In April 2024, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) introduced the Immigration Employment Infringement Scheme, a new enforcement tool designed to promote fair treatment of migrant workers.

This allows employers to be fined for committing immigration violations, including employing people in breach of their visa conditions or who are unlawfully in New Zealand.

Six months after the introduction of the scheme, Acting General Manager Compliance and Investigations, Michael Carley says that we have begun to see its effects on employers.

“Since April, there have been a total of 54 infringements issued across the country. Of these, 20 occurred in the Auckland region, 10 in Wellington, and 7 in Canterbury, leading to a total of $196,000 in penalties.”

Most of these fines have ranged from $1,000 to $3,000, but notably, two substantial penalties of $12,000 and $15,000 have been imposed on two businesses for multiple offences.

The sectors that faced the highest number of infringements included Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing, which received nine infringements.

Close behind were the Construction, Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade industries, with eight infringements each.

Michael Carley acknowledged that many employers do the right thing, however there is still a small number of employers who aren’t following the rules.

“The infringement scheme is an additional tool we have to help employers understand that there are consequences for not adhering to the rules around hiring migrants.

While we will still prosecute where we see serious breaches of immigration law, the introduction of infringement penalties provides a new avenue for swift and high impact action.

“We can now tackle non-compliance with greater efficiency and speed, making sure that employers follow the regulations and safeguard migrants from exploitation.”