reported that INZ staff had been warning their managers since soon after the scheme was put in operation19 that the system “is a recipe for migrant exploitation”. INZ staff said employers “are being allowed to bring in migrants without any paperwork or financial checks, even when immigration officers fear jobs may be fake, paid for with illegal premiums, or the migrants will be exploited.”20 It was also reported that “only two employers, from 27,894 applicants, [had] been declined accreditation” and that staff were instructed to “do no verification work on low-risk and medium-risk applications” and “to do ‘quick’ verification” on “high risk applications”.21 • operational changes were made for the period July 2022 to 30 June 2023 that “did not include sufficient risk assessment”26 • the review heard many reports of migrant exploitation including falsified employment documents, non-existent jobs and migrant workers working for free, and migrant workers “being forced to work illegally as part of organised crime networks”27 • there is no clear picture of the extent of possible system abuse. MBIE does not appear to have a method to monitor the extent and nature of migrant exploitation.28 4.2 Independent review of AEWV scheme 4.3 Changes to the AEWV scheme On 15 August 2023, the then Immigration Minister, announced an independent review into the AEWV scheme. The terms of reference for the review explicitly dealt with operational aspects of the employer accreditation and job check processes and did not consider wider policy settings.22 In early April 2024, the Government announced changes to the scheme including changes to minimum skill requirements, English language proficiency requirements for some workers, and reduced visa lengths for some jobs. The findings of the independent review of the AEWV scheme were released on 27 February 2024 and included that: • • 19 10 the scheme went live in conditions described as a “perfect storm” with new processes being introduced where technology was not fully operational.23 The team to implement the work was almost entirely new (200 people recruited in 2022)24 the volume of applications was exceeding the capacity of INZ to process them in accordance with the published time frames25 Employers were required to: • take reasonable steps to ensure workers are suitably skilled, with new minimum skill requirements • inform INZ when a migrant leaves their job.29 In late June 2024 further changes were introduced. These meant migrant workers on an AEWV visa, with a role containing an Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations of level 4 or 5 without a pathway to residency, could no longer support work, visitor or student visa applications for their partners and dependent children.30 While not explored Assurance review of the operation of the Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme, February 2024, Executive Summary, paragraph [17] note that concerns were raised with INZ senior leadership from April 2023. 20 ‘The system is f.....’: Immigration staff say bosses knew visa system didn’t work, and ignored it | Stuff 21 Ibid. 22 Letter to Public Service Commissioner from Andrew Little, 17 August 2023. 23 Assurance review of the operation of the Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme, February 2024, Executive Summary, paragraph [10] 24 Ibid 25 Ibid, paragraph [12]. 26 Ibid, paragraph [16]. 27 Ibid, paragraph [47]. 28 Ibid, paragraph [27]. 29 https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/news-notifications/changes-to-the-accredited-employer-work-visa-aewv 30 See https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/news-notifications/further-changes-to-accredited-employerwork-visa-aewv The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Human Rights Review