JAKARTA - New Zealand will invest NZ$18 million over four years in migrant exploitation and immigration non-compliance enforcement, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said in a May 28 release.
The funding will affect migrant workers, employers, people breaching visa conditions and immigration compliance agencies. It will support three frontline teams within MBIE’s Immigration Compliance and Investigations branch and the Labour Inspectorate.
The plan adds 22 full-time-equivalent staff. Immigration Investigations will handle complex backlogs and serious offending. The Labour Inspectorate will target migrant exploitation and major breaches, while a new Immigration Compliance team will focus on lower-level employer and visa violations.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered Budget 2026 on May 28. “This responsible Budget makes significant investments in health, education, law and order, and other frontline public services,” Willis said in her Budget speech. The Treasury published the Budget speech and Budget documents on May 28.
The government said the new compliance team will enable about 70 additional infringement notices each year. The investigations team is expected to close another 50 to 60 serious cases annually and undertake 10 to 14 additional prosecutions. The new Labour Inspectorate team will raise enforcement capacity by about 30 percent.
New Zealand says the Accredited Employer Work Visa is the country’s main temporary work visa. As at March 31, INZ had approved more than 188,000 AEWV applications since the scheme opened, with more than 29,000 accredited employers and more than 79,000 AEWV holders.
The enforcement funding follows pressure on the accredited-employer system. Immigration New Zealand said MBIE had received 8,794 complaints against accredited employers since July 1, 2022. INZ had also completed 8,246 post-accreditation checks on 5,776 employers and had 107 active investigations involving 114 accredited employers as at March 31.
New Zealand has also changed immigration law. MBIE said the Immigration (Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity) Amendment Act 2025 received Royal assent on November 27 last year and created an offence for knowingly seeking or receiving employment premiums from migrants or intending migrants.
A separate Enhanced Risk Management Amendment Bill would raise the maximum sentence for migrant exploitation offending from seven years to 10 years’ imprisonment.
