code and the 2009 Immigration Act by knowingly providing false information to Immigration NZ. Tribunal chair David Plunkett said Ryan was "the principal party in a scheme to present to Immigration NZ visa applications for foreign nationals based on fraudulent employment".

Ryan denied the charges, but voluntarily surrendered his immigration advisor's licence. His lawyer said Stuff's stories were unfair and unproven. But Ryan refused two invitations to give evidence to the Tribunal, and Plunkett said: "In the absence of any explanation of his alleged conduct, Mr Ryan's bald denial is not credible and has no value."

David White/Stuff Stuff's inquiries showed Ryan was working in conjunction with this man, restaurateur Gurpreet Singh.

The registrar of the Immigration Advisors Authority, Andrew Galloway, condemned Ryan's actions as "some of the most serious offending we've seen". Asked if it was an unreasonable supposition that Ryan would be out of the profession for life, Galloway said: "Definitely not, not while I am registrar."

Galloway believed Ryan's dishonesty with Immigration NZ was a criminal offence. Immigration NZ wouldn't confirm if they planned to lay charges, but said: "We take allegations of providing false and misleading information to INZ seriously, and will pursue and prosecute these cases where possible."

The tribunal heard that Ryan falsely claimed a link to a UK consultancy also called Bite, using a similar logo on his paperwork. Despite employing so many migrants, a site visit by Immigration in 2016 found Bite wasn't at the office it had provided. When it phoned their contact number, Ryan answered and directed them to the address of his immigration business, where they didn't find any IT staff at work. The only Bite client named to investigators was the Department of Corrections, who had no record of any such work.

Supplied Alistair McClymont says the Ryan decision shows how widespread this behaviour is.

Karamjeet Singh gave extensive evidence, and another migrant sponsored by Bite - given the pseudonym Mr L by the tribunal - also gave evidence. He was found by Immigration NZ working illegally in a Nelson vineyard, and deported.

Tribunal chair Plunkett said Ryan lied in evidence to the tribunal, while the registrar, Galloway, had presented "cogent and compelling" evidence.

In 10 of the cases, Ryan acted as the immigration agent for the migrants, while the sponsoring employer was Bite Consulting's Asia-Pacific general manager, Peter Kerr. But the tribunal found no evidence that Kerr actually existed, and Galloway said he believed it was a pseudonym for Ryan himself.

The tribunal could only act on those 10 cases, but said Ryan had been equally dishonest in another seven cases where he was the direct employer.

Ryan remains listed as managing partner on Capital Immigration Services website, but not as a licensed immigration advisor; his wife Carolyn is still licensed. He remains the company's sole director and shareholder.

When Stuff called Ryan, he said "I've got no comment to make, thank you for calling, goodbye" and hung up the phone. When Stuff asked him last year if he was involved in immigration fraud, he said: "That is a serious allegation and one I thoroughly refute."

Galloway said Ryan could no longer work as an advisor and would keep "a close eye" on how Capital Immigration now operated. And the registration of Ryan's wife, Carolyn - one of two remaining licensed advisors - remained a "live issue" and he said they would "probably put her under more scrutiny at her next renewal… by being associated to him she has opened herself up to a lot more scrutiny".

Galloway said it was alarming that Ryan had provided no explanation or mitigation for his actions. "This falls well below the standard we would hope our licensed advisors hold themselves at and it brings the whole industry into disrepute: I would say he is not particularly welcome at any licensed advisor's gatherings in the future."

An experienced immigration lawyer, Alistair McClymont, said he'd heard stories for years of licensed immigration advisors and lawyers being directly involved in fake job offers, paper companies and cash-for-jobs schemes, including approaching business owners with offers of setting up such schemes.

McClymont said the perception was it was an Indian-on-Indian crime, but that wasn't true and it was often Pakeha employers exploiting migrants. "The Peter Ryan decision is a good example of how widespread the practice is," he said. He said INZ "will always be up to five years behind in these investigations, and the scam artists will always find new loopholes to exploit".

Ryan and Galloway both have to make submissions to the tribunal on potential penalties by December 2, then can respond to each other's submissions until December 16, meaning it's likely it won't be until 2020 when his fate is known.

Sanctions available to the tribunal include a penalty of up to $10,000, forcing Ryan to refund fees and pay compensation, and banning him for re-applying for his licence for up to two years, though Galloway said there was "no guarantee" he would ever pass a fitness test to practice.