Did you know? According to World Migration Report 2020, there are, approximately, 281 million people in the world who are living in a county other than the countries of their birth. The count is 128 million more than in 1990 and over three times the estimated number in 1990. As the number of people relocating to other countries for various purposes increases, so does the factor of risk associated with immigration or visa fraud.

Since immigration fraud frequently involves individuals with divergent backgrounds interacting in different languages and sometimes in separate countries, it can be challenging. As per an estimation, 12 million foreigners are living in the United States without legal authority which may have us thinking that they are may be involved in committing document fraud.

Immigration fraud is a general term that encompasses a wide range of illegal activities. It may include committing fraud on immigration documents deliberately to get an employment opportunity, forging marriage documents or marrying someone purely for immigration purposes, or having someone else falsely represent themselves as an immigration service provider. We will discuss them below.

Migration Fraud

Migration fraud is when an applicant provides false information or documents to Immigration/Licensing Authorities for getting an employment. For instance, in the recent pandemic situation, the global scarcity of health-care professional that has existed for many years intensified the demand for trained health-care professionals. Additional legislative measures were created to make immigration and validation of migrant health professionals’ qualifications easier as many industrialized countries heavily relies on them. Concurrently, a rapid increase in the submission of fraudulent documents was observed.

Marriage Fraud

Another prominent element in immigration fraud is marriage fraud. Marriage fraud is when a non-citizen enters into a fictitious marriage in order to a get lawful permanent residency. Also, in some cases, applicants make the use of forged marriage certificate to support their immigration application process. Recently, we were assigned a verification case of an applicant applying for immigration. Upon investigating, it came out that the marriage certificate submitted by the applicant was forged and that he had submitted illegitimate documents to supports his immigration process illegally.

Identity Fraud

Immigration fraud can take many forms, including identity theft, document fraud, and benefit fraud. Manufacturing, counterfeiting, altering, selling, or using identifying papers are all examples of identity fraud. This can be used to commit crimes including identity theft, check fraud, insurance fraud, or credit card fraud.

To get around immigration laws, identity fraud or document fraud can be used, such as using another person's social security number and a fake identification card to gain a job without having the legal standing to do so.

Bottom Line

The number of unauthorized foreigners coming with fraudulently obtained documents and acquiring false documents once they have been admitted is unknown. These types of frauds, every year, cause billions of dollars in losses to business, governments, and individual as well as having considerable impact on quality of life of its victims. Organizations or companies, responsible for playing part in relocation or immigration of a foreigner must keep in mind the risks of onboarding fraudsters and the damage they can potentially cause. Moreover, failure to conduct document screening may put you at danger of hiring a foreign professional who isn't qualified or experienced enough for the job and/or is untrustworthy.

Best way to try putting an end to these illicit activities is to conduct proper screening operations against immigrations applicants. That’s where, we at De RISC extend our assistance to play our role in the prevention of fraud. Let us brief you more on it. Reach out to us at info@riscgroup.co