Former Prolink NZ workers demand open work visas as company liquidated

About 50 migrant workers whose visas are at risk after the liquidation of their employer - the Auckland-based labour hire company Prolink NZ - are demanding open work visas and for the directors of the company to be held accountable.

The workers, from China and Vietnam, mostly arrived in New Zealand on Accredited Employer Work Visas in early 2023, and say they have paid the equivalent of over NZ$20,000 for their visas and jobs. However, they have barely received full-time work over the past year and a half.

Many came as couples, and brought their children with them.

There have been widespread reports of fraudulent employers and agents selling jobs under the AEWV scheme since early 2023.

An assurance review of the scheme by the public service commissioner found that Immigration New Zealand failed to assess the risk and impact of changes introduced to speed up visa processing times during New Zealand's post-Covid labour shortage.

Prolink NZ was under investigation by Immigration NZ as early as September 2023, after initial complaints in May.

Immigration NZ said the investigation into Prolink NZ and former immigration advisor Cook Huang - who most workers say they paid the agent fees to - are still ongoing.

Immigration NZ confirmed there were still 109 AEWV workers with Prolink NZ who remained in New Zealand. The liquidator appointed by Prolink NZ, Pritesh Patel, said there could be up to 190 migrant workers affected.

The group of about 50 workers, who together drafted a letter to Immigration NZ, said they had suffered over a year of hardship, only to be blindsided by Prolink NZ's liquidation.

"Many workers have only been scheduled for one or two days of work per week, with some weeks having no work at all. For spouses, the situation is even worse - many have only been given a few weeks of work in over a year, while some have not been offered any work at all," the letter said.

"This widespread breach of contract is not an isolated incident but a systemic issue. As an employer, Prolink has failed to fulfil its contractual obligations and now seeks to avoid accountability through liquidation.

"We request Immigration New Zealand to grant open work visas to affected workers, valid until the original expiry date of our current visas."

The letter asked Immigration NZ to pursue legal action against the directors of Prolink NZ - Haiyan (Shirley) Luo and Shaojun Han.

RNZ has approached Luo for comment.

Immigration NZ's director of visa operations Sarah Clifford said she understood that many workers were facing a challenging situation, but said there was no legal provision to extend their visas in these circumstances where the employer had ceased operations.

"I would like to again urge these workers to get in touch with us so we can discuss their options. It is important these individuals take steps to either remain lawfully in New Zealand by applying for a new visa or return to their home country," she said.

Immigration NZ acting deputy chief operating officer Jock Gilray said INZ would not immediately start compliance action, but it was important that the workers took steps to remain lawfully in New Zealand.

INZ was unable to comment further due to the ongoing investigations.

INZ investigator aware of workers allegedly being influenced by Prolink NZ during investigation

Several workers told RNZ that they were unable to tell the full truth to Immigration officials when they were approached by INZ in November 2023, due to pressure from Prolink NZ.

INZ had sent questionnaires to more than 100 migrant workers with AEWVs tied to the company.

Chuhan Jiao, who came on a spousal visa with her husband, said the company asked her to go to the office to fill out the questionnaire under supervision.

"There are certain things I wouldn't dare to write, because I'm afraid they wouldn't give me work. The company asked us to write down that we have normal work hours, even though we didn't," she said.

Higher-ups in the company were there watching her, and other workers, fill out the questionnaires one by one, she said.

"I felt helpless, I didn't want to do it this way, but I had to do it, in order to survive here."

In January, Jiao and her husband emailed INZ about their true circumstances, saying that the company tried to influence them in filling out the questionnaire.

An email response from INZ investigator Paula Hunt, sighted by RNZ, said she had heard similar allegations from other workers.

While Hunt initially arranged to meet with the couple to talk more, in an subsequent email in late January, she cancelled the meeting on the basis that INZ had another plan to help the workers.

"This week we interviewed members of Prolink management about their business practices and management of their workers," she wrote.

"Immigration is working on a proposal which, if successful, should provide Prolink workers with stable employment and better outcomes going forward," she said.

Jiao said that was the last they heard from Hunt.

INZ said it was unable to comment.

Another worker, Qian Zhang, said she and her husband had told the full truth in the questionnaire - knowing that many other workers were pressured to lie.

Zhang said she had told INZ in December that the company had pressured workers to lie. She said INZ initially said it would investigate this, but eventually stopped engaging.

The company manipulated the workers and created divisions among them for its own benefit, she said.

"They would give some work to certain workers, based on 'You follow the company's orders, then we will give you the work hours, if you don't follow, then we won't give you the hours'."

Zhang said many of her peers did not speak up because they hoped that they would be favoured by the company if they stayed loyal.

"I often see that when Indian and Vietnamese workers are in trouble, they would be united and speak up, but I'm very disappointed at our group, no one wants to speak up and solve this problem together, instead they say 'so the company has promised me more hours, the company has promised to get me a new employer,' then everyone hides behind.

"As to whether the company would fulfil those promises, they never think about that, they are just brainwashed," she said.

Zhang was frustrated that the INZ investigation had not yet produced any results, despite authorities knowing about it since May 2023.

"Why haven't they done a deeper investigation into this, and up until our further complaints in December last year, still no good feedback from INZ, INZ can't free themselves of responsibility in this situation."

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