Corruption and Fraud Reported Undermining Australian Student Visa and Australian Skilled Immigration Programs

Australian media groups Fairfax Media and ABC’s 7:30 has reported 132 corruption cases within Australian immigration department. The corruption has been badly affecting the Australian immigration programs. Australian Student Visa and Australian Skilled Immigration have been specially hit.

An increase in the number of false immigration cases has been seen from past 12 months. Several people have reported to pay the immigration fee to an immigration operator and they have been dodging them ever since.

The Australian Border Force Chief, Michael Pezzullo suspects more than hundred cases of corruption regarding Australian Student Visa and Australian Skilled Immigration applications. He has forwarded these suspected cases to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.

Joseph Petyanszki is the former joint head of Australian Immigration Department, Investigation Branch. He reported that the department has been neglecting the visa fraud cases including those that succeeded. The investigators in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia reported.

Fake documents are used for such fraud cases. An investigation report records a figure of 4000 such cases under Australian Skilled Immigration program. The fake academic records are prepared from private colleges in Australia. These colleges are funded by the Australian taxpayers. In some highly paid cases, these academic records have the stamp of most prestigious Victorian institutes.

Massive fraud cases have been revealed in Australian Student Visa, Australian Skilled Immigration, and Subclass 457 visa programs.

Australia is in need of well-trained officers who can detect these fraudulent cases effectively. The outsourced immigration officers also need to be trained and strong policies need to be issued in order to prevent the increasing fraud cases. There are loopholes in the immigration policies regarding the administrative edge that are exploiting the whole system.

The immigration department’s investigation office has been working on such cases for the past 12 months. It is reported that many of the 132 alleged cases of corruption have not been verified yet. Moreover, the allegations are on people who are faking to be Border Force staff.

Whatever the case is, the Australian government is working to solve the mystery.