INZ to get tough with Sri Lankan student visa applications

False and misleading documents submitted to support student visa applicants from Sri Lanka, will be investigated by Immigration New Zealand (INZ), following the detection of 85 applications containing false documentation by a Lankan finance company.

In an email interview with the Sunday Times, INZ said they had identified the irregularities in January this year, and taken prompt steps to review 88 applications from Sri Lankan students who had come via this finance company.

“We are concerned about this particular finance company and we have concluded that documents supplied by them are not reliable,” they said, but declined to name the company in question.

“As a result of our review, 85 of these applications were declined, one student had the visa cancelled and two were approved. INZ is also reviewing applica- tions that were submitted before January to see if any students had provided false and misleading information from the Sri Lankan finance company in question, during the course of those applications.”

They said that, in the future, it is unlikely that they would consider documents from this finance company as meeting immigration requirements for the grant of a student visa.

Approximately 2,000 student visas were approved for Sri Lankan nationals offshore between July 2015 and June 2018, they said.

“We take immigration fraud very seriously and we investigate when cases of potential fraud are reported to us,” they said. “Providing false and misleading information to obtain a visa is illegal.”

“If any students are found to have submitted false or misleading information this may impact the status of their current visa and any future applications they may lodge,” INZ warned.