A wealthy Auckland Sikh temple demanded money and unpaid labour in return for visas and encouraged migrants to work illegally, multiple Indian migrants have alleged. Immigration New Zealand confirmed it had an active investigation into complaints relating to the temple but said it couldn’t provide details as that might “impact the integrity of the investigation”. They said while the temple had brought them in ostensibly to work for the temple trust itself, they instead found work in farming or fruit picking. Darshan Singh came to New Zealand in September 2002, also initially on a three-month work visa which listed the temple trust as his employer. He believed it had been twice extended (INZ say it was not) before he stayed here illegally for another two years.

Source: Stuff August 02, 2021 16:52 UTC