Pakistan, India Top List of Dodgy Visa Applications After Australia Ends Work Limits for Students

Immigration officers have reported an increase in visa application frauds after the Australian government removed paid employment limits on students this year.

As reported by the Times Higher Education, the Department of Home Affairs in a “provider update” confirmed the finding of fraudulent activity regarding visa documents “across all educational sectors”.

The update highlights that the economic instability in many countries has resulted in an increase of “non-genuine applications,” from people “whose primary purpose is to work in Australia.” The update identified the extensive use of forged financial documents, which indicates that the applicants have sufficient funds to support themselves.

Fake identity papers, credentials, language test results, and prior travel histories were also discovered in the visa applications for university courses, which included post-graduate and doctoral degrees.

In the “Bumper July Edition” which is the first provider update since the reopening of Australia’s borders late last year, the department disclosed the countries where “emerging integrity issues,” were concentrated. They were India, specifically its Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab states, along with Nepal, Kenya, Ghana, and Pakistan.

The update has asked universities and colleges to keep “close oversight” of their education agents and sub-agents. It stated that a number of agents were involved in “large volumes” of Indian applicants who lacked English proficiency when they were interviewed by the officials. Many applicants admitted that “their Indian qualifications were fraudulent and some had not completed the equivalent of class 12 level studies”.

A“small group” of agents was also linked with bogus financial and educational documents submitted by Pakistani applicants. Whereas, Ghanaian doctoral applicants used forged prior visas and identity papers.

Ex-Deputy Secretary Immigration Department, and also a migration expert, Abdul Rizvi, termed it “unusual” for immigration officers to disclose the names of individual countries in this way. He said, “I’m glad they’ve picked up the fraud issue and they’re acting on it”.

He stated that currently, Australia had the “most generous” work rights among the top education destination countries, for both current students and recent graduates. However, he added, “Those two factors will inevitably lead to Australia being more vulnerable to fraudulent applications. In many ways, we are attracting the problem to ourselves”.