FRAUD SUMMARY - WINDHOEK

UNCLAS WINDHOEK 000360 For CA/FPP, CA/VO, JOHANNESBURG FOR RCO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC WA SUBJECT: FRAUD SUMMARY - WINDHOEK REF: A) 08 WINDHOEK 183 B) 07 WINDHOEK 318 ¶1. (U) COUNTRY CONDITIONS: Namibia is a developing country with one of the world's highest levels of income inequality. Namibia has a population of roughly 2 million, with a low NIV and a moderate ACS workload. Culturally, there are strong ties to family and clan identity, as well as a strong sense of national pride. Most applicants are legitimate travelers who can easily demonstrate ties to their home country. The level of fraud in visa and American Citizen Service applications is low. Most fraud is associated with third country nationals, the subject of a validation study done two years ago (ref B). There have been cases of fraudulently obtained permanent residence stamps and other evidence of alleged immigration benefits in Namibia, but such cases have been rare. ¶2. (U) NIV FRAUD: Non-immigrant visa fraud is low. Most fraud is not particularly sophisticated, involving fraudulent employment or invitation letters. Post conducts spot checks of questionable supporting documents to detect fraud. There are no significant fraud patterns in employment-based, student and exchange visitor, religious workers or other visa types. ¶3. (U) IV FRAUD: Post does not process Immigrant Visas. I-130 petitions for alien spouses are taken at post and forwarded to Consulate Johannesburg for processing. ¶4. (U) DV FRAUD: Post does not process Diversity Visas. Namibia has a low rate of application and no more than 20 applicants have interviewed each of the last two DV years. These cases are also processed in Johannesburg. ¶5. (U) ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD: Citizenship adjudication can be difficult as many American citizens were born to Namibian parents in the United States and have only children's passports, some of which expired many years ago. Namibian birth documents are not computerized, and are theoretically susceptible to fraud. Documents are verified with government authorities in cases where suspicious documents or other fraud indicators are encountered; within the past six months, there have been no cases of confirmed fraud. ¶6. (U) ADOPTION FRAUD: Adoption by foreigners is rare in Namibia; only a few adoptions by foreigners have occurred over the past five years. Adoptions can take place if a foreigner obtains permanent residence in Namibia, or if the foreigner receives exceptional permission from the Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and the Minister of Home Affairs. The additional scrutiny given to foreigners seeking to adopt has generally discouraged fraud. ¶7. (U) DNA TESTING: DNA testing is rarely used. IVs are not processed at this post, and most citizenship cases can be resolved without resorting to DNA. A few citizenship cases have been referred to DNA when the father was an American citizen seeking to transmit citizenship to a child born out of wedlock to an alien mother. In such cases, the father may have had little or no contact with the mother since before the child's birth. Verifying the relationship is difficult as the standards of the law go beyond a "preponderance of the evidence" for such cases; thus, DNA testing can be a useful tool. ¶8. (U) ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFIT FRAUD: Post has not detected fraud in Asylum or other DHS benefit cases in the past year. Post has processed only one follow-to-join case, which was approved, and contained no fraud detectable by the adjudicating officer. ¶9. (SBU) ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST TRAVEL: The U.S. Embassy has not encountered organized efforts of this type. There have been no submissions from post to the Visas Viper program in the past six months. Consular representatives from the European Union (EU),specifically Germany and France, have noted attempts to obtain Schengen visas via false identities for purposes of smuggling illegal diamonds; however, they confirm no incidents in which the perpetrators of this fraud presented false U.S. visas or other fraudulent U.S. travel documents. ¶10. (U) DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS: Post has no on-going or completed fraud investigations for this reporting period which were referred to the Regional Security Officer (RSO). Windhoek is a small post. In the midst of an investigation, Conoff and RSO would communicate regularly person-to-person. At the conclusion of an investigation, the RSO would write a formal summary of the investigation and findings for Conoff's review and comment. ¶11. (U) COUNTRY PASSPORT, IDENTITY DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTRY: In February 2009, Namibia introduced a new machine-readable passport with a laminated face page, as well as a fluorescent reproduction of the face page along with all bio-data, which is printed opposite the face-page and only visible under black-light. The fluorescent printing is a new security feature. Within the next year, the government expects to begin issuing passports with computer chip technology similar to U.S. passports. ¶12. (SBU) Recently Canadian authorities reported cases of Nigerian nationals attempting travel to Canada on false Namibian passports, in order to exploit the Temporary Resident Visa waiver granted to Namibian nationals. While the use of these false passports was not apparently intended for travel to the U.S., post has noted their availability for Namibians or third-country nationals who may wish to apply for an NIV under a false identity. Post has initiated a precautionary fraud prevention procedure, checking all newly issued passports with black-light. Thus far, no false Namibian passports have been detected at post. ¶13. (U) Marriage and birth records still are not computerized or centrally stored, and are usually hand-written; thus, they are susceptible to fraud. Until recent years, many births in Namibia were never registered. Now all births which occur in a hospital are registered on-site, and these registrations must be taken by the family to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration in order to process official birth certificates. ¶14. (U) COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES: The Namibian government is generally responsive and helpful in dealing with matters of fraud, though the cooperation is often limited by the rudimentary nature of their information systems. Immigration records are not computerized. The Namibian government is computerizing citizenship records, but the process is proceeding slowly. Post has received good cooperation in its requests for verification of civil documents. ¶15. (U) AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN: Namibia has extensive land borders with South Africa, Angola, and Botswana. Weak immigration controls at these borders outside of official checkpoints make Namibia a potential destination for transit of mala fide travelers. Third country nationals comprise roughly 20 percent of the applicant pool at any given time (23% over the last six months),and the refusal rates are higher for these nationals. Post's last validation study (ref B) showed overstay rates below 5 percent for almost all third country nationals. Some Namibians have been the victims of e-mail scams promising a visa and/or jobs in the United States. Such schemes are generally unsophisticated, but some have closely duplicated DV notifications or other official USG correspondence. The last six months has seen a downturn in this type of scam as awareness has heightened among the general public; many recipients of such e-mails or letters now call or write the U.S. Embassy to verify the correspondence. ¶16. (U) STAFFING AND TRAINING: Post has a single Consular Officer who also serves as Global Affairs Officer, covering issues related to environment, nature and wildlife conservation, and refugees. Post also has one full-time LES Consular Assistant and a part-time EFM assistant. No Consular staff members have participated in training specifically focused on fraud prevention in the last two years. HARRINGTON