Salmon’s case has raised the question of how someone with a recent violent criminal history was allowed into the country.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said Salmon did not disclose that prison sentence when applying for a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) before arriving in the country.
He also failed to declare the conviction when completing his New Zealand Traveller Declaration.
INZ director visa Sarah Clifford said his NZeTA would likely have been refused had he disclosed the conviction.
“The immigration system is inherently founded on honest and truthful self-declarations,” Clifford said.
“People seeking to enter or remain in New Zealand are expected to provide complete, accurate and truthful information.”
Reece Salmon entered New Zealand in July 2024 despite having previously served prison sentence in Britain for violent offending. Photo / Metropolitan Police
Clifford said INZ makes more than a million visa-related decisions each year and “cannot verify every application in full”.
She said travellers who declare a prison sentence of 12 months or more within the previous 10 years are unable to continue with an NZeTA request and must instead apply for a visa, where officials consider whether a character waiver or special direction should be granted.
INZ said it did not become aware of Salmon’s offshore prison sentence until he came to the attention of New Zealand Police.
Reece Salmon appeared in the Wellington District Court in May 2025 for sentencing on defrauding multiple elderly victims. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Immigration lawyer Marcus Beveridge said he was surprised Salmon’s previous prison sentence was not detected before he travelled to New Zealand.
“Given membership of the Five Eyes security programme and all those sorts of things and the intelligence sharing, it surprises me that someone who was so recently incarcerated for that sort of term wasn’t picked up before he even got on the airplane,” Beveridge said.
According to Beveridge, a prison sentence of that length would ordinarily create significant hurdles for somebody seeking entry to New Zealand.
He said a person would generally need to apply for a visa and have immigration officials consider whether they should receive a character waiver or special direction.
Beveridge said some offenders had historically sought to evade immigration scrutiny by changing their names and obtaining new passports, although modern biometric systems had made that more difficult.
According to Beveridge, cases such as Salmon’s were uncommon and INZ’s screening system generally worked well.
“We have a pretty robust system that I think is generally very effective,” Beveridge said.
“Sure, there are a few things that fall through the cracks. But normally it comes out in the wash.”