Report says global labour mobility hampered by fraud; 84,000 individuals tried to enter US in 2005 with fraudulent documentation

The Economist Intelligence Unit, the business-to-business arm of the Economist Group, which publishes The Economist magazine, today launches a new report, entitled Paper chase: Document fraud in the immigration process. The report was researched and written by the Economist Intelligence Unit and was sponsored by IntegraScreen.

The report says that the developed world is set to witness an influx of over 100m people between 2005 and 2050. Ageing populations and skills shortages create a demand for workers that the developing world can supply. The challenge of smoothing immigration procedures for qualified migrants while keeping the doors closed to less desirable entrants means many governments have been forced to put immigration and border protection at the top of their agendas.

To cope with these pressures, governments are bolstering their immigration-screening practices. Measures include capturing biometric data, adopting objective points-based screening systems, extending their networks into source-country institutions, and international border collaboration. However, these efforts may be compromised by the proliferation of fraudulent documentation. To take one example, in the fiscal year 2005, US Customs and Border Protection apprehended 84,000 individuals entering the US with fraudulent documentation.

* Reproduced with permission from Finfacts Ireland Business & Finance Portal