The Nigeria Immigration Service said companies operating in rivers patronise fraudsters a lot.

The Comptroller of Immigration Service in Rivers, Mike Longe, on Thursday, called on Nigerians to stop procuring Immigration facilities from un-authorised persons.

Mr. Longe said this during a stakeholders' meeting organised by the Nigeria Immigration Service in Port Harcourt.

He said that most companies operating in the state had been procuring Immigration facilities from fraudsters, saying that the move posed serious challenge to the operation of the service.

"Most companies and individuals obtained forged documents from fraudsters in neighbouring states because they had the impression that it takes ages to procure legal documents," Mr. Longe said.

The Comptroller said the Immigration Service had improved as it "takes only few days to procure any Immigration facilities provided the applicant has the required documents."

In her remarks, Animim Hornby, the Deputy Comptroller of Immigration in the state, urged multi-national companies to always renew their expatriate visas on expiration.

She said that companies which seek green cards for their foreign workers should regularly visit Immigration to update their documents.

(NAN)