KEY POINTS:
The auditor-general has found holes in New Zealand's systems for discovering identity fraud among immigrants which the Government admits means some immigrants may have got into the country when they shouldn't have.
In a report tabled in Parliament today, Auditor General Kevin Brady said he had expected the
Department of Immigration to have comprehensive, robust and targeted systems to stop those using a false identity to enter New Zealand as either a skilled migrant or United Nations refugee.
But he found several areas where improvements needed to be made and has listed 15 recommendations including better monitoring of immigration identity fraud and better training for staff involved with detecting fraud.
He found that the department did not have a specific plan for how to manage the detection of identity fraud and staff were given "little training" on detection.
Different immigration branch offices took different approaches over identity verification, and because the department did not store identity information electronically, it was difficult to compare current applications with any lodged previously.
He also found a "significant backlog" of 384 unallocated fraud case files and said about 20 extra investigators were needed to clear this.
In his report, Mr Brady said identity fraud had become more pervasive. Immigration identity fraud could involve a person using a false name or failing to disclose other names they were known by. This was usually done to hide historical facts that might stop the person getting into New Zealand.
"A person using a false identity can pose significant risks to the country, including financial, terrorism, health, legal or criminal risks."
Mr Brady looked at two areas -- skilled migrants and the United Nations quota refugee category, because refugees from certain countries of origin could pose a high risk of immigrant fraud.
In 2005/06 some 27,539 people were approved to enter New Zealand as skilled migrants and 791 came in under the UN quota refugee category.
"The department has identified an increasing number of cases of individuals lodging multiple refugee claims under different identities and cases of people previously removed from New Zealand who returned under false identities," the report said.
Since 2005, 257 suspected false identities had been referred by the department to police. Officials believed about 100 cases had been successfully prosecuted and identity fraud would have been among these.
Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said today he wanted to assure the public New Zealand's borders were secure.
But asked whether New Zealand's border security had been compromised, Mr Cunliffe agreed it could have been.
The system was "not perfect" but the Government's intention was to close the gaps as quickly as possible, he said.
Mr Brady's report was "helpful" and put a spotlight on certain aspects of the department's work.
"... those systems are currently not at a standard that is appropriate for New Zealand's needs and they must be made so," Mr Cunliffe said.
"No system is a 100 per cent perfect all the time and from time to time issues do arise."
He agreed some immigrants using false identities could have slipped into the country.
He was more confident in the robustness of the systems for processing refugees than those used for skilled migrants because that category involved a large number of applicants and a wider range of people.
But he said all allegations of identity fraud were referred to the department's fraud unit for investigation.
Mr Cunliffe said work was already underway within the department to improve processes.
All 15 recommendations would be implemented, however at least three of them had budget implications that would need to be considered by the Government, he said.
Training would be improved and the chief executive of the department had been instructed to direct resources towards clearing that backlog of fraud cases.
National immigration spokesman Lockwood Smith said that no matter how one looked at it, "this report is highly critical and of great concern".
The backlog of 384 fraud cases alone was a "serious shortfall," Dr Smith said.
- NZPA
