{"id":11857,"date":"2024-11-12T06:25:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T17:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=11857"},"modified":"2024-11-12T06:25:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T17:25:56","slug":"immigration-adviser-on-tape-offering-job-for-70k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=11857","title":{"rendered":"Immigration adviser on tape offering job for $70k"},"content":{"rendered":"

An immigration adviser has been recorded telling an overseas worker she can help get him residency with a fake job in return for $70,000.<\/p>\n

The conversation was taped by migrant, Richard Wu, who arrived from Singapore in May and lost his job two months later. He claims he had already paid $18,000 to the adviser, Heidi Castelucci, for arranging a five-year Accredited Employer Work Visa and what he thought was a legitimate job as a driver and administrator at Liberty Consulting Group in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Castelucci is heard in the recordings discussing the job-selling scheme, which she says was her husband Toby Castelucci’s proposal. “So Toby’s idea is that if you need residency sponsorship, we can help you with that all at once…he asked me to call you and ask you, don’t you want us to sponsor your residency directly?<\/p>\n

“Then it [residence] takes two years, but there are some costs of the company involved, such as taxes. So every year, just the taxes alone will cost the company about $20,000 extra… Toby’s idea is that if it’s you and your family, it’s $110,000, which includes the company’s additional tax and other costs.”<\/p>\n

‘Job-selling’ or charging a premium for a job is an offence, as is immigration fraud. A worker coaxed into working outside the terms of their visa or without paying tax risks them being deported.<\/p>\n

Liberty Consulting Group’s sole director and shareholder Toby Castelucci said the company denies the claims.<\/p>\n

“It [Liberty] did not offer Mr Wu any position after his employment ended, or to help him find a position with a different employer, in exchange for payment,” he said. “It also did not receive any payment from Mr Wu after his employment was terminated. Any such offer purportedly made to him was made without Liberty Consulting’s knowledge or consent. As his concerns are the subject to a formal complaint, it is not appropriate for Liberty Consulting to comment further at this time.”<\/p>\n

In the July recordings, Heidi Castelucci is heard discussing what she said her husband had proposed – a job with a higher salary to get residence, and how Wu’s payments would be made in smaller instalments.<\/p>\n

She also discusses how the job purchase price could come down from $110,000 to $70,000 if the migrant paid separately to cover the company’s taxes and costs in ’employing’ him and how he could get an under-the-table job, to pay for his new salary as a business development manager, as well as Liberty Consulting Group’s costs and wage taxes.<\/p>\n

Heidi Castelucci holds a provisional licence as an immigration adviser. Until recently, both were listed as shareholders and directors of the New Zealand Language Institute and Foreign Exchange Program, based at the same office in Rosedale.<\/p>\n

“Five instalments over two years,” Castelucci, who is also known as Qian Yu told Wu. “With a high salary, once submitted, it’ll be approved no other issues.<\/p>\n

“So before you submit your visa (application), you will have paid a total of $45,000, and after two years, when you obtain residency, you’ll pay the remaining $25,000.”<\/p>\n

\"Qian<\/p>\n

Qian Yu\/Heidi Castelucci has a provisional licence.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0Immigration Advisers Authority<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In another conversation, Wu asks her about keeping a record of the deal. “We cannot give you any agreement, we cannot provide any written documentation, it’s just a gentleman’s verbal agreement,” she said.<\/p>\n

Heidi Castelucci told RNZ: “If Mr Wu has particular concerns about my conduct as a Licensed Immigration Adviser, those are appropriately referred to the Immigration Advisers Authority for consideration. It would not be appropriate for me to comment until that process is completed.”<\/p>\n

Wu left the country with his children two months ago after taking legal advice, and complaining to the Employment Relations Authority.<\/p>\n

He arrived in New Zealand on a work visa, with a pre-arranged job offer at Liberty Consulting Group.<\/p>\n

During the two months he was there, he worked on reception and administration, but claims he was expected to take his boss’s children to school and do extra unpaid work in the evenings, picking up people from the airport. While working in reception, he claimed he overheard complaints of people whose visa applications had not been submitted, and that another employee was sacked after 11 days.<\/p>\n

He told RNZ he was sacked after being pulled into meetings where he was ‘accused of poor performance without prior notice or the opportunity to prepare a defence’. He claimed Castelucci told him to write a resignation letter, suggesting it would work out better for him with Immigration New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Wu has children, aged six and 12, and their student visas also depended on him having a work visa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An immigration adviser has been recorded telling an overseas worker she can help get him residency with a fake job in return for $70,000. The conversation was taped by migrant, Richard Wu, who arrived from Singapore in May and lost his job two months later. He claims he had already paid $18,000 to the adviser, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11859,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11857\/revisions\/11859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}