US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO149

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000149 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS, KFRD, MZ, KCRM 
SUBJECT: COUNTRY FRAUD PROFILE: MOZAMBIQUE 
 
 
1. (SBU) Consular Fraud Summary: Mozambique's porous 
borders, underpaid and ill-equipped border security forces, 
and lack of technological infrastructure make it an inviting 
transit country for mala fide travelers, immigrant smugglers 
and immigrant traffickers. Mozambican passports and 
residency permits can be easily obtained through the payment 
of bribes to immigration officials, and are also available 
through other illegal channels. It is difficult for Post to 
obtain detailed information or statistics on immigrant 
smuggling and trafficking from Mozambican officials as often 
times written records are not kept, or information is 
inadequately recorded. Post has also encountered a general 
unwillingness on the part of the Mozambican government to 
share immigration fraud-related information that may later 
implicate immigration or police officials. End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Country Conditions: Twice the size of California with 
over 1700 miles of extended coastline, Mozambique has 
geography that plays an important political and economic 
role. A Portuguese colony until gaining independence in 
1975, Mozambique is defined by three east-west corridors: 
towards South Africa in the south; Zimbabwe in the center; 
and Malawi/Zambia in the north. Approximately 20% of the 
population is Muslim, a percentage concentrated primarily in 
the northern provinces. Despite steady economic development 
since the end of the devastating civil war in 1992, 
Mozambique remains one of the world's poorest countries with 
more than 40% of its citizens surviving on less than $1 per 
day. Corruption is one of the paramount problems facing the 
democratic development of Mozambique, and contributes 
significantly to the growing problem of immigrant smuggling 
and trafficking. The majority of people being smuggled or 
trafficked are bound for South Africa, but some groups - 
most recently, Somalis -- have also been known to travel 
through Mozambique to South Africa, and on to Brazil, with a 
view to gaining access to the U.S. through the Western 
Hemisphere. Mozambique is also battling a growing HIV/AIDS 
problem, with an infection rate estimated at approximately 
15% of adults. 
 
3. (SBU) Visa Fraud: Imposter fraud is the most frequently 
encountered type of fraud in Maputo. Mozambican nationality 
and identity documents (as well as residency permits) are 
easily obtained on either the black market, or by bribing 
immigration officials. Third-country national applicants 
posing as Mozambican citizens, and third-country national 
applicants presenting Mozambican residency permits must be 
thoroughly scrutinized by interviewing consular officers to 
assess Portuguese language ability, familiarity with the 
country and culture, and economic ties. Approximately 22% 
of NIV applicants are third-country nationals. The countries 
representing the largest number of applicants, beginning 
with the most prevalent, are Nigeria, South Africa, Guinea, 
Pakistan, India, Brazil, Congo, and Tanzania. Post has also 
processed applications for nationals of China, Cuba, and 
Lebanon in the last six months. Document fraud is less 
prevalent but more difficult to detect as official documents 
often lack uniformity and/or security features, and even 
legitimate documents are often of poor quality - printed 
with dot matrix printers or handwritten. 
 
4. (SBU)ACS Fraud: Incidents of ACS fraud are rare, although 
in the last year, Post has seen several cases of Lebanese 
nationals, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, applying for 
U.S. citizenship for their children. In each case, the 
applicant father has insisted he meets the physical presence 
requirements for transmission, but has been unable to 
provide adequate evidence. One man presented 1040 tax forms 
filled out by hand and backdated to 1986 and 1987.