Jodhbir Singh tried to argue the forged documents from overseas were genuine.

A migrant successfully obtained a New Zealand driver's licence using forged documents then pressured an overseas licence authority to verify it.

Jodhbir Singh worked as a forklift driver for a dairy company and the forgery was only discovered after he tried to use the licence to apply for a work visa.

An Immigration and Protection Tribunal in Auckland heard the secretary of a regional transport authority in India was "influenced to fabricate the online information" relating to the fake licence.

Following the discovery, Singh's application to stay in New Zealand on humanitarian grounds was denied.

READ MORE:

* Wife of New Zealander who sexually abused step-daughter allowed to stay in country

* Millionaire Chinese couple avoid deportation despite being found to have lied and faked marriages

* Otago farmer faces losing 'great worker' over immigration stoush

Singh has been in New Zealand since 2009 on partnership visas attached to his wife who was employed as a restaurant manager.

In March, Singh attached an Indian driver's licence to a work visa application.

But when an immigration adviser told him his Indian driver's licence was being verified as part of the process, Singh withdrew the whole application.

The driver's licence verification went ahead anyway with Immigration New Zealand officers visiting the office of the regional transport authority in Amritsar, Punjab, where they were told the licence was a fake.

Virginia Shaw, of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, said Immigration NZ issued a deportation notice in June based on the discovery.

"The appellant had used this forged licence to obtain his New Zealand driver's licence which brought his character into question."

But his lawyers appealed to Immigration NZ, denying his Indian licence was a forgery.

They argued his licence records had been given a new number in a digitisation exercise in India and that was why Immigration NZ had been unable to verify it.

Along with his lawyer's submissions, Singh enclosed a "letter of authentication" and a screenshot of his licence from the department's website.

But the secretary of a regional transport authority in India, Wassan Singh, told Immigration NZ in September the authentication letter was not genuine.

"He further confirmed that he had acted on the appellant's request and was influenced to fabricate the online licence information."

Shaw upheld Immigration New Zealand's deportation notice saying there were no exceptional humanitarian circumstances that would justify Singh staying.

Singh and his wife had a child who was born in New Zealand and their lawyers said the child would not have access to adequate education and healthcare services if they moved.

Shaw said Singh's wife and the child could stay in New Zealand - the wife has work rights in New Zealand until 2020 - or the whole family could move to India.

Singh's deportation would leave his wife with a "dilemma" but it was "a choice that she will have to make", Shaw said.