The Labour Party is considering ways to crack down on offshore education agents who submit fraudulent documents to gain students' visas.
Migrant rights advocates and supporters rallied at the Unitarian Church in Auckland today to challenge the new government to act on its promise to address migrant student issues.
Migrant rights advocates challenged the government to act on its promise to address migrant student issues. Photo: RNZ / Eva Corlett
The challenge comes after Indian students were deported in February because their India-based agents submitted fraudulent documents for them.
Labour list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan told the crowd that former governments had failed to regulate offshore agents and the new government would review this.
"We have concerns about offshore education agents who are acting illegally and unethically in many cases, and potentially doing all sorts of things without the students' knowledge as well," Ms Radhakrishnan said.
Ms Radhakrishnan couldn't comment on the current deportation cases because they are part of an Ombudsman's investigation.
But she said the new immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, would comment once the findings were released.
Cases where students can prove their agents acted fraudulently would be considered "favourably", she said.
Labour list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan said former governments had failed to regulate offshore agents and the new government would review this. Photo: RNZ / Eva Corlett
A Migrant Workers' Association spokesperson, Anu Kaloti, said regulation was urgent.
"The ultimate goal is to get the students back, because we as an organisation and supporters believe they haven't done anything wrong - they have been victimised."
But before that, the new government needs to investigate the entire issue, she said.
The government may be able to look at regulation based off the Ombudsman's investigation, she said, which would speed up the process.
Ms Kaloti is confident the government is capable of showing compassion, after it recently stopped the deportation of Sagar Narayan, a 20-year-old Fijian man, with intellectual disabilities.
"They do consider things on humanitarian grounds," she said.