|
FRAUD STILL A CONCERN By Lawrence JohnstonNEW Zealand's Department of Labour needs to tighten up on immigration fraud. That is the finding of the department's Controller and Auditor-General, K B Brady. In his report following an audit of the department's systems, Mr Brady said he had expected that the department would have comprehensive, robust, and targeted systems, processes, and procedures for the prevention, detection, and investigation of immigration identity fraud. He found that the department had systems, processes, procedures, and relationships with relevant external agencies in place for the prevention, detection, and investigation of identity fraud within the skilled migrant and United Nations quota refugee entry categories. But he noted several areas where improvements were needed. These included the need to identify immigration fraud risks, and to prepare strategies and plans to address those risks. Training and guidance specifically for staff involved with detecting fraud should be introduced, and systems improved to provide more effective support for staff in their roles, especially in relation to fraud investigation where there was a significant backlog of cases. The department should also regularly evaluate the effectiveness of its prevention, detection, and investigation activities, Mr Brady said. He would be keeping an eye on the department's management of immigration identity fraud, and would observe with interest progress on the implementation of the government's immigration change programme, which would affect the department's systems, processes and procedures for managing immigration identity fraud in the future. Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said the report was a helpful contribution to the work the government was doing to upgrade immigration systems and procedures. He agreed that improvements were needed. He said Mr Brady's thinking was in line with the department's work through its Immigration Change Programme and other operational improvements. "We will be taking the report's recommendations firmly on board when we announce further changes in due course," Mr Cunliffe said. All of Mr Brady's recommendations had either been implemented, were in process, or would be addressed through the department's Immigration Business Transformation programme over time. Progress would be made public via regular updates on the Department of Labour website. The government was serious about border security. When it took office in 1999, there was no immigration fraud unit. The one the government established now had 11 investigators plus a manager and support staff. "Immigration NZ has many hard-working and dedicated staff who do their very best for migrants and New Zealand. They too deserve the best systems we can provide," Mr Cunliffe said. Mr Brady had conducted the report, noting that the department had to balance a responsibility for helping to maintain border security with the need to attract skilled migrants and allow the entry of refugees to fulfil humanitarian obligations. "The department builds identity management into its end-to-end border systems, so it is not an isolated process. It also links with` other agencies and government departments world-wide to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information possible," Mr Cunliffe said. It was important to continually assess how effective the existing processes and systems to manage identity fraud were. Improvements could and would be made. Mr Brady's report was a useful contribution to further strengthen the existing systems, Mr Cunliffe said. On those existing systems, Mr Cunliffe said the government had established a fully fledged investigations unit which now had 18 staff including a manager, investigators and support staff. Their work resulted in 55 successful prosecutions in 2005-06 and 31 successful prosecutions in the 11 months to 31 May 2007, compared with one in 1999, when the Labour-led government came to power. While the unit acted to identify and prosecute fraud cases in New Zealand, the government had also taken decisive action to stop immigration fraudsters getting through the country's borders in the first place. In 2003, the government set up the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system which screened passengers before they boarded planes for New Zealand. In the 11 months to May 2007, 762 people had been stopped from entering the country under APP even before they boarded a plane. In the year to June 30 2006, 680 were stopped. In 2005, the government established the Immigration Profiling Group to look more closely at a range of immigration applicants who might pose a risk to New Zealand. The IPG had now made over 12,000 decisions since its creation, declining about a fifth. Then there were the Regional Movement Alert List, set up in 2006 to share information with Australia and the US, the risk targeting programme, also created in 2006, and a range of offshore interdiction programmes. Some five million people arrived and departed from New Zealand a year. While most were people lawfully travelling for private and business reasons, the government was now overwhelmingly better positioned than in 1999 to apprehend the small number travelling fraudulently or with other criminal intent, Mr Cunliffe said. |
About Us | Our Publications | Shopping | Visa Enquiries | Information Days | Links | Advertising | Privacy Policy
© 2005 Consyl Publishing & Publicity Ltd.