NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Big Read: How immigration fraudster Loraine Jayme got 17 migrants to NZ on fake jobs

By Belinda Feek
Reporter·NZ Herald·
4 Apr, 2017 08:05 AM8 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Immigration fraudster Loraine Jayme was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court today.

A woman convicted of 284 immigration fraud charges has revealed in detail how she managed to get 17 Filipinos into the country on fake job offers.

She's also revealed her fears for her newborn daughter who she fell pregnant with after she was arrested.

In a frank, never-before-published interview, Loraine Jayme sat down with the Herald when she was five months pregnant with her third child at her Waikato home in October last year.

"I told [my lawyer] I was worried [Immigration NZ] might think the pregnancy was planned," Jayme said.

"We were not really planning to have any more kids.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"But I got pregnant, I'm just a stay-at-home mum, so yeah. We're not doing any pregnancy prevention, we [Filipinos] don't do that."

Already a mother of two, Filipino-born Jayme, 36, was charged in October 2015, fell pregnant in the middle of last year and had baby Karys in December, two months premature.

Here is her story.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Landing in New Zealand

Jayme joined her husband, Vincent, in New Zealand in 2006. She was 25 and had no children.

She brought skills with her - she says she has a masters degree in media communication, a bachelor of science and a masters in business and administration.

Vincent Jayme had moved from the Philippines a year earlier and got a job on a South Island farm before moving to Paeroa.

The couple stayed there for two years before heading to Te Aroha in 2008 after Vincent landed a contract milking job while Jayme, pregnant with their first child, began doing freelance online writing jobs and relief work in early childhood.

Discover more

Construction

200 construction workers busted in immigration swoop

23 Feb 04:00 PM
New Zealand|crime

Raid on home of construction boss

26 Feb 09:00 PM

In late 2011, Jayme says she began getting contacted by friends and family in the Philippines asking how they could get a job like her husband's in New Zealand.

"I said 'Okay, send me your CV'."

She says she found employers on farms who were in need of workers and put them in touch with the person in search for work.

"It was pretty easy then," she said.

"If you had some farm experience or a few weeks' training you could apply as a dairy assistant."

As word began to spread, her numbers grew.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Costs began adding up so she started charging, with clients eventually paying $2250 - equivalent to 76,000 Filipino pesos - each, she said.

The average monthly wage in the Philippines is 9508 pesos.

The lawyer acting for the Ministry of Business and Employment, Catherine Milnes, said today 76,000 pesos was the equivalent of eight months' wages and some had to be borrowed by migrants at a very high lending rate.

Loraine Anne Jayme during her sentencing in the Hamilton District Court today. Photo/Alan Gibson
Loraine Anne Jayme during her sentencing in the Hamilton District Court today. Photo/Alan Gibson

'I panicked'

In late 2014, the employers, mostly based in the South Island, approached Jayme saying some of the workers couldn't speak English very well and weren't as skilled as their CVs had purported, Jayme said.

"They're saying, 'This person didn't seem to have experience at all as what the CV shows because he couldn't handle the cattle or milk'. So some employers who have already confirmed they will hire, back out."

At the end of 2014, Jayme said the dairy payout had also dropped dramatically from around $8 to $5, meaning farmers weren't so keen to hire as many employees.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"So I panicked. That's what happened."

She began to tell her applicants that employers were pulling out of hiring.

"Of course they are devastated, they say, 'But we have already spent so much', and, 'We were expecting that we would already be earning money and be able to pay off our debts'," Jayme said.

Laden with guilt, Jayme said she decided to press ahead.

She began creating fake jobs offers at companies she invented, including AJM Farming, Kinvarra Farms and Mathan Farms in Southland and KG Farms in Northland.

Her ruse to help her fellow compatriots got more elaborate the deeper she dug herself into her hole.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She created fake documentation and emails from her fake companies which described the non-existent jobs and sent them to Work and Income, Immigration NZ and the Inland Revenue Department.

She approached Work and Income, claiming to represent the companies, asking if there were any suitable local applicants for the fake jobs.

A temporary work visa is only issued to a migrant if genuine attempts have been made locally and it is impossible for the position to be filled by Kiwi workers.

Jayme was offering an income of $38,000 per year, shared accommodation and said workers needed at least two years' dairy experience.

Work and Income confirmed to her each time that there was no labour available.

Letters were then included in the migrants' visa application and sent to Immigration.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The charges against Jayme related to 17 workers who came to New Zealand based on fake job offers and applications she helped with.

Deceit unravelled

Jayme told the Herald her plan was to get the workers into the country on the fake job offers and then apply for a visa variation after finding them work on real farms.

But her deceit began to unravel in late 2014.

Immigration said today its investigation began after staff verifying visa applications identified anomalies in visa applications and a Southland farmer reported migrants claiming he had offered them work without his knowledge.

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".

Jayme told the Herald she started to get phone calls by some of the migrants telling her authorities had been asking them questions.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Then, one morning in October 2015, when she and her daughter were still in bed, she heard a persistent knocking at her front door.

It was police and Immigration staff, coming to arrest her.

In August last year she pleaded guilty to the 284 fraud charges including altering a document, using an altered document, forgery, using a forged document, obtaining by deception, aiding and abetting and provision of false or misleading information.

Vincent Jayme, left, leaves the Hamilton District Court today with supporters after his wife's sentencing. Photo/Belinda Feek
Vincent Jayme, left, leaves the Hamilton District Court today with supporters after his wife's sentencing. Photo/Belinda Feek

'My goal was to help them'

Jayme's sentencing had been due back in October, but it was then adjourned till December and then today when she was sentenced at the Hamilton District Court to 11 months' two weeks home detention and 180 hours' community work.

She'd said to the Herald last year: "The longer the wait, the longer the agony for me".

"I'm not that monster."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Before this, she had never seen the inside of a court room before.

Although she admits her crime was misguided, she claims her motive was to help people.

"My goal was to help them, that we were doing a good thing," Jayme said.

"We did not come from a well-off family in the Philippines. We are not rich but we eat three times a day so my goal is to help . . . I did something wrong. I was pressured but it's not an excuse. That's one of my problems, I find it hard to say no."

She said the only positive to come out of it was that the 17 Filipinos who she helped come over were still working, successfully, in New Zealand.

'Tip of the iceberg'

But Peter Devoy, Immigration NZ's assistant general manager, said the department didn't believe the offending was limited to just 17 applicants.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Jayme systematically ripped off vulnerable migrant workers. Although these charges are very serious we believe they only represent the tip of the iceberg of Jayme's offending."

He said the victims weren't so much the 17 Filipinos who have since continued to live successfully in New Zealand, rather everyday Kiwis.

"The situation from our point of view is that the victim here is very much the New Zealand citizen. It's the systems that Immigration have in place to protect New Zealand, to protect the border, which have been the subject of the offending more so than the 17 victims named in the case."

In sentencing today, MBIE lawyer Christine Milnes said Jayme had told probation staff she had helped up to 100 people get into New Zealand.

Judge Kim Saunders said although that maybe the case, she could only take into account the 17 workers referred to in the summary of facts.

Jayme pictured outside court in February last year. Photo/Belinda Feek
Jayme pictured outside court in February last year. Photo/Belinda Feek

Guilty for my baby

In December, Karys was born, weighing just 1080g (1.08kg). She spent two months in Waikato Hospital.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Jayme told the Herald last week she felt guilty Karys was now caught up in the drama.

She had been worried about what would happen to her.

"I'm the primary caregiver. I breastfeed [baby] and my husband works, so I don't know what's going to happen. I really don't know."

She had said that the prospect of jail frightened her and her family so much they couldn't bear to talk about it, let alone plan for it.

"I'm praying [I won't] but I am not even ready . . . I dunno, I can't even accept that. It's too scary to even talk about it.

"It doesn't seem real. I was asking my husband, 'What can I bargain to God for me not to go to jail'. It's not for me, it's for my family."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Corrections said staff worked with home detention offenders on a case-by-case basis.

Any offender can access medical services and will be given approved absences to do so.

Jayme didn't want any family to attend court today, but they did, including her husband.

She said her nerves had been so bad, her blood pressure had been through the roof.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Kahu

Indigenous exchange planned as Mike Bush becomes Victoria's police chief

25 Jun 04:00 AM
New Zealand

Advocates renew calls to end colony-cage egg farms

25 Jun 03:26 AM
New ZealandUpdated

Truck with 10 tonnes of dirt rolls over on Akl motorway, causing delays to airport

25 Jun 03:24 AM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Indigenous exchange planned as Mike Bush becomes Victoria's police chief

Indigenous exchange planned as Mike Bush becomes Victoria's police chief

25 Jun 04:00 AM

In a first, iwi dignitaries will travel to Melbourne to 'pass' Bush to Aboriginal people.

Advocates renew calls to end colony-cage egg farms

Advocates renew calls to end colony-cage egg farms

25 Jun 03:26 AM
Truck with 10 tonnes of dirt rolls over on Akl motorway, causing delays to airport

Truck with 10 tonnes of dirt rolls over on Akl motorway, causing delays to airport

25 Jun 03:24 AM
'Absolute disgrace': Anger as killer deemed insane when he stabbed 'kind, loving' family man

'Absolute disgrace': Anger as killer deemed insane when he stabbed 'kind, loving' family man

25 Jun 03:18 AM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP