Fraudulent visa applications frequent

The Immigration Department is working to stamp out frequent fraudulent visa applications, according to a spokesperson for the department.

An unnamed former employee at the Australian High Commission in Pakistan told ABC Television on Wednesday she witnessed visa fraud in her office on a daily basis.

The claims relate to family visa applications in which Pakistanis are claiming to be from Afghanistan.

The former employee said she knew of children who had come to Australia despite not being related to the person who sponsored their visa, and who were then “lost in the system”.

She said many of the cases of fraud were detected by her office but were overruled on appeal.

“I used to dread seeing the mail from the MRT (Migration Review Tribunal) in Australia because I knew there would be so many remittances back from them saying that these cases needed to be granted,” she told ABC Television.

The tribunal said there had been an explosion of visa appeals and it was dealing with a backlog.

But principal member Denis O’Brien told the ABC the tribunal’s decision making process was sound.

A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department confirmed fraudulent visa applications were increasing.

“We are aware that is an issue, but we are working to stamp it out,” the spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday.

She said the department was having success in preventing fraud from occurring through a variety of measures such as DNA tests, site visits and telephone checks.

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