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R 011410Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8808
NVC PORTSMOUTH 0166

UNCLAS NOUAKCHOTT 000636 
 
 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP 
DEPT PLS PASS TO KCC WILLIAMSBURG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFRD CVIS CPAS CMGT ASEC MR
SUBJECT:  MAURITANIA'S SEMI-ANNUAL FRAUD REPORT 
 
REF: (A) 08 STATE 74840 
 
¶1. Mauritania is a poor developing country whose small population 
and relative isolation have kept the demand for visas relatively 
low. There has been significant rural to urban migration since the 
devastating drought of the 1970s. There are three major ethnic 
groups in Mauritania: White Moors, Black Moors, and 
Afro-Mauritanians. Conflicts between these three groups over 
language, land tenure, and other issues, led to what are known as 
the "1989 Events" and continue to post a challenge to national 
unity. The level of fraud at post is medium. Sophisticated 
technology to create high-quality fraudulent documents is 
non-existent in Mauritania. 
 
Mauritania held its first free and fair elections and inaugurated a 
new parliament and president in April 2007. Following several months 
of political crisis in mid-2008, a military junta overthrew the 
democratically elected president in a bloodless coup August 6, 2008. 
 After peace talks were held in Dakar Senegal, opposition parties 
and the military junta agreed that the democratically elected 
President, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, would step down from power 
and elections would be held.  General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz won 
the July 18, 2009 elections.  While some opposition leaders claimed 
election fraud, the international community agreed with the decision 
of Mauritanioa's constitutional authorities that Aziz won the 
election.  As a result of the transparent elections, a number of 
international organizations such as the World Bank and International 
Monetary Fund have resumed relations with the government of 
Mauritania. 
 
The Mauritanian government estimates that approximately one third of 
Mauritanians are unemployed and many others are underemployed. The 
informal sector of the economy is very large. Low salaries in both 
the public and private sectors have caused young Mauritanians to 
migrate legally and illegally to the United States and Europe. The 
growth of Mauritanian communities in the United States has 
encouraged others to try to immigrate to the United States. 
 
Many migrants from neighboring West African countries transit 
through Mauritania trying to reach the Canary Islands (Spain). Most 
travel across the porous borders from Senegal and Mali to reach the 
northern port town of Nouadhibou to attempt to reach the Canary 
Islands. Of the thousands of emigrants that leave Mauritania each 
year attempting to reach the Canary Islands, only a relatively small 
percentage of them are Mauritanian. Most are emigrants from other 
West African countries. While many Mauritanians do try to immigrate 
to the United States or Europe, there are not the same social 
pressures on them to do so that there are in other neighboring 
countries. 
 
¶2. NIV Fraud 
 
B1/B2 visas: Typical NIV fraud occurs more often during the 
interview than through documents. During the interview, many people 
will try to hide past visa overstays, illegal work, or fraudulent 
asylum claims. Many claim that they have lost previous passports or 
had to turn them in when applying for a new one to hide past 
overstays.   Many women without strong professional ties, 
particularly those applying alone, tell the consular officer that 
their husband is a business owner or high ranking government 
official. Upon attempting to verify the husband's employment, post 
often finds out that the husband is not employed as the applicant 
indicated during the interview. In these cases, the husband is 
frequently living illegally in the United States. 
 
Post does see some fraudulent supporting documents such as fake 
invitation letters and ready made "packages" of bills and customs 
documents designed to provide the impression that the applicant is 
an experienced international trader and businessman. Fraudulent bank 
documents are not as common. There are only a few banks in 
Mauritania and each bank has distinct and identifiable documents. 
There are few people in Mauritania capable of producing high quality 
fake bank documents. When post does have a question about the 
validity of supporting bank documents, most Mauritanian banks are 
willing to confirm the veracity of a bank statement over the phone. 
Post has confirmed fraudulent bank documents on three occasions 
during the past year. These applicants are generally refused under 
214(b) as they often do not meet the INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i) 
requirements. 
 
The other type of fraud that is recurrent is genuine documents with 
false content. A genuine businessman will issue job letters, salary 
stubs, and even travel orders for a visa applicant who has never 
worked for him to help him to get a B1/B2 visa. Other applicants 
will bring in bank documents that belong to a friend, family member, 
or employer. A continuing concern remains Mauritanian diplomats in 
Washington D.C. and New York who often send letters of invitation 
stating that they will cover all expenses for the invitee during 
their stay in the United States. Other applicants will apply for 
visas with brand new Chinese or Schengen visas in their passports. 
They will try to use the presence of a visa as a history of travel 
even though there are no stamps in the passport indicating that they 
have ever traveled on the visa. 
 
F-1 visas: Most of the F-1 visa applicants do not intend to follow 
or complete a course of study. These applicants believe that it is 
easier to obtain a student visa than a B1/B2 visa. Most applicants 
are sponsored by an uncle or other relative. Since it is virtually 
impossible to verify the blood relationship between a nephew and an 
uncle, visa applicants use a distant relative, a family friend or 
anybody that is willing to issue them a sponsorship letter and their 
bank records. Given the economic situation of the country in 
general, it is hard to believe that an uncle will pay for expensive 
education in the United States for a nephew. Most of the letters of 
sponsorship for studies in the United States are genuine documents 
with false statements. These applicants generally apply to study 
English at non-degree granting language schools. Most do not have a 
high school diploma and have never studied English before. Those 
that have been accepted into a degree program are generally more 
qualified, but there are still fraudulent applicants. 
 
A and G visas: Fraud perpetrated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
and the Mauritanian Embassy in Washington as well as the Permanent 
Mission to the U.N. in New York remains a concern.  Diplomatic 
missions are issuing contracts to unqualified young men to hire them 
as secretaries, administrative assistants, drivers, cooks, and 
security guards.  Interviews with the applicants show that they have 
neither the appropriate educational background nor the work 
experience for the job. Almost all of the applicants have been 
unemployed at the time of their visa applications. In two cases, the 
applicants had previously been refused B1/B2 visas. This lack of 
qualifications and the large numbers of these contractors compared 
to the small size of the two Mauritanian diplomatic missions in the 
U.S. indicate that these contracts are issued to help unemployed 
young men enter the United States. 
 
¶3. IV Fraud and DV Fraud 
 
Nouakchott does not handle IVs or DVs. Post assists Embassy Dakar, 
which processes these visas for Mauritanians, in investigations of 
Mauritanian civil documents. 
 
¶4. ACS and U.S. Passport Fraud 
 
Post has seen little indication of ACS or U.S. passport fraud. Post 
has received one presumably fraudulent CRBA application in the past 
six months.  DNA testing was recommended to confirm parentage, but 
the applicant never returned to complete the required DNA testing. 
 
¶5. Adoption Fraud 
 
Adoption is not permitted in Mauritania according to Islamic law. 
However, this has not stopped several people who have obtained 
asylum in the United States from trying to claim adopted children as 
beneficiaries. Post has been willing to consider cases where the 
petitioner can prove that they have legal guardianship of the child 
and that they have actually acted as an adoptive parent, but none of 
the petitioners to date have been able to do so. 
 
¶6. Use of DNA Testing 
 
Post routinely uses DNA testing in Visas 92 petitions and 
occasionally in CRBA cases. Legitimate documents containing false 
information are easily obtained, so post cannot rely on local birth 
certificates. Post has used the results of DNA testing to return 
petitions to DHS on several occasions. 
 
¶7. Asylum and Other DHS Benefits Fraud 
 
A large number of Mauritanians who have traveled on B1/B2 or F1 
visas have been granted political asylum status, many of them using 
false statements and documents.  Relationship fraud in Visas 92 
petitions is rampant, and DNA tests are routinely used to confirm 
qualifying relationships. The ease of obtaining real marriage 
certificates containing false information makes confirming 
relationships where no children are involved very difficult. In 
addition, Mauritanian women often do not know very much about their 
husbands. As a result, it is difficult to differentiate legitimate 
relationships from fraudulent relationships. These cases require 
significant time and resources to conduct fraud interviews and 
investigations. 
 
¶8. Alien Smuggling, Trafficking, Organized Crime, Terrorist Travel 
 
Post has seen little evidence of alien smuggling or trafficking 
among visa applicants. While there are terrorist groups operating in 
Mauritania and neighboring countries, post has not identified any 
trends of members of these groups applying for visas. 
 
¶9. DS Criminal Fraud Investigations 
 
Post has not had to send any cases to the RSO for further 
investigation. 
 
¶10. Host Country Passport, Identity Documents, and Civil Registry 
 
Civil documents in general are not reliable, particularly those 
issued prior to the general census of 1998. All reports of birth, 
death, marriage and divorce are submitted by the family to the 
appropriate government office. The government office then documents 
the information in the presence of two random witnesses who attest 
to the validity of the statements. Previous government-issued 
identity cards were very easy to reproduce and thousands of 
counterfeit cards were produced during the presidential election 
which preceded the 1998 census. These fake national IDs were also 
used by non-Mauritanians hoping to gain asylum in the United States 
based on human rights abuses in Mauritania. The new national ID 
cards are much better. They are difficult to replicate and all 
information is stored in a centralized electronic database. Birth 
certificates are also now being recorded in a centralized database. 
Fake marriage certificates are still rampant since many are bona 
fide documents acquired under false pretenses. 
 
Before the recent improvement in the issuance of birth certificates, 
births were not reported until the child enrolled into school or 
applied for a travel document. As a result, most people do not know 
their exact date of birth and report it on official documents simply 
as January 1 or December 31 of the year of their birth. Most 
passports show only the year of birth. Names are problematic because 
the majority of Mauritanian names within each ethnic group come from 
a very small pool of common names, which makes it difficult to 
evaluate CLASS hits. The similarity in names allows visa applicants 
to use bank statements, commercial documents, or academic records of 
other people bearing similar names. Post often relies on 
interviewing techniques to identify the fraudulent cases. Applicants 
with good financial records but no previous travel and no recorded 
success in business require further scrutiny. 
 
There are three types of passports in Mauritania: regular, 
official/service, and diplomatic. In the past, many non-diplomats 
were issued diplomatic passports and continue to carry them. 
Mauritanian passports are not secure. They are hand-written and do 
not contain a machine readable zone or any biometric features. The 
photo could easily be substituted. One of the most difficult 
problems is that the naming conventions used by passport officials 
have changed over the years. The most significant change is whether 
the father's and grandfather's name is included in the person's 
name. Depending on the year of issuance, passports may or may not 
include "ould" (son of) and "mint" (daughter of) in the name. Post 
has seen numerous occasions where an applicant has presented his or 
her current passport plus two old passports to demonstrate a history 
of travel. In each of the three passports, the name is different. 
The transliteration from Arabic can also change the spelling of 
names. These differences make it difficult to confirm past visa 
issuances or violations. 
 
¶11. Cooperating with Host Government Authorities 
 
Local authorities are generally helpful with the verification of 
civil documents. Due to the highly centralized nature of the 
government, some lower level employees not accustomed to verifying 
documents for post will require letters and authorizations from high 
level government officials before verifying documents. The biggest 
problem is not the level of cooperation, but lack of good record 
keeping. It is often difficult to verify documents because they were 
either not recorded or the records no longer exist. Because of poor 
record keeping, the inability to find a record of it is not 
necessarily a confirmation of fraud. 
 
¶12. Areas of Particular Concern 
None. 
 
 
HANKINS