Record convictions for immigration fraud

1.00pm

Immigration fraud has increased this year and there has been a huge rise in the number of convictions, the Government has said.

Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor revealed 181 charges were laid as at the end of May, up 65 per cent on the previous year, while convictions jumped 900 per cent in 12 months from 16 to 143.

"We're not just talking petty fraud here," Mr O'Connor said in a speech prepared for a conference of the Immigration Service's fraud unit.

"The seriousness of the offending is evidenced by cases such as the Chinese national who recently paid $50,000 for an arranged marriage and then provided NZIS with false information about his relationship in an effort to gain residency."

Mr O'Connor said others had paid between $6000 and $8000 for false documents and upwards of $100,000 for residency.

"Investigations found that between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of job checks and 50 per cent of marriage checks referred to the (fraud) unit could not be substantiated," he said.

The big increase in prosecutions might reflect improved vigilance and improved systems as much as a raise in actual offending, Mr O'Connor said.

It was not happening only in New Zealand, he told the conference.

"Figures for last year put a worldwide profit figure of US$10 billion a year on immigration fraud, second only to narcotics and arms dealing," he said.

"It's a burgeoning, and very profitable, industry."

Mr O'Connor praised the work of customs and immigration officials, and took a swipe at Auckland Airport.

"The conditions our staff are working under at that airport are deplorable," he said.

"Auckland International Airport is now a private company that is in the privileged position of controlling approximately 80 per cent of the people going in and out of this country.

"If the public expect, as they do, immigration and customs to protect our border from inappropriate or fraudulent visitors, then we need access to better facilities on site."

Mr O'Connor said ministers and the airport's board would meet soon to sort out the problem.

In the highest profile case, suspected Israeli secret agents were last month sentenced to six months prison on passport fraud charges.

Uriel Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 50, pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to illegally gain a New Zealand passport. They have lodged an appeal.

- NZPA