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By Lucy Xia of RNZ

An immigration adviser has lost their licence after charging Chinese migrant workers tens of thousands of dollars in visa fees for jobs that didn’t exist.

Tzu Tong (Jane) Ma has had her licence cancelled by the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal over breaches relating to arranging work visa applications for two migrants at building company ZR Homes.

The company was owned by Ma’s husband, which she hadn’t disclosed as a conflict of interest, and there were no jobs.

She has been ordered to repay the victims $58,500 in compensation and has also been fined $10,000.

There have been widespread reports of fraudulent employers and agents selling jobs under the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme since early 2023.

The latest decision by the tribunal comes more than a year after the tribunal upheld 51 breaches by Ma, involving advice given to five other clients.

The breaches included six counts of dishonesty involving giving false information and documents to Immigration New Zealand, as well as other breaches of the licensed immigration advisers’ Code of Conduct.

Ma was ordered to compensate $19,061 to one victim and fined $17,000 across three different complainants.

Ma’s licence was suspended in April 2024, shortly after the first tribunal decision against her, but was not revoked then.

In this latest case, the two migrants arrived in New Zealand only to find there was no available work with ZR Homes.

They filed complaints to the Immigration Advisers Authority against Ma and stated they had no work or any income for several weeks after arriving in New Zealand, which caused them significant mental distress.

Immigration Advisers Authority registrar Duncan Connor said the numerous breaches and deliberate attempt to conceal a conflict of interest was unacceptable.

“The seriousness of the complaints and pattern of behaviour prompted the authority to seek suspension of Ms Ma’s licence, which was granted by the tribunal pending the outcome of the final tribunal decision, which we were pleased the tribunal agreed with,” Connor said.

Tribunal chairman DJ Plunkett said in his decision that the misconduct was aggravated by the lack of any acknowledgment of serious wrongdoing by Ma.

– RNZ