D7.50 Offences by education providers

See also Immigration Act s 352

1. It is an offence for an education provider:
   1. to allow or continue to allow a person to undertake a programme of study knowing that the person is not entitled under the Immigration Act 2009 to undertake the programme of study; or
   2. to allow any other person to undertake a programme of study if the person is not entitled under the Immigration Act 2009 to take the programme of study.
2. Subsection (a) above does not apply to compulsory education. This means that a child may attend school in New Zealand whether or not they are legally entitled study, ending on 1 January following the person’s 19th birthday.
3. It is a defence to a charge under (a)(ii) above that the education provider:
   1. did not know that the person was not entitled to undertake the programme of study; and
   2. took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to ascertain whether the person was entitled to undertake that programme of study.
4. Except as provided in (c) above, it is not a defence to a charge under (a)(ii) above that the education provider did not know that the person was not entitled under the Immigration Act 2009 to undertake that programme of study.
5. Allowing a person to undertake a programme of study includes accepting the person for enrolment in a programme of study.
6. A person is treated as knowing that a person is not entitled under the Immigration Act 2009 to study in New Zealand if, at any time in the preceding 12 months the person has been informed of that fact in writing by an immigration officer.
7. An immigration officer may then require the educator to stop teaching or training that person. The immigration officer should confirm that requirement in writing and include a warning that failure to comply may result in prosecution. Consideration should also be given as to whether to make the person studying without authority may be liable for deportation under section 157 of the Immigration Act 2009.

Effective 02/12/2013