When Good Intentions Meet Bad Ethics: How Visa Exploitation is Shaking New Zealand’s Economy
A community insider’s perspective on the unintended consequences of the Accreditation Visa system
Introduction: The Philosophy Behind Good Deeds
I’ve always believed in a simple principle: do a good deed and get a good deed in return. There’s no such thing as pure bad luck, everything happens for a reason. While bad actions on a large scale can create short-term chaos, I believe things ultimately get better when we maintain empathy, honesty, and ethical behavior.
But what happens when a small minority abandons these principles and exploits systems designed to help? Today, I want to share what I’ve witnessed firsthand as a member of the New Zealand community—how the exploitation of Accreditation Visas has created economic ripples that affect us all.
Let me be clear from the start: This isn’t about migrant workers being bad people. It’s about how unethical employers’ greed puts vulnerable workers in impossible situations where they’ll do anything to survive—just as any human being would.
The Labor Government’s Good Intentions
After COVID-19, New Zealand faced a critical labor shortage. The Labour government introduced the Accreditation Visa with genuinely good intentions:
- Fill the post-pandemic labor gap
- Support legitimate businesses needing workers
- Help rebuild our economy
Many genuine businesses took advantage of this opportunity responsibly. However, a small percentage of unethical operators saw something else entirely: a chance to make easy money.
The vast majority of people in any community are well-intentioned; the most significant problems are often caused by the disproportionate actions of a very small group
The Exploitation Model: A Real Example
Let me share a representative example (using fictional names to protect identities):
Meet “Mark”: A greedy individual who sees the Accreditation Visa as a money-making opportunity. Here’s his business model:
Step 1: The Setup
- Registers a hair salon business (often fake or minimal)
- Contacts people in his home country: “Want to come to beautiful New Zealand?”
- Gets overwhelming response from people seeking better lives
Step 2: The Deal
Mark’s Offer:
- Pay $30,000 upfront for visa processing
- Work at his salon for minimum 5 years
- Wages: $500-700 per week
- Hours: 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week
- Everyone agrees, desperate for opportunity
Step 3: The Scam
- Applies for visas for 4 people = $120,000 instant profit
- Opens minimal salon operation
- Workers arrive, hoping for better lives
- After extracting maximum profit, Mark applies for liquidation
- Workers abandoned with no support
The Human Cost
These workers aren’t stupid—they’re victims. Most believe the $30,000 is legitimate visa processing fees. Many lack education about immigration processes but are driven by hope for their families’ futures.
How This Shakes New Zealand’s Economy
1. Direct Revenue Loss to Government
- Underpaid wages = less income tax collected
- Fake businesses often engage in tax evasion
- Lost legitimate tax revenue from displaced businesses
2. The Unfair Competition Spiral
When Mark pays workers $500-700 for 84-hour weeks, he can offer services at prices legitimate businesses can’t match. Customers naturally choose cheaper options, not knowing the true cost.
3. Secondary Market Disruption
When primary workers struggle on poverty wages, their families enter survival mode:
Spouse Activities:
- Home-cooked food sold at 70% below restaurant prices
- Beauty services offered at 50-70% below salon rates
- Cash transactions avoiding tax obligations
Customer Response: Everyone loves cheaper food and services, especially if they’re good quality. But this creates unfair competition for established restaurants and salons.
The Ripple Effect: Everyone Gets Hurt
Legitimate Businesses
- Revenue drops due to unfair price competition
- May be forced to close despite years of ethical operation
- Local employees lose jobs
Government Budget
- Increased unemployment benefit payments
- Reduced tax collection across multiple sectors
- Administrative costs dealing with business failures
Community Trust
- Growing tensions between different community groups
- Erosion of confidence in immigration systems
- Legitimate migration pathways undermined
The Human Reality: Survival Mode
Here’s what many people don’t understand: When someone is desperate to survive in a foreign country, they’ll do whatever it takes. This isn’t greed or malice—it’s basic human survival instinct.
Imagine you’ve:
- Paid your life savings ($30,000) for an opportunity
- Left your family and homeland behind
- Arrived with dreams of a better life
- Found yourself trapped in exploitative conditions
Wouldn’t you do whatever necessary to survive and support your family?
This is exactly what happens. Families start:
- Selling home-cooked food to make ends meet
- Offering services from home at rock-bottom prices
- Working cash jobs to supplement poverty wages
They’re not trying to undercut local businesses—they’re trying to survive.
Why Speaking Up Matters
As someone living in this community, I feel a responsibility to speak up, even though there’s always fear that discussing your community’s challenges makes you a “traitor.” But silence allows problems to fester.
The truth is: The vast majority of both migrants and locals are good people. But when bad actors exploit systems, everyone suffers—legitimate businesses, hardworking migrants, and the broader community.
The Broader Lesson
This situation illustrates a fundamental economic principle: When a small minority abandons ethical behavior, they can disrupt entire market systems.
The Accreditation Visa wasn’t flawed in concept—it was exploited by people who saw vulnerable workers and well-intentioned policies as profit opportunities.
The exploitation of New Zealand’s Accreditation Visa system shows how unethical employers can turn well-intentioned government policies into profit-making schemes that harm everyone involved. While the Labour government designed this system to address genuine labor shortages, a small minority of bad actors—perhaps few of any community—have created economic disruption that affects legitimate businesses, vulnerable workers, and the broader community.
The real tragedy lies in the human cost: desperate workers seeking better lives become trapped in exploitative conditions that force them into survival mode, creating secondary market disruptions that further impact the economy. This isn’t about “bad migrants” or failed policy—it’s about how greed can exploit systems designed to help, putting vulnerable people in impossible situations where survival instincts override everything else.
The solution requires stronger oversight, better education about legitimate immigration processes, and severe consequences for those who exploit vulnerable people. Most importantly, we must remember that behind every economic statistic is a human being trying to build a better life, and that the vast majority of both migrants and locals share values of hard work, honesty, and community support. Only by protecting vulnerable workers while holding bad actors accountable can well-intentioned policies achieve their true purpose of building a stronger, more prosperous society for everyone.