Family of four who lost $60K for better life in NZ, forced to leave

In both places they faced “unhappiness, instability, and relentless bullying in schools”, but all that changed in 2023 when Silva accepted a job in New Zealand with an accredited employer.

“When we arrived in New Zealand, everything changed — for the first time, our kids felt safe, happy, at home,” Silva said.

In Portugal, Silva started his own small vehicle detailing business, but money was drying up and their two children were being “severely bullied” at school, he said.

So when Silva was offered the chance to immigrate to New Zealand working in the same industry, earning $8000 a month with the possibility of applying for residency after a couple years, he seized it, again with the hope of giving his family a better life.

While Silva’s employer covered the costs of obtaining an Accredited Employer Work Visa, he said they lost about $60k of belongings to come to Aotearoa.

“We either sold or just dumped everything in Portugal to move here and start a new life. But when I arrived, I received half of what I was promised and then, within a year, I was made redundant.”

Silva was granted a Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa (MEPV) in August 2024, with an expiry date of February 12, 2025.

The visa allows migrants to leave their job while claims of exploitation are being investigated. While the visa is valid, they can work anywhere in New Zealand for any employer.

At the time Silva was granted the visa, migrants were able to extend the MEPV for a further six months, but a rule change in October removed that extension.

Silva said he was unaware of that change and was in the process of being given a job token through another employer when he learned of the news in late January - but by then it was too late. His visa expired before the company was able to grant the job token.

“But I couldn’t leave because I didn’t have funds,” he said.

Silva was given until the end of March to leave the country. His family are now frantically trying to sell what little they have to afford the funds to travel back to South Africa, while being fearful of what awaits them there.

“Me and my wife have calculated the tickets alone to go back to South Africa will be about $7500 all up. But when we land, we have nowhere to go. No money for a hotel, no money for a car, no money for accommodation,” Silva said.

“I've already got the tickets to fly out of Auckland on [March 25] but I still need to get from Nelson to Auckland and right now I've got $43 to my name.”

Silva said the bond on the property they had been renting would be kept by the landlord as the family could no longer afford to pay rent.

Aside from the financial costs of leaving, Silva was concerned for the safety and well-being of his children who had made friends and were doing well at school.

“I've never seen my kids want to go to school until we moved here. My oldest son cries every day … It’s put all of us in a flat panic.”

Green Party immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said since the law change, he has advocated for migrants whose exploitation visas were about to expire.

“It's not good enough to treat migrant workers, particularly exploited migrant workers, as disposable labour units that can just be sent offshore once they're not deemed useful.”

He said the Green Party wanted to see the restoration of the one-year period and for the Government to put in place measures that tackle exploitation “at its core”, like decoupling work visas from single employers.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has been approached for comment.

Jeannie Melville, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment deputy chief operating officer, said if a migrant needed support returning to their home country, they were encouraged to contact their national embassy or consulate.