Multiple past and present Immigration NZ (INZ) staff have told Stuff about their concerns with what they say is a completely dysfunctional visa regime that has allowed rampant fraud - including visa staff themselves exposing the flaws by using pictures of cats and dogs as supporting documents in a dummy visa application that was allegedly approved. Staff had already told Stuff of issues with the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, with one saying the system was "completely f****d". Border issuesBorder staff have been told not to intervene in cases where there are question marks about newly-arriving work visa holders. National Party immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford said INZ staff had been warning managers for months of the issues, and were so frustrated they felt the media was their only solution. She also denied any instruction not to open visa attachments, but said that for low-risk visitor visa applications "officers may not need to examine attachments if certain standard health, character and identity checks have been completed".
