The New Zealand government is to make a significant investment in immigration services to better detect the exploitation of migrants.
The government also announced that money will be set aside to improve visa processing.
The country’s Immigration Minister, Iain Lees Galloway, has announced that NZ$34.0 million of funding will be made available to increase screening and assessment of air passengers and help identify exploitation risks early.
“Eliminating the exploitation of migrants is one of this Government’s top priorities,” said Lees-Galloway. “Our investment will contribute to the early identification of people at risk of exploitation.”
Unscrupulous immigration agents will also be targeted by the increased funding. ““The funding will enable the Immigration Advisers Authority to target unlawful immigration advice,” continued Lees-Galloway. “This will also reduce risks of migrant exploitation by increasing the quality of immigration advice.”
The Minister also announced NZ$98.9 million in funding over the following four years to help meet cost and capability pressures on Immigration New Zealand as it transitions to a new visa operating model.
“Immigration New Zealand is changing to a new operating model through the Visa Services 2020 transformation programme, which will result in significant operational savings beginning in 2019/20,” he explained.
Article published 17th May 2018