Chinese men working illegally in New Zealand construction industry deported

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Eight Chinese men working illegally in the construction industry have been deported.

Immigration New Zealand said the deportations followed an investigation and compliance action undertaken by the agency.

INZ general manager of verification and compliance Stephen Vaughan said it was tipped off about the men living in the Auckland suburb of Mount Roskill.

'This is an excellent example of our people working together across the business,' Vaughan said.

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'We received the information about these illegal workers, investigated the allegations and eventually located and deported them.'

Vaughan said the men originally arrived in New Zealand on visitor visas.

They had been working illegally for between one and two years, living together in the same house.

'The Chinese nationals would not divulge any information about their employers but this is a timely reminder that New Zealand businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure their employees are legally entitled to work for them. 

'The consequences for employers who allow people to work for them when they are not entitled to can be serious.'

Vaughan said it was 'completely unacceptable' for foreign national to work in New Zealand without an appropriate visa.

He said INZ, as well as the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, monitored different industries and take strong action when coming across illegal employment practices.

Vaughan said employers were encouraged to use INZ's online tool VisaView to determine who is or isn't a New Zealand citizen and who is able to work for them.

'We encourage anyone with any information about migrants working illegally to get in touch with us so that we can investigate and take any appropriate action.'