A Nigerian father of two has been deported after he was jailed for using false passports.
The Immigration and Protection Tribunal dismissed his appeal against deportation saying he had a prolonged history of deceit.
That history it said included using a false South African passport, a false refugee claim, a claimed adoption of three Nigerian teenagers using false papers, a fake birth certificate and fraudulently obtained a Nigerian passport and driver's licenses.
The man came to New Zealand in 2002, claiming he was attacked and held in a bush camp by Islamic militants, before escaping and stowing away on a ship to Indonesia.
He had a son and daughter born a month apart to his New Zealand wife and another woman.
After an investigation by immigration authorities he was jailed for more than two years on several charges of using false passports.
The judge described his offending as "serious and persistent over a considerable period of years".
The tribunal said his immigration fraud was at the higher end of the scale.
It said the man not only used fake documents to try to get New Zealand residence for himself but also for three other young Nigerians.
The tribunal said it had to weigh up the man's offending against permanent separation from his two young children.
It decided that deporting him would not be unjust or unduly harsh.
