Work visa scam ripped off Filipino migrants: New Zealand immigration officials

New Zealand immigration officials admitted Tuesday that they had only touched the surface of an elaborate immigration scam that ripped of migrant Filipino workers.

Loraine Jayme, a dual Filipino-New Zealand national, had pleaded guilty to 284 charges involving multiple fraudulent work visa applications submitted by Filipinos seeking work in the New Zealand dairy industry, said the government's Immigration New Zealand (INZ) agency.

"Jayme systematically ripped off vulnerable migrant workers," INZ assistant general manager Peter Devoy said in a statement.

"Although these charges are very serious, we believe they only represent the tip of the iceberg of Jayme's offending."

Jayme was charged in October 2015 after INZ staff verifying visa applications identified anomalies in visa applications and a farmer reported migrants claiming he had offered them work without his knowledge.

The investigation was far reaching, but the prosecution focused on five non-existent dairy farms and fictitious employers created by Jayme through a complex series of forged documents, submitted to both INZ and other New Zealand agencies, said Devoy.

She fabricated job offer letters and employment agreements, including false farm vacancy requests, in order to obtain letters confirming the unavailability of suitably qualified New Zealanders.

Jayme admitted charges of forgery, using a forged document, deception and supplying false or misleading information to an immigration officer.

She was sentenced to 11 months and two weeks home detention and 180 hours community work. Endit