Immigration agents involved in large-scale trafficking of fake passport stamps

These counterfeiting networks pocket several million gourdes monthly, according to an AyiboPost investigation

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Counterfeiting networks are forging stamps to produce passport applications at the Directorate of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) in Haiti, despite a recent report by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC).

This illegal practice, punishable by the current Penal Code, deprives the public treasury of several million gourdes per month, according to documents consulted exclusively by AyiboPost.

AyiboPost received from a contact at immigration about ten cash register receipts for stamps, all bearing the same number and displaying an identical payment order, even though the tax registration numbers – and therefore the identity of the passport applicants – differed.

These receipts, recorded under the cash register number 4407355547-0 in the immigration office system, concern files processed between December 2024 and March 2025.

This illegal practice, punishable by the current Penal Code, deprives the public treasury of several million gourdes per month, according to documents consulted exclusively by AyiboPost.

This money was allegedly collected by individuals specializing in the illegal reproduction of stamps. For these ten passports alone, the state lost nearly 80,000 gourdes.

A passport made with a fake stamp remains authentic.

One of the people named in the receipts obtained by AyiboPost said he used his passport to travel to Turks and Caicos last year.

Unaware that his passport had been forged with a fake stamp, he refused to provide any information about the agency that had helped him obtain it.

Two sources familiar with the phenomenon reported to AyiboPost that the Best and Best passport agency, based in Babiole and also represented in Saint-Marc, is one of the structures involved in this practice.

Jordany Anulysse, a representative of the organization Citizens Engaged for a New Haiti, explains that his organization documented a case in 2023 where two passports—one belonging to a member of the organization—were allegedly produced using the same stamp and the same tax identification number (NIF).

These two passports, according to Anulysse, were produced by a former administrator of the Center for the Reception and Delivery of Identity Documents (CRLDI) in Saint-Marc through the Best and Best agency.

Two sources familiar with the phenomenon reported to AyiboPost that the Best and Best passport agency, based in Babiole and also represented in Saint-Marc, is one of the structures involved in this practice.

According to him, these documents had been transmitted at the time to a ULCC commission of inquiry for the necessary follow-up.

A ULCC report released in May 2025 specifically mentions NIF 007-995-171-6, used to produce the two passports.

Although it was unable to determine the true links between the former administrator of the CRLDI, Castel Estilus, and the Best and Best agency, the ULCC highlights the existence of « undeclared and potentially suspicious relationships » due to contradictory statements and circumstantial evidence gathered during the investigation.

Estilus, who was implicated in the ULCC investigation for misappropriation of title, could not be reached for comment before the publication of this article.

Contacted by AyiboPost, the agency’s owner, Gary Benjamin, denied these accusations, saying his agency was a « victim » of these illegal activities.

The official claims to have intercepted a large number of passports during the Humanitarian Parole program, which were never returned to their owners.

According to him, individuals, in collusion with immigration agents, would use the name of his agency without his knowledge to create files intended to produce fraudulent passports.

The mechanics of fraud

According to the established procedure, for any passport application, the citizen is required to pay a fee to the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI).

Often, fraudsters start with a single authentic passport right from the DGI, which they copy endlessly with the same cash register number.

It also emerges from certain files that several stamp duties are linked to a single tax identification number.

The fraudsters thus pocket millions of gourdes that should have been paid into the public treasury.

Authorities could theoretically conduct a thorough investigation into passports issued over the past few decades to trace fraudsters’ networks, according to a source familiar with the system.

When the DIE carries out a random check, passports whose stamps have not been paid are archived and therefore not delivered.

But often, counterfeiters use their contacts within immigration to obtain them fraudulently.

The amount demanded for this purpose can be up to 5,000 gourdes, reveal two agency representatives contacted by AyiboPost, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

« The person who files a passport application with a fake stamp knows how to easily get it into the system, » one of them told AyiboPost.

The man claims to have known someone who, during the Humanitarian Parole program, applied for passports for nineteen people, all with fake stamps.

« Immigration had intercepted these files, but after paying 2,500 gourdes to an immigration officer for each of the documents, this person was able to recover them, » he told AyiboPost.

« It’s people who know the system well who put the fake stamps into the official circuit. Sometimes, employees use the agency network to fraudulently produce passports, » he continues.

In the system, some refer to these stamps as « Ti Joslin » or « Ti Tenten, » according to the representative of the Saint-Marc agency.

The counterfeiters’ schemes go even further.

« Sometimes they buy passport rights for minors for 2,500 gourdes and use them for passport applications for an adult, which costs 8,000 gourdes, » reveals the official quoted above.

These are people who know the system well who put the fake stamps into the official circuit. Sometimes, employees use the agency network to fraudulently produce passports.

-Agency representative

It’s a well-structured network, he admits: « There are people whose role is to facilitate the process so that these fraudulent files are processed through the system. »

Massive irregularities

Last May, the ULCC accused the former director of the DIE, Stéphane Vincent, of abuse of office, misappropriation of public property and criminal conspiracy for irregularities noted in the processing of passport applications for the period from September to December 2024.

Among more than 700 files analyzed by the commission (out of 34,570 passport application files for the period), 80% presented serious irregularities, particularly with regard to stamp duty.

“This problem, which has existed for too long, will persist as long as the immigration and DGI information systems are not interconnected,” Vincent told AyiboPost, adding that there is currently no technical way for an immigration officer to authenticate a DGI stamp.

A limited response from the authorities

In an interview with AyiboPost on September 1, 2025, Antoine Jean Simon Fénelon, Director of Immigration and Emigration, acknowledged the persistence of the use of counterfeit stamps in the system.

Passport production had been briefly suspended for an inspection the week before his interview with AyiboPost, according to the director.

On this occasion, he claims to have uncovered a considerable number of files – between 800 and 1,000 – whose passport stamps were found to be non-compliant.

« We have tried to establish a priori control before the production process. We ensure that a representative from the DGI checks each file. All files with compliant stamps are processed and sent to production. Files with non-compliant stamps are archived and remain blocked in the system, » he continues.

But according to the director, this type of control is not infallible. « To strengthen the effectiveness of our controls regarding counterfeit stamps, a technological solution must absolutely come from the DGI, » Antoine Jean Simon Fénelon told AyiboPost.

The idea, he continues, is to set up a system capable of synchronizing with the immigration system. « This way, any file entered into the system would only be validated if the stamp is first paid. »

According to two agency representatives based in Saint-Marc and Port-au-Prince contacted by AyiboPost, stamp forgery schemes took on a much greater scale in 2023, during the Humanitarian Parole program, because it was difficult to obtain passport rights from the DGI.

In practice, no immigration officer has the expertise to verify the authenticity of a stamp in passport application files.

The DGI does have a permanent representative at the DIE Central Office, Manuel Saint-Germain, responsible for verifying the conformity of passport rights and authorizing their submission if they are in compliance.

But in the ULCC report published in May 2025, obtained exclusively by AyiboPost, Manuel Saint-Germain stated that the decentralization of immigration services makes it dependent on the DIE.

Therefore, he only checks the files that the latter sends him. « Before, I could consult the files before any processing. But now, they are only given to me to check afterward, » according to Saint-Germain’s comments reported in the investigation document.

In practice, no immigration officer has the expertise to verify the authenticity of a stamp in passport application files.

AyiboPost’s attempts to contact a DGI official were unsuccessful before the publication of this investigation.

The practice of issuing counterfeit stamps is part of a broader context marked by an upsurge in the production of false official documents in Haiti.

An AyiboPost investigation published in August 2025 revealed that individuals are creating fake identification cards with which they receive money transfers and carry out banking transactions.

By : Fenel Pélissier, Widlore Mérancourt & Wethzer Piercin 

Cover : A person holding two passports. Photo : Unknown