Action soon on rip-offs of would-be immigrants

By WARREN GAMBLE

Immigration scams ripping off would-be residents have given impetus to the Government's push towards registering consultants.

The Minister of Immigration, Lianne Dalziel, said yesterday that she would soon receive an official paper on the issue and begin consultation with the industry.

Ms Dalziel said she had been made aware of several dodgy and unprofessional practices from consultants and lawyers dealing with immigrants, particularly in Auckland.

"There are legitimate people and organisations in the consultancy field who feel these rip-off merchants ruin their reputation in the industry," she said.

"I will be looking at the whole question of regulation."

Registration would require consultants to belong to an authorised body, meet professional standards, abide by ethics and be subject to a disciplinary system.

The voluntary Association for Migration and Investment, representing about 80 consultants, has in the past suggested it could fill the registration role, but its membership is now divided on the issue.

Its chairman, David Besley, said yesterday that a group of mainly Auckland consultants opposed registration so they could maintain an "exclusive club" where they received concessions from the Immigration Service.

He believed that stance was shortsighted, and motivated by short-term profits.

Mr Besley said registration would help protect vulnerable people who put their futures in the hands of immigration consultants.

"We want people to see that consultants in general are respected and decent.

"At the moment they are not because of these guys around the periphery who ... pinch money."

Meanwhile, Ms Dalziel will lodge a complaint to the Auckland District Law Society this week about a South Auckland firm with links to a scheme selling Maori citizenship.

The minister said Eru Manukau of Manukau Legal Services appeared to breach the Law Practitioners Act by purporting to offer legal advice when he was not qualified as a solicitor.

Mr Manukau is part of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes which last year offered Maori citizenship for around $1000, claiming it would prevent Pacific Island overstayers being deported.

This month a 30-year-old overstayer was deported to Kiribati after failing to appeal against his removal, and instead relying on his new-found Maori citizenship.

Ms Dalziel appealed for others who paid to join the scheme to lodge a complaint so action could be taken against an organisation "ripping off vulnerable and frightened people."

Mr Manukau told National Radio that the company sometimes hired lawyers but in itself was not a law firm.