migrant workers reported paying a significant premium for employment. Throughout our engagement, the Commission regularly heard of jobs being ‘sold’ for $15,000 - $20,000, with one migrant worker stating they had paid approximately $60,000. This was echoed by other stakeholders, with an immigration agent describing a widespread practice of people paying for jobs that do not exist. Many workers spoken to, who had paid premiums, had done so by taking on significant debt in their home country. One worker was left unemployed on arrival in Aotearoa when their family had financed the premium by selling long held family land. Another worker spoke of providing security for debt through family gold. Some workers spoke of taking on debt with unscrupulous lenders in their home country. One worker reported having family members physically threatened in their country of origin as they had been unable to make debt repayments. Many migrant workers and other stakeholders are of the view that a significant level of fraud is facilitated by the AEWV scheme where migrant workers are ‘scammed’ into buying non-existent jobs. An immigration agent held the view that some workers were aware they were purchasing ‘fake’ jobs to enter the country believing they could get employment on arrival. One experienced worker described his immigration experience as a coordinated ‘scam’. They stated that they paid approximately $18,000 to an offshore agent but arrived in Aotearoa to no job and extremely poor housing conditions with no pay. This person considered that at least 100 people had been similarly scammed by the same group. They said one of the people who had participated in the scam, from inside Aotearoa, had previously been named in the national media for conducting 20 schemes of migrant exploitation. They said, “the first day I came to New Zealand, I cried”. These allegations echo concerns of other workers and raises a concern that coordinated international networks may be running large, and likely very profitable, operations involving migrant exploitation under the AEWV scheme. An immigration agent observed that many workers were being recruited for the profit of premiums, not for their labour. They considered that this meant workers did not meet the scheme’s criteria of recruiting “skilled migrants where genuine skill or labour shortages exist.”90 This also left migrant workers more vulnerable when trying to get new employment as they lack sought-after skills. This could lead to exploitation in informal employment (see 8.1.3). The payment of a premium for employment is out of step with human rights norms. Article 9 of the ILO Protection of Wages Convention 1949 (Convention No. 95) prohibits deductions for the purposes of obtaining or retaining employment. This prohibition includes recruitment fees or related costs, which are “any fees or costs incurred in the recruitment process in order for workers to secure employment or placement”.91 These “should not be collected from workers by an employer, their subsidiaries, labour recruiters or other third parties”.92 The ILO is clear that “No recruitment fees or related costs should be charged to, or otherwise borne by, workers or jobseekers.”93 Premium payments may also be inconsistent with the Wages Protection Act 1983 which states “No employer or person engaged on behalf of the employer shall seek or receive any premium in respect of the employment of any person”.94 90 Immigration NZ Website at https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/common-topics/accredited-employerwork-visa-aewv 91 General principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and Definition of recruitment fees and related costs, International Labour Office Geneva: ILO 2019, p12. 92 Ibid, p12. 93 Ibid, General Principle 7, page 13. 94 Wages Protection Act 1983, section 12A(1). The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Human Rights Review