Man ‘married sister in failed visa scam’

A man is facing deportation after he allegedly married his sister in an attempt to get a visa.

The 28-year-old from Cambodia always denied that he and his ‘‘wife’’, from whom he has since separated, were related. But the couple had repeatedly refused to take a DNA test.

The man took his case to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal after Immigration New Zealand (INZ) declined his application for a student visa because he allegedly previously lied to authorities.

According to a tribunal decision, the man came to New Zealand in December 2013 on a one-year partnership visa, after marrying a Cambodian-born New Zealand

citizen in Cambodia. In July 2014, he applied for residency on the basis of the partnership.

INZ declined the application because it believed the ‘‘couple’’ might in fact be siblings but the department granted the man a partnership visa.

A person who asked INZ to keep their identity secret claimed to have known the wife for many years. The informant said the woman and man were siblings, and the ‘‘wife’’ had been in a long-term relationship with another man.

The person also alleged that colleagues in a cafe where the ‘‘couple’’ worked knew them as brother and sister, but the wife had told them to tell anyone who asked that the man was her husband.

INZ also interviewed a real estate agent who said he had known the ‘‘wife’s’’ stepfather for many years, and that the stepfather had asked him to find a rental property for ‘‘his son and daughter’’. The agent told INZ the ‘‘husband’’ had confirmed to him that he and the woman were siblings.

INZ had also become aware of comments on the man’s Facebook page referring to his ‘‘wife’’ as his sister.

The man applied for residency again, before withdrawing the application. He then applied for a student visa, which INZ declined. His interim visa expired, and he remained in the country unlawfully.

The man tried several times to have the decision reversed.

He claimed he was ‘‘the victim of false allegations’’ and had a new partner and a child, who would face hardship if he was deported.

All his bids reversed failed. to have INZ’s decision