VZCZCXRO3372
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGZ #0485/01 1131003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231003Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5989
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 5314
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH 6262
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USUN NEW YORK 0017

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 000485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/VO, CA/FPP, CA/EX, DS/IP/EAP, DC/CR, DS/CR/VF, DS/CR/PF, 
AND INL/HSTC 
BEIJING FOR RSO, DHS, CG AND FPU 
NVC FOR FPU 
USICE/HQ FOR HQINT, HQOAI, CAO AND FDL 
US UN FOR RSO-PASS TO DS/FLD/NYFO 
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR CIS/FDNS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CMGT ASEC CVIS KFRD CH KCRM INL HSTC
SUBJECT: Fuzhou - Fraud Capital of China - (1 of 2) A Detailed Look 
at the Fuzhou Region of Fujian Province 
 
THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT 
ACCORDINGLY. 
 
REF: A. 06 Guangzhou 32403 B. Guangzhou 00063 C. 06 Guangzhou 27925 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: An analysis of the past year's immigrant visa 
statistics, discussions with other units and consulates, and a 
deluge of unsolicited tips still point to the Fuzhou area of Fujian 
province (Fuzhou, Changle, Mawei, Lianjiang, Fuqing, and Putian) as 
the capital of visa fraud and illegal immigration in China.  This is 
the first in a three cable series detailing the level of visa fraud 
activity in the Fuzhou area of Fujian province. End Summary. 
 
The Numbers Tell the Story 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) An analysis of immigrant visa applicants in Guangzhou 
during fiscal year 2006 revealed that while the Fuzhou, Mawei, 
Changle, Lianjiang and Fuqing make up 17.1% (8548 cases) of all 
immigrant visa petitions processed in Guangzhou, the same area 
accounts for 36.8% (3174 cases) of all marriage-based petitions 
(IR1, CR1, and K3).  Strangely, the region accounts for only 7.4% of 
fiance visa petitions (K1), a category that Guangzhou believes to 
have a lower incidence of fraud (reftel A).  Of marriage cases 
interviewed in FY2006 from the Fuzhou area, 37% were sent back to 
Citizenship and Immigration Services with a recommendation for 
revocation.  Moreover, an additional 47% of all interviewed cases 
were refused pending additional investigation under 221g refusals. 
In the vast majority of these cases sham marriages or other fraud 
was suspected.  Only the remaining 16% of Fuzhou marriage cases were 
issued.  Many of these cases were first marriages for both 
petitioner and applicant.  Despite anecdotal evidence that suggests 
many of these marriages are also shams for immigration only, it can 
be extremely difficult to meet the bar necessary for revocation. 
 
That's My Boy 
------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The situation is further exacerbated when marriage cases 
are looked at in total.  Marriage petitions from Fuzhou with a prior 
divorce continue to have approximately two child petitions for each 
spousal petition.  Several current F4 cases with prior revocations 
for sham marriages have given Guangzhou FPU an opportunity to 
compare children from the prior marriage petition to the children 
reported in the current sibling petitions.  In many of the cases, 
the children from the prior marriage petition differ in name, 
gender, and age.  Upon further questioning, all of these cases have 
admitted that the children in the prior cases were not their own. 
 
¶4. (SBU) With reported prices for a sham marriage now reaching up to 
$80,000 USD just for the spouse with proportionally high fees for 
each child included in the sham petition, many  "families" are 
actually three or more unrelated individuals put together for 
convenience by snakeheads.  This helps to explain why often times in 
interviews the children know more about the parent's relationship 
story than the supposed spouse and are often seen prompting and 
correcting details that the parent gives to the interviewing 
officer.  In one case where the mother got so nervous she fainted, 
needing to be helped to a bench by consulate security guards, her 
children showed no concern for her well-being and even insisted they 
could continue the interview without her.  To combat this situation 
Post has had to turn to DNA testing on an increasing basis to 
confirm family ties.  Typically the FPU schedules more than 40 DNA 
tests a month.  FPU has instituted a system to track cases where DNA 
tests were requested to see how many cases are abandoned after the 
DNA request. 
 
Fuzhou Dominates Suspect Employment Visas Too 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Of additional concern is the high proportion of 
low-skilled and non-skilled employment based visas (E3 and EW) from 
Fuzhou.  In FY 2005, the Fuzhou-Changle-Lianjiang-Fuqing area 
accounted for over 44% of all employment visa petitions at post. 
Preliminary results from a new pilot phone prescreening process to 
verify claimed employment of all E3 applicants confirmed fraud in 4 
of 16 cases and suspected fraud in 6 additional cases.  In 5 cases 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000485  002 OF 003 
 
 
the employer could not be located through the Internet, phone 
directories, or operator assistance.  In only 1 case was employment 
confirmed.  Guangzhou FPU continues to target both immigrant and 
non-immigrant employment visa fraud. (reftel B) 
 
Fujian, I'm Not From Fujian 
--------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Post continues to see a growing amount of Chinese 
government issued passports from provinces such as Hunan and Hainan 
with fraudulent bio-page data.  In all cases the applicants are 
actually from Fujian.  In some cases the entire set of data is faked 
but in many, the applicant uses their real name and birth date, only 
apparently desiring to change the birthplace and passport issuance 
province to cover up the fact they are from Fujian province.  Since 
these passports are issued by the government and possess all known 
security features, the only way officers have been able to catch 
them is through LES translator help.  Translators, especially those 
from Fuzhou themselves, have been able to detect the accent and 
alert officers who then can direct questioning about the applicant's 
supposed home city where the made-up stories often fall apart. 
 
Fujian Frequent Fliers 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) On a recent flight back to Guangzhou from Fuzhou, a fraud 
investigator from the Canadian Consulate in Guangzhou noted she saw 
representatives from the United States, Australian, and Danish 
consulates in addition to herself.  Guangzhou FPU meets with the 
Canadian, British, Australian, Japanese, and European Union 
consulates in Guangzhou on a quarterly basis to discuss visa fraud 
and often meets more frequently with the Canadians, British, and 
Australians in smaller groups.  Inevitably the main topic of all 
these meetings is visa fraud and snakehead leads in Fuzhou. 
Consulates all readily share information on document forgers, 
employment call centers, fake restaurants, visa consultants, 
marriage brokers, and others involved in the visa fraud business. 
Still, at current volumes and reported prices, the dollar value of 
visa fraud operations in Fujian alone appears to be well into the 
hundreds of millions of dollars per year.  Despite the coordinated 
best efforts, once a consulate fraud investigator succeeds in 
stopping one outlet, several more are likely to spring up to take 
it's place. 
 
It's My Duty to Tell You 
------------------------ 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Guangzhou FPU continues to receive an average of 30 
unsolicited tips about fraudulent cases per month despite having no 
publicly published phone number, fax number, or email address.  Just 
as in field investigations, tips often come from neighbors or 
village residents who feel they have no other place to report 
wrongdoing.  In cases of tips that have led to larger scale 
investigations, FPU and RSO believe it is possible that local law 
enforcement officers whose own departments have turned a blind eye 
or even have individuals involved in smuggling schemes hope that by 
turning to the Consulate something can be done.  FPU officers 
recognize that all anonymous tips must be taken with a grain of salt 
and could just as easily be from a jilted ex-spouse or visa 
consultant who did not get paid, the vast majority of tips prove to 
be truthful and invaluable in furthering fraud investigations.  As 
Guangzhou FPU is currently working to establish a webpage on the 
publicly-available consulate web site that will include an email 
address and fax number, the number of fraud tips for Fujian will 
only rise. 
 
Little Incentive to Stop 
------------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Both the city government of Fuzhou and the provincial 
governments of Fujian province are keenly aware of Fujian's 
reputation world-wide for illegal immigration and visa fraud.  To 
help combat this battered image, both have often been far more 
cooperative than other government officials in assisting the 
consular section with case inquiries.  Still there are limits to 
what any one person in the government can do and with remittance 
income making up a large part of many villages there is little 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000485  003 OF 003 
 
 
incentive to work to stop the illegal outflow of people. 
 
¶10. (SBU) In many villages visited by Guangzhou FPU staff, a 
dichotomy of homes is evident. Those with relatives overseas have 
large, modern three and four story homes, often with garages and 
elaborate gates. Yet inside, most of these homes have few residents 
except for the elderly grandparents and the young children.  Those 
without overseas relatives, continue to live in small two and three 
room concrete or mud brick cottages without heat literally feet away 
from their neighbors' dream homes.  It is this effort to keep up 
with the neighbors that causes a paradox. As GDP for Fuzhou grows at 
a double-digit pace, the level of increased economic prosperity only 
advances the number and quality of visa fraud and illegal 
immigration attempts from Fuzhou, exerting pressure on the smuggling 
market and forcing prices for sham marriages to rise in step. 
 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) As repeated field investigations, visa statistics, shared 
information from other consulates, and unsolicited tips reveal, 
fraud is an endemic part of Fuzhou.  Not only is it a way of life, 
but as posts in China continue to become more adept at combating 
visa fraud, the schemers are moving abroad in hopes of finding 
weaker spots to exploit.  Furthermore, the numbers of people and 
variety of fraud schemes to leave China are as varied as the 
villages of the region. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Fuqing currently focuses on student visa fraud schemes 
(reftel C) and despite strong efforts to combat the fraud, post 
continues to see a rise in the number of fraudulent applicants from 
the area.  Residents of Changle, perhaps the city in China with the 
most Christian churches per capita, have been trying to use the 
city's reputation by posing as missionaries in places such as 
Thailand and Laos seeking non-immigrant visas to the U.S., Canada, 
and the United Kingdom.  Recent news headlines and airport liaison 
officer reports highlight Latin America as a growing route for all 
Chinese to get to the United States. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) To further combat visa fraud in both Fuzhou and the rest 
of South China, Guangzhou FPU has strengthened its already strong 
relationship with diplomatic security, repeatedly working with post 
RSO to identify related cases and pass them when necessary to the 
appropriate field offices in the United States.  Furthermore, 
Guangzhou FPU has convened a monthly working group meeting 
consisting of post's FPU officers, RSO, ICE attach, and CIS officer 
to share fraud trends and discuss leads for investigations.  With 
Chinese applicants, and specifically those from Fujian province, 
spreading over a larger part of the world, Guangzhou FPU continues 
to assist an ever-widening array of posts in answering questions for 
visa interviews and investigations. 
 
 
GOLDBERG