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Desperate times calls for desperate measures-so the clique goes. Not for me. I wouldn’t entrust an unregistered Immigration agent with my passport. But desperate Zimbabweans without adequate Immigration documents have resorted to these people to sort out their stay in South Africa or Botswana.

According to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons: Article 14(2) visitors to any SADC country are allowed a maximum period of ninety (90) days visit per year.

After this initial visit, visitors are required to apply for an extension of stay beyond the 90 days visit granted. The Immigration authorities re-examine the visitor’s status to ensure that the request for a further stay is justified. Issues looked into includes if the visitor has sufficient funds to sustain, himself or herself, whether the visitor is not illegally working or learning or carrying out other illegal activities. If satisfied then extensions will be granted. This is part of post-entry clearance Immigration management.

However, in most cases, visitors would have exhausted all their permissible number of days in the host country and they end up resorting to the engagement of unregistered Immigration agents to regularise their stay. This is where the trouble begins.

Unlike registered Immigration Consultancies, these agents are bogus if not outright criminals. They are mercenaries. They are hustlers. All they care about is getting paid. They will do whatever they can to ensure that there is an immigration stamp endorsed in their clients’ passports. If they manage to get a proper Immigration stamp endorsed it is most likely that the extension is not captured in the computer system, most of the times they endorse fake immigration stamps in the passports of their clients.

One wonders why people entrust their passports with strangers?

At times, with the connivance of unscrupulous border officials, they may achieve their shenanigans. However, the Immigration authorities have been current on crime prevention measures especially with issues to do with the integrity of their systems. CCTVs have been installed among other measures to combat Immigration crime (Crimmigation).

Once caught on the wrong side of the law, Immigration officials have been subjected to the dictates of the law-both criminal law and administrative disciplinary processes.

This has led the bogus agents into venturing into committing further crimes. They make fake immigration stamps and make endorsements in the passports of their unsuspecting clients. Therefore once they are caught the passport owners will be in conflict with the law for immigration fraud.

Once caught by immigration authorities – its either one is prosecuted, made to pay a fine, declared a (persona non-grata)prohibited person, deported or banned from visiting the host country ad infinitum or for a specified period.

In Zimbabwe, section 36(1)(a)(ii) as read with 36(1)(j) of the Immigration Act Chapter 4:02 is used to prosecute such immigration fraud. Offenders have been convicted and sentenced by the criminal courts. Fines of between USD$100 to USD$400 or imprisonment sentences of between one month to eight months have been imposed on offenders.

Considering the hustle one undergoes when applying for a passport in Zimbabwe, people have to be prudent enough not to entrust strangers with their passports. If unlucky, these immigration fraudsters would lie that the passport was impounded by the authorities yet they would want to use it to commit further crime. There are crime syndicates who specialise in identity theft. Your passport is your identity. Keep it safe.