The Immigration Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity Bill
The Immigration (Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity) Amendment Bill passed its third reading on 21 November 2025. It creates an offence of seeking or receiving premiums for employment, changes detention and compliance powers, and enables a broader immigration levy base. We could not confirm its Royal Assent or commencement dates.
Quick Facts
| First reading | 24 June 2025 |
| Third reading passed | 21 November 2025 |
| Royal Assent | Not confirmed in our research |
| Final Act name | Not confirmed |
| Commencement dates | Not confirmed — check legislation.govt.nz before relying on any provision |
| Creates | An offence of seeking or receiving premiums for employment |
| Maximum penalty for that offence | Up to 7 years' imprisonment or a NZ$100,000 fine |
| Also does | Raises the bar for detaining asylum seekers; adds an electronic monitoring framework; requires judicial warrants for out-of-hours compliance visits |
| Deportation | Removes the shield a discharge without conviction gave residence visa holders from deportation consideration |
| Levies | Enables a broader levy payer base, with no implementation planned at the time of the announcement |
Read this before the rest of the page
A Bill passing its third reading is not the same as a law being in force. Two further steps normally follow: Royal Assent, which turns the Bill into an Act, and commencement, which is the date each provision actually starts to bite. Commencement can be immediate, it can be set for a future date, and different parts of one Act can commence at different times.
For this Bill, our research could not establish the Royal Assent date, the final short title of the resulting Act, or any commencement date. The government legislation site could not be accessed reliably during the research pass.
So this page describes what the Bill does, in the future or conditional sense, and does not tell you that any of it is the law today. If you need to know whether a specific provision is currently in force, the authoritative source is legislation.govt.nz. That is a check worth doing before acting on anything below.
What the Bill creates
An offence of seeking or receiving premiums for employment
A "premium for employment" is a payment made to get or keep a job — money handed to an employer, a recruiter or a middleman in exchange for a job offer, a role, or continued employment.
The Bill creates an offence of seeking or receiving such a premium, carrying up to 7 years' imprisonment or a NZ$100,000 fine.
Note what the offence targets: the person asking for or taking the money. The design intent is to put liability on the exploiter rather than on the migrant who paid.
This is the provision most likely to matter to readers of this site, because paying for a job offer is one of the most common patterns in New Zealand migrant exploitation. It usually arrives as an offer that looks real, from a company that may itself be real, with a fee attached for "processing", "sponsorship" or "accreditation costs". A genuine New Zealand employer does not charge a worker for a job.
If that has already happened to you, there is an existing route: the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa. See migrant exploitation and the protection work visa, how to spot a fake New Zealand job offer and how do I know if a New Zealand job offer is real?
Changes to detention and compliance powers
Three items, none of which affect an ordinary visa applicant:
- A higher bar for detaining asylum seekers.
- An electronic monitoring framework as an alternative to detention.
- Judicial warrants required for out-of-hours compliance visits, so a compliance visit outside normal hours needs a warrant from a court.
A change to deportation liability
Under the position the Bill changes, a discharge without conviction — a sentencing outcome where a court finds the charge proved but records no conviction — shielded a residence visa holder from deportation consideration.
The Bill removes that shield. It also clarifies deportation liability arising on a guilty plea or conviction, and adds a power to cancel residence visas where a person is a security threat and deportation is not possible.
Deportation liability is one of the least well understood parts of New Zealand immigration law, and it is a subject where general information is not enough. See deportation liability, explained and what deportation liability is. If you have a criminal matter and hold a New Zealand visa, that is a question for a New Zealand lawyer.
A broader immigration levy base
Nearly every New Zealand visa fee has two parts: an application fee and an immigration levy. The Bill enables the levy to be charged across a broader payer base than at present.
The announcement was explicit that no implementation was planned at that time. It is enabling legislation — it makes something possible without doing it.
That is worth watching rather than worrying about. As at 20 August 2026 there has been no general fee or levy increase in 2025 or 2026, and Immigration New Zealand's fee page still describes its rates as current "as of 1 October 2024". See what the immigration levy is and New Zealand visa fee changes history.
What has not changed
- No visa fee or levy changed because of this Bill. Enabling a broader levy base is not the same as charging one.
- No visa category was opened, closed or altered by it.
- Your existing employment rights are unaffected. Migrant workers in New Zealand have the same minimum employment rights as anyone else, enforced by the Employment Relations Authority and the Labour Inspectorate rather than by Immigration New Zealand — see New Zealand employment rights for migrant workers.
- Employer accreditation obligations are unchanged by this Bill — see employer obligations under accreditation.
A second Bill, often confused with this one
A separate Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill was announced on 18 March 2026. It proposes extending deportation liability for serious offending from 10 to 20 years of residence, and changes to how post-arrival offending is considered in refugee status decisions.
Treat it as not in force. Its first reading was described as expected "in the coming weeks" as at March 2026, and we could not establish its parliamentary stage as at August 2026. It is a different Bill with a different subject and a different timetable, and the two are frequently merged in secondary reporting.
What to do differently now
- Do not pay anyone for a job offer. That advice does not depend on the commencement of this Act; it is the single most reliable marker of an exploitative arrangement. See immigration scams to avoid.
- If you have already paid a premium, the person who took it is the target of the new offence. Support routes exist for exploited migrant workers.
- Do not assume any provision here is in force. Check legislation.govt.nz for the resulting Act's commencement.
- If you hold residence and have a criminal matter, the change to the discharge-without-conviction position is significant enough that it should be discussed with a New Zealand lawyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Immigration Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity Bill now law?
It passed its third reading on 21 November 2025. We could not confirm the date of Royal Assent, the final name of the resulting Act, or its commencement dates. Check legislation.govt.nz before treating any provision as being in force.
What is a premium for employment?
A payment made to obtain or keep a job — money paid to an employer, recruiter or intermediary in exchange for a job offer or continued employment. The Bill creates an offence of seeking or receiving one.
What is the penalty for charging a migrant for a job?
The Bill provides for up to 7 years' imprisonment or a NZ$100,000 fine for seeking or receiving a premium for employment. Whether that provision is in force is a question for legislation.govt.nz.
Will immigration fees or levies go up because of this Bill?
The Bill enables a broader immigration levy payer base, and the announcement stated that no implementation was planned at that time. There has been no general fee or levy increase in 2025 or 2026.
Does the Bill change deportation rules for residents?
It removes the protection that a discharge without conviction previously gave residence visa holders from deportation consideration, clarifies liability on a guilty plea or conviction, and adds a power to cancel residence visas for security threats where deportation is not possible.
Does this Bill affect my visa application?
Not directly. It changes offences, detention and compliance powers, deportation liability and levy-setting powers. It did not open, close or alter any visa category.
What is the Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill?
A separate Bill announced on 18 March 2026, proposing to extend deportation liability for serious offending from 10 to 20 years of residence, among other changes. Treat it as not in force — its current parliamentary stage was not established in our research.
This page is general information, not immigration advice. New Zealand regulates immigration advice under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007, and we do not assess anyone's individual circumstances. For advice about your own case, use a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer, and check the licence on the Immigration Advisers Authority register.
