Staff misconduct In February 2004, Immigration Officer Manjit Singh was charged for theft for pocketing the proceeds of disposing of the assets of nationals deported from New Zealand. In 2009, The Christchurch and Sydney branches were revealed to have operated an unsanctioned "initiative" called "Project Crusade" between April and July 2008 in granting visas to applicants who had not submitted either medicals or police clearance certificates. It was halted following a review by the Department of Labour in 2009. In 2012, it was reported that 50 Immigration NZ staff had improperly accessed client information since the agency started its internal investigation process in 2004.
Bunnygate Lianne Dalziel, resigned as Minister for Immigration on 20 February 2004 for leaking and later lying about leaking it to the Media a copy of a legally privileged letter from a Sri Lankan
asylum seeker, a scandal that was later referred to as
Bunnygate.
Pacific Division scandals In 2008, Mary-Anne Thompson, the General Manager of the Pacific Division, was forced to resign after two scandals. The first scandal was where she was exposed as not only getting several relatives from
Kiribati to NZ without a visa in full violation of immigration rules, but later obtaining them Permanent Residency under an annual quota. Despite the fact that they had not been even randomly selected out of the lottery like every one else, their residency applications were processed. Despite these repeated and blatant breaches of policy, the initial internal investigation merely recommended "counseling". Her second scandal was where she was subsequently exposed at lying about her qualifications, namely her claim to have a doctorate from the London School of Economics, a claim later exposed to be untrue. She subsequently pleaded guilty to criminal charges laid regarding this claim. At the same time of that scandal hit the headlines, it was also revealed that Thompson had awarded a $500,000 untendered contract to set up the Pacific Branch to Pacific Edge International Limited, despite it being owned directed by senior Immigration Manager Kerupi Tavita, which when challenged the involvement of Tavita, simply bypassed this by resigning his directorship, and got his wife to substitute for him. Later, the other director, Mai Malaulau, was controversially appointed the head of the Pacific Branch. In March 2009, Immigration NZ's Pacific Division was dissolved by the
Fifth National Government following a damning report which identified a range of problems including poor leadership, mismanagement, lack of accountability and transparency, poor services, and a "fiefdom" mentality.
Karel Sroubek controversy In November 2018, drug smuggler and convicted Czech criminal Karel Sroubek was granted residency by Minister of Immigration Ian Lees-Galloway. The controversy arose when in 2018, despite being in prison for smuggling MDMA, Sroubek's residency wasn't revoked, and he was granted a further visa by the then Immigration Minister, Iain Lees-Galloway. This decision drew criticism due to Sroubek's criminal activities, both in New Zealand and the Czech Republic. In response to public outcry, the Minister reviewed the case. In November 2018, following the review, Lees-Galloway reversed the decision, stating new information had come to light which contradicted the information considered in the original decision. Sroubek's residency was contingent on the fact that he could not return to the Czech Republic due to fears for his safety, but the new information suggested that he had returned on his own volition.
Israel-Palestine map In mid–June 2019, Immigration New Zealand attracted criticism from the pro-Israel advocacy group Israel Institute of New Zealand after it published a map on its website which labeled
Israel as
Palestine. An Immigration NZ spokesperson clarified that the map had been published as part of its online fact sheets on the humanitarian situation in Palestine and New Zealand's refugee program. The Israel Institute's Director Ashley Church demanded that the
Immigration Minister apologize to the Jewish community and confirm this did not represent New Zealand foreign policy. He also demanded that Immigration NZ issue an apology and take steps to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future. On 20 June, the Immigration Minister
Iain Lees-Galloway issued an apology to the Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Gerberg and said that immediate action had been taken to remove the diagram.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters described the map as a "careless and shoddy mistake" and criticized the handling of the incident as "an affront to the Israeli people."
NRI partnership visas In mid October 2019, Immigration New Zealand controversially tightened their partnership visa policies to exclude applicants from India who were engaged in non-resident Indian (NRI) marriages. Since 2009, the New Zealand Government had made an exception for NRI messages at the advice of the
Ombudsman. This ruling was criticized by the
Indian community as racist. In early November 2019, the Government announced the reversal of the partnership visa decision, restoring the exception for non-resident Indian marriages.
Suspension of Afghan visas In early November 2021, Community Law Waikato challenged Immigration New Zealand's decision to stop processing visas by Afghan migrants and refugees in 2020 due to
COVID-19 border restrictions. Crown lawyer Robert Kirkness defended the department's decision, citing New Zealand's COVID-19 border restrictions. On 23 November, the High Court ruled that Immigration NZ was wrong to stop processing the Afghan interpreters' visa applications due to COVID-19 and not making an exception on humanitarian grounds in light of the
2021 Taliban offensive. In late November 2021, Immigration NZ defied the High Court's ruling and issued a new ruling suspending the processing of Afghan visa applications, claiming that an external humanitarian crisis was not relevant to the determination of a travel request to travel to New Zealand. Following a judicial challenge by Community Law Waikato, the High Court ruled that the government department was wrong to halt processing Afghan visas due to COVID-19. However, travel plans for prospective Afghan migrants were hindered by the planned suspension of emergency flights organised by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) over the 2021–2022 summer season. In early February 2022,
Radio New Zealand reported that only 17 of the 77 Afghan applicants had received a Family Support Category visa since November 2021. These 17 individuals were unable to enter the country due to a lack of official assistance from MFAT, which claimed that these applicants did not meet the criteria of people who had helped NZ agencies in Afghanistan and their immediate family members. Immigration New Zealand had initially assigned two staff members to process their visas following the court ruling but subsequently assigned nine personnel to processing Afghan visas. Community Law CEO Sue Moroney criticised the Government for preventing Afghan applicants from resettling in New Zealand.
Dawn raids On 2 May 2023, Immigration New Zealand confirmed that it had visited 623 visa overstayers in the period between July 2022 and April 2023. While the vast majority of these visits were carried out between 7am and 9pm, the agency acknowledged that it had conducted 18-19 visits (roughly 3%) "outside of hours" including dawn. According to Immigration Minister
Michael Wood's office, these 19 cases consisted of 10 Chinese, four Indians, two Tongans, one Samoan, one Malaysian and one Indonesian. This acknowledgement came in response to media coverage of a joint Immigration-Police "dawn raid" conducted against a Pasifika overstayer between 5am and 6am in late April. During the raid, immigration officials and Police had surrounded the exits of the overstayer's rental property, traumatising his wife and young children. The father was subsequently taken to Manukau police station. Immigration New Zealand stated that it was rare for the department to conduct early morning operations and that this operation had been approved by the national manager of compliance. The April raid was also criticised by the Pasifika overstayer's lawyer Soane Foliaki former Polynesian Panther Tigilau Ness, lawyer Soane Foliaki,
Green Party co-leader
Marama Davidson, and
ACT Party leader
David Seymour for traumatising the overstayer's family and evoking memories of the controversial
dawn raids of the 1970s which disproportionately targeted Pasifika New Zealanders. The Green Party also reiterated its calls for an amnesty for overstayers. In late May 2023, a Chinese overstayer known by the alias "Chen" (or "Feng") and his lawyer
Tuariki Delamere claimed that Immigration compliance officers and the Police used "unnecessary force" when arresting Chen during a raid on six Chinese and Malaysian overstayers sharing a flat in 2022. Chen claimed that he had mistaken the Immigration compliance officers and Police for robbers since he and none of his flatmates spoke English. Chen had jumped over a balcony railing on the second floor. Chen says that he was tackled by several Immigration compliance officers and sustained a broken left wrist. Delamere complained about Chen's treatment to the Police,
Independent Police Conduct Authority and MBIE. Immigration NZ disputed Chen's version of events and claimed that Chen had jumped off the deck, moved his left arm in an attempt to break his fall, and physically resisted Immigration compliance officers. Delamere disputed Immigration NZ's account of events. In addition to overstaying his visa, Chen was also charged with being linked to an organised fraud group that was involved in organising travel plans and visa applications. Chen disputed the charges and unsuccessfully applied for refugee status with Immigration NZ's Refugee Protection Unit in February 2023, claiming that he risked arrest if deported to China. Chen subsequently appealed the Protection Unit's decision to the Immigration Protection Tribunal. On 10 July 2023, senior lawyer Mike Heron released his independent review into Immigration NZ's "out of hours immigration visits." His review found that Immigration NZ, MBIE, and the Immigration Minister had made no changes to their compliance visits and other immigration practices despite the 2021 apology. Heron also found that contemporary "out of hours" compliance visits mainly targeted
Chinese and
Indian nationals, with few Pasifika being affected. Heron's review made five recommendations including amending the
Immigration Act 2009 to specify the criteria for "out of hours" compliances visits; treating "out of hours" compliance visits as a last resort; considering their impact on children, the elderly, and other vulnerable individuals; assessing the reasonableness, proportionality, and public interest of these visits; and that any compliance visits be authorised by the relevant compliance manager and national manager. Immigration Minister
Andrew Little apologised that the Government had not updated its guidance on dawn raid policies following the national apology. Little said he would discuss the Heron review's recommendations with Cabinet. ==See also==