MARCH 2009 FRAUD SUMMARY - MISSION AUSTRALIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SYDNEY 000081

DEPT FOR CA/FPP AND CA/VO/KCC
POSTS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION MANAGERS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC AS
SUBJECT: MARCH 2009 FRAUD SUMMARY - MISSION AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY 00000081 001.2 OF 002



1. Country Conditions: Australia is a low-fraud environment for
consular services. Local economic and governmental conditions make
for a qualified visa applicant pool. Host country identity
documents are highly reliable. Challenges in the area of consular
work are mostly a result of the growing third-country population,
including recently naturalized Australians. Our main concerns with
respect to fraud are the H-1B and E-3 visa categories.

NONIMMIGRANT VISA (NIV) FRAUD


2. Most of the 700,000 Australians who visit the United States each
year do so under the Visa Waiver Program. With the many legitimate
options available for Australians who wish to work and travel in the
United States, NIV fraud is extremely rare. Almost all fraud in
NIVs occurs in the applicant pools of third-country nationals and
recently naturalized Australians, particularly in the H-1B and E-3
visa categories. The fraud almost always involves U.S.-based
companies making job offers for which they do not have a
corresponding, qualifying position.


3. During the reporting period of September 2008 to February 2009,
Mission Australia posts adjudicated a total of 311 H-1B visas. Of
these, 61 were refused, a refusal rate of 19%. Prior to officer
adjudication, a FPU local staff member screened all third-country
national H-1B cases that were not clearly approvable.


4. During the reporting period, Mission Australia posts adjudicated
a total of 1010 E-3 and E-3R visas, with a refusal rate of 4%. Most
of the qualified skilled workers in Australia travel on the E-3 visa
rather than the H-1B. Therefore, the refusal rate difference is a
reflection of the difference in the education and work experience of
the two applicant pools. Some of the refused applicants were of
Indian origin who had recently become naturalized Australian
citizens, and the bona fides of their respective employers in the
United States were not credible. KCC was very helpful in providing
research for these cases.

IV AND DV FRAUD


5. Immigrant Visa fraud in Australia is extremely rare. The
quality and reliability of identity documents are excellent. While
some K-1 cases involve tenuous relationships developed over the
internet, they are, for the most part, legitimate. DV applicants
make up 21% of the total IV applicants, and only 26% of allotted DV
numbers are actually used in Australia.

USE OF DNA TESTING


6. DNA testing has rarely been used in Australia, due to the high
quality of identity documents.

ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME, TERRORIST TRAVEL


7. Australian government authorities aggressively investigate
issues of alien smuggling, trafficking, organized crime, and
terrorist travel. As a result, post's main concerns lie in the area
of technology transfer. Due to the large number of Chinese and
Indian applicants, the Australia posts submit a relatively large
number of Mantis SAOs.


8. Mission consular sections have cooperated with LegAtt on
potential applicants of concern in all of these areas, particularly
in the areas of trafficking and organized crime.

DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS


9. There have been no recent DS criminal fraud investigations in
Australia involving consular matters.

HOST COUNTRY DOCUMENTS


10. The Australian government is committed to deterring the misuse
and/or counterfeiting of Australian passports and identity
documents. Given a relatively small population of approximately 20
million combined with isolated geography, the Australian government
is able to effectively monitor and control identity documents.


11. The one area in which occasional fraudulent Australian
documents have been reported is that of false visas. These visas
are most often used in building an applicant's credibility to obtain
a visa to a third country, such as the United States or Canada.
Post has worked with the Australian government authorities in order
to be better able to identify these forgeries.

STAFFING AND TRAINING


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12. Using H&L funding, Melbourne has hired, and Sydney is currently
working on advertising for, a part time LES who will conduct fraud
investigations. Several LES have attended FSI courses on Fraud
Prevention.

DEPARTMENT RESOURCES


13. Mission Australia continues to find the background work on
petitioners by the KCC Fraud Prevention Unit to be invaluable. ADIS
is another development that greatly assists in fraud detection and
prevention, particularly for immigrant visa applicants who have
previously overstayed on a nonimmigrant visa. Consular Officers have
recently begun to use the Edison Travel Document database in the CCD
to identify legitimate documents.

COOPERATION WITH HOST AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES


14. Appropriate information sharing with valuable anti-fraud
contacts at all levels helps to ensure that Australia remains a
low-fraud post. Post continues to receive updates from the
Australian government and other allies regarding fraud that they are
encountering.


15. On a quarterly basis, Sydney Consulate staff continue to meet
with counterparts from various Australian government agencies, as
well as the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, and New
Zealand, as part of the 5 Nation Anti-Fraud Working Group. In these
meetings, participants share information on trends in immigration
fraud and border issues. The productive relationship results in
extensive information sharing and useful contacts with Australian
law enforcement and immigration authorities.

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