20 JUNE 2017

New Zealand resident sentenced

A New Zealand permanent resident who tried to fraudulently bring a child into New Zealand has been sentenced for providing false and misleading documents to Immigration New Zealand.

Haiyan Luo, who is 46 and originally from China, was sentenced in the Waitakere District Court today to 26 months’ imprisonment having pleaded guilty to 17 charges of providing false or misleading information to an immigration officer.

The Crown, representing INZ and IRD, also charged Ms Luo with matters relating to tax evasion resulting in 19 months to be served cumulatively. The total sentence was 3 years 9 months.

Ms Luo, who originally obtained residence in 2000, married a Chinese national in 2008 and sponsored him for residency in New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) was advised in 2012 by Ms Lou and her husband that a child had been born to the couple in China and they requested the child be added to the father’s application for residence. Identity documents for the baby and documentation in relation to Ms Luo’s medical care and delivery of the baby were submitted to INZ and flagged as a concern by INZ’s Hong Kong office.

Immigration New Zealand Area Manager, Compliance and Investigations, Alistair Murray says “INZ’s enquiries ultimately revealed that contrary to her claims the child was not her biological child and she had not legally adopted the child in China. This type of offending using immigration processes to try and fraudulently bring a child into New Zealand, and indeed any type of fraudulent behaviour, will not be tolerated by Immigration New Zealand. Today’s sentence is a strong deterrent.”

More details of the circumstances that led to the INZ charges being laid are contained in the attached summary of facts.

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1706/LUO_case_Statement_of_Facts_200617.pdf

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