What is a Section 48 Bar. How does it affect me.
There be Pirates!
A look at dodgy, unqualified, and unregistered agents. Frauds and ripoffs are in all industries Migration and International Study are no exception. Following is a little advice to help you make the right decision on who to use when applying for that visa or following the student process. Using a Pirate for Migration Purposes is like giving a donkey a scalpel and asking it to perform heart surgery. What is a Qualified Registered Migration Agent A MARA Migration Agent has a MARA number that you can look up at www.mara.gov.au . At this site you can see a photo, location and email address. If someone claims they are but they are not on that Government website, they are not registered. Run away. has professional indemnity insurance to protect you. maintains a professional library and access to the latest legislation. studied Migration Law at University and completed a capstone assessment. must complete significant professional development every year (extra migration courses) is bound by a Code of Conduct. has been through the Australian Federal Police and background checks to ensure integrity of the individual and profession. meets English requirements – very important since the Migration Act is all in English as is our communication with the Department of Home Affairs. Registered Migration Agents (and some exempt persons) are the only people legally allowed to provide Migration Advice in Australia. Education Agents are not exempt persons. Unless also registered with MARA, Your education Agent is not qualified to tell you about the right visas. If you have any doubt about the person advising you, please read the following document Student / Education Agents Education Agents help a person to enroll in an education institution. They make their money from commissions from the schools they enroll you into. This is important and most I have met know the Education system very well. Being an Education agent does not mean they are also Migration Agents though. They are not qualified or legally allowed to give Migration Advice unless they are also Registered with MARA as a Migration Agent. If an Education Agent cheats you, makes a mistake or gives bad advice, you don’t have a Government Department and their insurance to back you up. Good luck fixing it. Then there are Migration Agents who are also Education Agents. They have the knowledge and can legally advise/manage the whole visa and enrollment process. The Pirates There are people onshore in Australia who are not Registered with MARA (or are not exempt) and are giving Migration Advice. What they are doing is illegal. You may think that Australian law will protect you – I think it will not. We see it on the news regularly about a worker or student being ripped of and nothing happens to the so called Agent. There are some people onshore who are Student Agents who will tell you that Student Agents are allowed to give Migration Advice related to study. They are NOT. At best, they can do clerical work to prepare (or help to prepare) an application or other document. provide translation or interpretation services if qualified. advise another person that they must apply for a visa. pass on information produced by a third person, without giving substantial comment on or explanation of the information. Then there are the offshore agents. Note that there are a number of Registered Migration Agents who operate offshore. I know quite a few who are very good Migration Agents. If they show up in the www.MARA.gov.au website, they are real. Be sure to check the details though. It is common practice for pirates to claim that they are someone else or use a genuine agent’s MARN number. There are also genuine Education Agents who operate offshore. We are not saying everyone who operates offshore is a pirate. It is very well known however that there are a lot of people offshore who take advantage of people, trick them, and steal their money. Let’s look at some of the well known scams and techniques: The Embassy has become aware of a scam involving the email address auemb@mofa.ov.sa. Victims claim to have received an email from this address guaranteeing a visa for Australia. Victims have reported paying substantial amounts of money to the sender in order to obtain a visa for Australia. Systems checks have confirmed that no visa applications have been received by the Department of Home Affairs for the victims. ‘Australian Government’ letter scam The Australian Embassy is also aware of clients being issued with a letter from the ‘Australian Government’ relating to a refugee application. The postal address on these letters is recorded as 203 Castlereagh St, Sydney. Please note that this is a scam and the Australian Embassy had no part in issuing these letters. The Department is aware of individuals and agents who are attempting to organise ETAs/Visitor visas and flights to Australia for people to work illegally. The agent tells their clients that they can work on these visas. You cannot work on a subclass 600 visitor, ETA or eVisa. Visa holders receiving calls out of the blue from someone pretending to be from an Australian government agency or department, and claiming that there is a problem with their ‘Citizenship and Immigration Services Alien’ (CISA) number or card. The scammer will demand that the person pay an upfront fee – usually around $900 – or risk deportation. Scammers will tell you that you can buy PR for $20,000+. Once you have given over all your ID and money they will give you fake receipts and a fake visa notification. The victims don’t find out until they are stopped at the airport in their country. More recently, some non qualified persons told many many potential students that their average English test score was suitable to come here and learn nursing and eventually get PR. These ‘agents’ did not realise that average score is only enough to be able to study. They won’t get placement or assessment without a much higher score. Many lives
Genuine Temporary Entrant
Part 1 – Things that go against you. Have you had an application for a Visa refused because the Case Officer is not satisfied that you are a Genuine Temporary Entrant? I see this all the time with Visitor and Student Visas. Despite that the Legislation does not say you can’t come here as a visitor or student and then apply for something else, a lot of Case Officers refuse for just that reason. I do a lot of work writing or assisting with GTE Submissions for Visitors and Students and I won’t share my tricks, but I will explain how it works. Things that go against you: You have no job or not one that would be incentive to go back home to, or you have limited prospects of a good job back home. You have limited or few family back home, or you have family here. You have few or limited assets back home to serve as incentive to return. You live in a country associated with war, disease, poverty, 3rd world, poor living conditions, religious restrictions, persecution, economical instability etc You have been refused a visa to Australia or another before. You don’t have any good reason for visiting Australia. You don’t have money or enough money for your proposed stay. You have had a visa previously cancelled. You have previously had Visa Non-compliance. You have pending criminal matters. You have applied for protection in Australia before (Don’t even bother trying for a visitor or student visa now). I also believe that it is high risk if a family member has previously applied for protection. Your country is considered high risk for overstaying. Your country is considered high risk for seeking Protection/Refugee status. Students- You have a degree in Electronics or other highly skilled qualification and you want to study Individual support here. Students- You have already completed multiple courses in Australia, or you have employed the partner swap tactic where you do a course and your partner stays here with you working. When your course finishes, they do a course and you work. This used to be a good trick, but they are on to it now. Students- You came with a COE for a degree or Masters and then when you got here you tried to downgrade to a Cert or diploma course. Expect a cancellation coming soon. Students, you don’t satisfy the Case Officer that you have the means of supporting yourself or included family members while you are here. Students, you don’t have a good reason for doing the course here as opposed to your own country. In part 2 I will give some tips on how to get address some of these Andy Griffiths from Australian Visa Assistance is very experienced in writing successful GTE statements for people from High Risk countries, previous students, and non-compliance cases.
Character Provisions don't apply to Refugees???
s501 of the Migration Act (CTH) is a piece of legislation that allows visas to be cancelled or refused based on a person’s character. The following article indicates that the character test does not apply to refugees. Most things I see in the news are wrong or misleading – this one will be interesting. https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/character-test-used-to-deport-thousands-from-australia-doesn-t-apply-to-refugees-court