German Visa Scandal in Moscow, Cairo
It was revealed last week that hundreds of German visas were given out in Moscow and Cairo on counterfeit passports and other documents. The German Foreign Ministry and law enforcement makes regular checks of its consular services, which uncovered the incompetent performance. The employees responsible – six Egyptians and one employee of the Moscow embassy whose nationality was not specified, have already been dismissed. It is not yet known whether the employees received money for their services or helped their acquaintances.
One hundred thirty-two falsified passports were found among 100,000 Egyptian visa applications. According to Der Spiegel magazine, 1259 visas were given out on falsified documents in Russia. Here, they were most often falsified business invitations or income statements. Germany is among the countries most visited by Russians. Companies offering paid assistance in obtaining German visas, sometimes even without an interview, are easily found on the Internet. One hundred fifty-three recipients of visas using falsified documents have been identified so far, It is likely that they will be expelled from Germany.
This is not the first problem Germany has had with visas. It became known a few years ago that a stream of illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe, mainly Ukraine, entered Germany on visas received under relaxed requirements. In 2001, German 297,000 visas were issued in Kiev. That scandal cost the foreign minister at the time, Joschka Fischer, much popularity and almost his job. It is expected that this scandal will also have repercussions in the German Foreign Ministry and that Russians will face particularly thorough verification at the German embassy in the future.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 10, 2007
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