The New Zealand Immigration has been asked to review its visa-waiver agreement with South Africa amid fears that terrorists could easily obtain a fake passport from the country to gain NZ entry.

Immigration Minister Nathan Guy and Associate Minister Kate Wilkinson were urged to review the no visa deal by the end of the year.

"There are concerns about the fraudulent use of South African passports by non-South African nationals and the availability of fraudulently issued legitimate South African passports," Mr. Guy said, adding, "While Immigration New Zealand has been very successful in managing these risks to date, it is appropriate to reassess the current visa-waiver arrangement ... to determine whether a change is warranted."

The New Zealand Herald reported 5057 foreign nationals were refused entry at the border in the past five years. Of this figure, 3262 were believed to have non-genuine reasons for travelling and 448 were seen as "likely to commit a crime in New Zealand." However, an Immigration NZ spokesman told the Herald yesterday there was no breakdown of how many were travelling on South African passports.

From January 2011 to February this year, 72 people have been denied entry to New Zealand over fake South African passports.

The recommendation to NZ immigration is in line with other countries' practices. For instance, Britain started requiring South African passport holders to enter with a visa three years ago, saying South Africa "fell short of the required standard" of passport security.

Anneli Botha, senior terrorism researcher at the International Crime in Africa Programme, has previously written an article for the Institute for Security Studies, in which she lists a number of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists who carried South African passports.