The Government is aghast at a fraud detected at the office of Immigration New Zealand (INZ) in China recently.
Auditors discovered the fraud following a random sampling of 1800 applications loaded at the Beijing branch of INZ.
About 15% of the applications were fraudulent with fake certificates and falsified bank statements, officials said.
They said that 279 students, who had received the visas are already in New Zealand and that efforts are on to identify them.
Education Minister Kate Wilkinson, who is also Associate Minister for Immigration, said that initial investigation had shown that two agents in China were responsible for the fraudulent visas.
Small percentage
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said that although insignificant, New Zealand would not tolerate fraud.
“We receive about 25,000 applications from Chinese students each year. We pride ourselves on the high quality of our international education, and this is a very important industry for New Zealand,” he said.
According to Mr Joyce, INZ receives more than 100,000 visa applications from international students every year and that Government was keen to maintain the high reputation and the integrity of the student visa system.
Immigration Minister Nathan Guy said that the fraud struck at the heart of one of the key objectives of Immigration New Zealand (INZ), to increase the number of international students.
Robust system
He said the detection proved the practice of a robust immigration system.
“There is always a delicate balance between processing applications as quickly as possible, while ensuring that all applications are genuine and correct,” he said.
He said that INZ officials apply risk management principles in their operations all over the world and that discovery of the fraud in Beijing showed that the system was working.
Government agencies, including the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Education New Zealand, will continue to work closely with Immigration New Zealand as this issue is resolved, Mr Joyce said.
