Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ZAGREB145
2006-02-06 11:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

ZAGREB QUARTERLY FRAUD SUMMARY FIRST

Tags:  KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC HR 
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UNCLAS ZAGREB 000145 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR CA/FPP AND CA/VO/F/P
DEPARTMENT ALSO PASS TO KCC
VIENNA ALSO FOR DHS/BICE
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB QUARTERLY FRAUD SUMMARY FIRST
QUARTER FY2006

REF: (A) ZAGREB 105 (B) ZAGREB 129

COUNTRY CONDITIONS
------------------

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000145

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR CA/FPP AND CA/VO/F/P
DEPARTMENT ALSO PASS TO KCC
VIENNA ALSO FOR DHS/BICE
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB QUARTERLY FRAUD SUMMARY FIRST
QUARTER FY2006

REF: (A) ZAGREB 105 (B) ZAGREB 129

COUNTRY CONDITIONS
--------------


1. Bolstered by reforms in preparation for EU
membership and the official start of EU accession
talks in October 2005, Croatia's economy is steadily
improving, unemployment rates are gradually
declining, and fewer and fewer Croatians need to
resort to fraud or malfeasance to travel abroad.
Development has been lopsided, with larger urban
areas and Istria receiving a disproportionate share
of economic gains. Croatia's geographic position
between the European Union and the transition
countries of Southeastern Europe does, however, make
it an attractive transit point for people, drugs,
arms, and money. Corruption is perceived as
widespread and often whom you know still trumps what
you know. Reports of fraudulent Croatian passports
surfaced in two high-profile cases in 2005; however,
counterfeit identity documents are virtually never
seen at the consular window. What little fraud
Embassy Zagreb sees is often motivated more by
convenience than genuine malfeasance.

NIV FRAUD (BY CATEGORY)
--------------


2. NIV fraud in Zagreb is low. While outright fake
documents are essentially non-existent, a large gray
economy leads some B1/B2 applicants to submit job
letters from immediate relatives or friends or, less
often, themselves. Fake job letters are easy to spot
and quickly confirmed by inconsistencies in an
interview. Some employment-based fraud is also
motivated by convenience; for example, two fashion
models working in the United States who should be
classified as H-1B submitted B1/B2 applications and,
though well-coached, admitted in interviews that they
were aware they needed H-1B visas but that the H-1B
quota had already been met for FY06. Some J-1
applicants present approved DS-2019 forms for 18-
month "management training" programs that often
involve nothing more than serving food in an
amusement park or cleaning rooms in a hotel.
Applicants and U.S. sponsors alike know H-2Bs are
numerically controlled and J-1s are not.


3. As a large C1/D issuing post, Embassy Zagreb's

anti-fraud unit has cultivated good relations with
local agents of large shipping companies and can
easily confirm the authenticity of most sailors'
employment contracts. Employment contracts for
sailors on private yachts or employed by agents
outside of Croatia sometimes require more detailed
anti-fraud investigations.


4. Post recently uncovered an L/B1 visa fraud ring
in which a Croatian-Australian dual national
recruited laborers from Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Poland for floor installation work
in Fayetteville, GA (ref A).


5. Zagreb sees isolated incidents of R-1 visa fraud.
In one instance, a part-time yoga instructor sought
to qualify as a religious worker though not even a
member of the religious organization; in another, a
college student and web designer sought an R-1 visa
for religious education in Hawaii because his
theological school was unable to obtain accreditation
to file I-20 applications.


6. Zagreb also sees modest numbers of B-1/B-2
applicants sponsored by Croatian-American churches
chiefly in Pittsburgh, PA and Chicago, IL who should
be classified as P-3; often, professional musicians
will seek to circumvent the petition process by
applying for B1/B2 visas.


7. Applicants who submit obviously fake employment
letters are generally refused under 214(b).
Applicants who seek to circumvent the petition
processes for H or P visas are often refused under
221(g) pending the appropriate petition. A recent
B1/B2 validation study showed less than a one percent
overstay rate (ref B).

IV FRAUD
--------------


8. Embassy Zagreb is an IV processing post for
Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
majority of Zagreb's IV workflow (60%) involves
applicants from Bosnia. The overwhelming majority of
IV cases involve immediate relative petitions,
approximately evenly split between IR-5 and CR-1/IR-1
cases. In a typical IR-5 scenario, a Bosnian national
who was admitted to the United States as a refugee in
the late 1990s and naturalized in 2005 petitions for
his or her parents. Post is not aware of a single
fraud case involving an IR-5 applicant.


9. Marriage fraud is likewise uncommon. Most CR-1
and IR-1 beneficiaries are female. Our standard CR-1
case is a Bosnian or Croatian national who immigrated
to the United States in the mid- to late-1990s,
established himself financially, and then returned to
Bosnia or Croatia to find a spouse. CR-1
beneficiaries often do not know their spouses well
and have seldom met them more than once or twice
before marrying. Often the couple's families, who
frequently come from the same town or village,
orchestrate the marriage. CR-1 or IR-1 cases that
deviate from this general narrative may prompt Post
fraud investigations. In one example, a former F-1
applied as a CR-1 and told an officer that Post
"forced" him to marry because that year's H-1B quota
had already been filled and the applicant thought he
could accept employment through an IV application.


10. Post processes very few employment-based IV
cases and sees almost no employment-based IV fraud.
One pending E-3 case concerns a restaurant in
Massachusetts that appears to be recruiting cheap
(and unqualified) labor from the former Yugoslavia.

DV FRAUD
--------------


11. Post has not encountered any significant DV
fraud.

ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD
--------------


12. Nothing to report.

ADOPTION FRAUD
--------------


13. Croatian law severely restricts foreigners'
ability to adopt in Croatia, requiring at least one
parent to have Croatian citizenship. Post sees
approximately one or two adoption cases a year.

ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFITS
--------------


14. Post processes approximately three Visas 92 and
93 cases a year and has not encountered any
significant fraud.

COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES
--------------



15. Embassy Zagreb continues to enjoy productive
relations with key GOC officials in the Ministry of
the Interior, police departments, customs, and border
police. The Croatian authorities take document fraud
seriously. Post's anti-fraud unit, through RSO
channels, enjoys a strong working relationship with
local law enforcement. In November 2005, Post's FPM
and anti-fraud FSN visited the busy Bregana border
crossing between Croatia and Slovenia. Bregana is
Croatia's biggest border with 3000 crossings daily.
Post also has good relations with the Zagreb airport
staff, who assist not only in cases of fraud or male
fide travel but also emergency ACS work as well.

AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERNS
--------------


16. Post has started to discuss trafficking in
persons with certain visa applicants at the window to
raise awareness and encourage travelers to register
with a Croatian Embassy or Consulate in the United
States.

STAFFING AND TRAINING
--------------


17. Embassy Zagreb's anti-fraud unit consists of one
officer FPM and one LES assistant. The officer, one
of three in the section, spends approximately 25
percent of his time on anti-fraud work. The LES
assistant also does a full range of NIV processing
and spends approximately 50 percent of her time on
anti-fraud. Both the FPM and LES assistant attended
a regional anti-fraud conference hosted by U.S.
Embassy Athens in 2005. Post intends to nominate the
LES anti-fraud assistant for an EUR anti-fraud FSN
workshop in 2007.
FRANK