Irish emigrants to the US have been conned out of thousands of dollars as part of a Green Card scam, the Emigrant Advice Network said today.
The Network says it has received reports from Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Rhode Island which show that fraudsters have been charging as much as $1,200 for one of the bogus Green cards.
As part of the scam, Irish immigrants have also been instructed to return to Ireland to collect the cards but when they called to the US embassy there was no documentation there.
Warnings have been issued to illegal immigrants by the Emerald Isle Immigration Centre in New York. "Immigration legislation is pending in Congress but nothing has passed yet so there are no new visa programs even if anyone tells you that some new program has come up," the centre said.
Anyone caught with false documentation could be deported from the US and denied re-entry for up to 10 years.
It is estimated that 50,000 Irish people are living illegally in the US. The Minster for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern has been lobbying for the proposed McCain-Kennedy Bill, which would allow undocumented immigrants obtain temporary working visas for six years.
US authorities and immigrant support groups have begun cracking down on these fraudulent enterprises with New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, filing a lawsuit against one such business alleging fraud and deception in the practice of immigration law.