Immigration New Zealand says 1000 people each week submit photos that have been filtered or airbrushed.
The agency receives about 20,000 visa requests per week, so about one in 20 photos has been altered.
On Friday, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment deputy secretary Alison McDonald told the Association for Migration and Investment conference in Auckland that the number of touched-up pictures was increasing and was creating big problems.
"We’ve got more and more applicants applying, having kind of morphed their photos using AI or filters.
“If you see your client and they don’t look like the picture, find yourself - if you can - a really nice way to point out that they’re not that beautiful.”
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How about “hey, just as a reminder, submitted false information to INZ is an offence that may result in fines, cancellation of visa or prison, and this includes misrepresenting your appearance. Did you want to submit a new photo?”
I had the same thought. Just tell them you can’t retouch your photos.