« Sydney Has Been Voted As The World’s Friendliest City. | Main | Baird Report Supports The Recent Changes To Australia Skilled Migration Program »

Australia Working Holdiay Visas come under the spotlight

By administrator | December 21, 2009

Australia Working Holiday Visas come under the spotlight.

The Australia Department of Immigration has created a specialist unit to investigate the widespread fraud in Australia Immigration Working Holiday Visas.

So far, sixty four Australia Working Visas have been cancelled by Australia Immigration, with a further nineteen visas being reviewed. An Irish national has been convicted of fraud. A spokesperson for Australia Immigration Department stated “There has been more than 100 fraudulent claims identified this financial year”.

More than two hundred Internet advertisements have been found offering to buy or sell documents for backpackers to extend their working holiday visa by claiming that they had worked in jobs in rural areas without the backpacker having ever left Sydney. The cost of the Internet advertised documents being $400.

The Australia Working Holiday Visa (subclass 417) can be submitted online and allows people to extend their stay in Australia by a year if the person can prove that they have worked in a rural area for a minimum of three months.

The online applications for extending the Australia Working Holiday Visa (subclass 417) have been abused by third parties selling Australian business numbers linked to farms so that backpackers can claim that they have worked on rural farms.

Many backpackers are getting to hear about the false documentation through other backpackers in hostels once they are already in Australia. Unlike other Australia Visa scams aimed at international students, this is aimed at European students notable those from the UK.

First reported by Erik Jensen, November 2009 in the Sydney Morning Herald.

For more information on Australia Visas and Australia Immigration, please visit www.immigration2australia.com

More more Australia Immigration news and information on Australia Immigration, visit www.immigration2australia.com

Bookmark It