I’m an immigrant to New Zealand. For 17 years I’ve worked here, raised my kids here, made friends who now feel like family to me. This country has been kind to me – but sadly not all migrants have the same experience.
Recently a group of students from India were reportedly handed deportation orders by Immigration New Zealand because their agents back home – I repeat their agents, not them – used forged financial documents on their visa application forms. They were required to show they had money to support themselves while they were here, and it seems that evidence was faked.
I’m being deliberately vague about the numbers affected; some say it’s 100s, but – according to Anu Kaloti of the Migrant Workers Association – only a few students have come forward because many are scared of negative publicity that could further jeopardise their situation. The students, who say there were not aware of the deceit being carried out on their behalf, are paying the price. Because the word ‘deportation’ immediately casts them as culprits, not victims.
Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce says responsibility for submitting correct forms lies with the individual student. And Immigration NZ’s assistant general manager, Geoff Scott said the department would consider each case on its merits – but that if the students had enough money to support themselves, they would have to prove it. On the face of it, you might think that is fair. I don’t.
Let’s just pause for a moment to look at the big picture. We make big bucks from international students. It’s our fifth largest export category, worth close to $3 billion. Nearly 30,000 Indian foreign students enrolled in our institutions last year, up from 12,000 in 2013. So if we’re so happy to take their cash, shouldn’t we be doing more to close the loopholes that allow those faked documents to get the students this far? We allow them on a plane, we allow our tertiary institutions to take their money, we let them work long hours in low-wage jobs, we say ‘thankyou very much’ when we collect their taxes, and then one morning we tap them on the shoulder and go ‘oi, shove off’.
You might doubt the students’ story. I don’t. I hate form filling and would gladly hand over this tedious task to a third party. You might say ‘oh I wouldn’t do that; it’s sloppy. You should check everything yourself.’… Maybe. But since when has ‘dislike of red tape’ been a crime?
I’m not alone in finding the deportation orders harsh. Various bodies, including low-paid workers unions Unite and First Union, the Green Party, the Labour Party, the Catholic Church, Winston Peters (yes, you read that right) the Indian High Commissioner … they’re all united in saying we’re targeting the wrong people here.
And the paradox is this. Since dragging my heavy suitcases and carrying two small exhausted children through the arrivals gate all those years ago, I’ve encountered so much goodness and decency in this country. But on the international stage, we’re already garnering so many ugly statistics. Housing, inequality, child poverty, domestic abuse. Don’t let’s add ‘lack of compassion for vulnerable migrants’ to this list. This is our chance to show the world that we haven’t lost sight of who we are. We should let the students stay, finish their courses, and build a future for themselves.
