Teuila Fuatai
Opportunistic individuals ranging from Nigerian drug dealers to Indian students are gaming an under-resourced immigration system to obtain New Zealand visas, according to intelligence reports. reports.
In 2015, 27 Indian students who were enrolled at a business course with the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology became pregnant.
As they were all from the same postgraduate diploma programme, the women and their multiple pregnancies raised alarm bells among immigration officials.
In an intelligence report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the pregnancies were identified as a ‘risk trend’ among postgraduate international students wanting to speed up the process of obtaining work visas, and/or permanent residency.
Visa applications revisited
The report, one of two obtained by Newsroom, examined the practice of international postgraduate “downgrading their programmes of study” once in the country. It looked at student visa application data from January 2015 to March this year.
It said, “Many students studying in New Zealand are likely studying solely for the purpose of gaining residence.”
It also illustrated a double-edged challenge for immigration officials when dealing with international students. Students often applied for a higher level of study to gain entrance to the country “because they perceive it will increase their chances of an approval.”
In addition to this, international postgraduate students also had a high financial value to education providers, likely providing “strong incentives” to admit students who marginally meet academic entry requirements.
While the report found a relatively small number of postgraduate students had downgraded (2.1% or 424 students) over the three-year period provided, it showed the year-on-year figures to be on the rise. By March 30, downgraders had already been identified this year.
Undermining integrity
“The continuation of this trend risks undermining the integrity of the immigration system and reputation of the New Zealand export education market,” the report warned.
Focusing on specific education providers, international postgraduate students attending Otago Polytechnic, Massey University and the Auckland University of Technology were found to be at the highest risk for downgrading.
The most popular courses for downgraders were found to be postgraduate diplomas in business, and business and administration, at Massey University, the Auckland Institute of Studies, and the University of Canterbury, respectively.
In the case of Nelson’s 27 pregnant Indian students, it indicated that at least eight of the women’s partners stayed in New Zealand to work while the women returned to India to give birth. The report said while those students did not technically downgrade their study course, their actions were a “consistent trend in applicants attempting to minimise the time spent on student visas and maximise work visa rights.”
Relationship Fraud
A “deep dive sample” of the data, which looked at 111 downgraders in the two years to July 2017, found the majority of downgraders were from India (46%) and China (40%).
The second MBIE intelligence report looked at major problems associated with relationship fraud and partnership visas. It painted a bleak picture of the status quo, with six main factors ranging from resourcing issues at Immigration New Zealand, tougher requirements in the skilled migrant category, to illegal documents from applicants identified as contributing to fraud in partnership visa applications.
Those gaming the system come from a ‘variety of demographics.’
According to the report, they have likely included members of a Nigerian drug network, Vietnamese nail salon workers, company directors and rejected refugee and asylum seekers from Australia, Manus Island and Nauru.
Engaging in criminal activity
“Motivations for engaging in partnership fraud vary from gaining entry to New Zealand for work or economic purposes, to the purpose of engaging in criminal activity, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, or people smuggling,” it said.
“Partnership visa criteria is likely to be perceived by those with the latter motivations as having the lowest thresholds and cost to illegitimately gain entry to New Zealand.”
In a case last year, the report identified 16 Christchurch-based Asian brothel operators who had partnership visas.
“A realistic possibility exists that these women moved to New Zealand seeking residency and found an easily-obtained source of income through the sex industry,” it said.
In 2015, five Nigerian men were arrested for the importation of methamphetamine. All had partnership visas.
“INZ assesses these partnerships were entered into fraudulently to facilitate criminal activity. One of the New Zealand supporting partners has known gang connections.”
Information also showed “partnership fraud is fairly sophisticated as the Nigerians were willing to pay for the females to visit them in Malaysia – some had children.”
Other cases of likely partnership fraud detailed in the report involved restaurant owners, individuals in the horticulture industry and partners of students.
INZ performance
A section of the report was dedicated to operations within Immigration New Zealand. It acknowledged the performance objectives for immigration officers made close scrutiny of visa applications difficult.
It also pointed out that shortfalls at that stage of the immigration process meant problems were then passed onto other parts of the system, making things worse in the longer-term.
Each year, the Government hauls in about $200 million in visa application and residence fees. Latest figures from MBIE show about $155 million was earned in fees in the 10 months to March 31, 2018.
“Immigration branches are also required to ensure that 90% of temporary visa applications are decided within 25 working days. The targets disincentivise immigration officers from questioning documentation provided, requesting additional evidence, or conducting higher levels of verification”.
“Reducing the opportunity of scrutinising risk indicators at the visa application stage for timeliness measures has implications for maintaining the integrity of the immigration system. The impacts of failing to identify fraud at the visa stage are transferred to other parts of the immigration system, including investigations and compliance, where fraud is more difficult to identify and resolve.”
High approval rates
Notably, approval rates for partnership category visas have been consistently high – with more than 90% of applications approved. While the rate suggests partnership visas are a “low risk visa stream”, the report also said, “anecdotal information has long suggested fraud and abuse of partnership category visas is endemic and increasing.”
A pilot project set up in April last year also proved tougher scrutiny of partnership visa applications exposed more cases of fraud.
The ‘high-risk partnership team’ focused on applications for temporary visas – identified as high-risk for fraud. Target objectives for immigrations officers were removed, and a senior immigration officer was involved in “looking for risk factors the automated triage risk system” failed to identify. “For example, documentation quantity and quality, consistency between declarations made in previous applications and the current application, and nationality/age/gender profiles known to be higher risk based on the (senior officer’s) experience.”
The team “declined 40% of applications assessed, suggesting that when higher levels of scrutiny are placed on a partnership application, higher levels of the failure to meet requirements are uncovered”.
Applications processed by the high-risk partnership team took four times longer to process than Immigration New Zealand’s visa processing targets.
Teuila Fuatai covers social issues for Newsroom is an independent, New Zealand-based news and current affairs site. The above article, which appeared in their website on June 13, 2018 has been reproduced here under a Special Arrangement.
