HUNDREDS of Indian students are paying criminals for fake work references to get Australian residency in a racket worth millions of dollars.
The scam involving restaurant and small business owners has been described by officials as an "an organised and lucrative criminal enterprise" which undermines the skilled migration program. It has been exposed in more than a dozen rulings by the Migration Review Tribunal, which has cancelled the temporary and permanent residency of students who paid up to $3500 for fake documents.
The students bought references saying they had 900 hours of unpaid work experience in jobs such as cooks, bakers, mechanics and hairdressers. The references gave them half the required points towards residency.
The tribunal, which has heard 15 cases of students fighting the fraud allegations in the past year, noted that many Indian migration agents touted baking and cookery courses as "a fast track to permanent residence".
Most of those cases fought in the Migration Review Tribunal were held in Melbourne, but they are merely a snapshot of a wider fraud that has taken place nationwide, according to the Immigration Department.
Five trainees who used fake documents showing they had worked as cooks or pastry chefs ended up working in Australia as taxi drivers, security guards or on check-outs.
One Indian student paid the scam's kingpin $3500 to be a cook and another paid a chef $2500 for a fake reference and a photo of him in the kitchen.
The key man in the scam, Carmine Amarante, worked at training college Della International in Melbourne. He has been jailed for three years for the $2 million rort but he was not the only one abusing immigration's lax security.
Amarante created 541 fake documents attached to 471 visa applications lodged with the department. He charged between $1500 and $2500 for each fraudulent document and paid the business owners $300 to $500 for each signature.
The Immigration Department has been cancelling visas since uncovering the five-year scam but declined to comment.Last month an Indian citizen who used fake documents, Ram Kishan Dhiman, lost his battle to stay in Australia in the Federal Magistrates Court.
Dhiman claimed to have done work experience at a Pymble restaurant, a claim the tribunal found was untrue.
In May, Rajinder Singh appeared before the Migration Review Tribunal and admitted he bought a bogus reference
David Young, a tribunal member who heard several cases, said "a scheme designed to bring skilled individuals, including cooks, into Australia" was manipulated to allow into the country "a taxi driver, who never worked as a cook".
He described the scheme as "a calculated fraud.
So Please, note:-
What we should not forget is even permanent residency can be cancelled if it is discovered later that fraudulent documents and evidence were provided in order to obtain it.
The scam involving restaurant and small business owners has been described by officials as an "an organised and lucrative criminal enterprise" which undermines the skilled migration program. It has been exposed in more than a dozen rulings by the Migration Review Tribunal, which has cancelled the temporary and permanent residency of students who paid up to $3500 for fake documents.
"One Indian student paid the scam's kingpin $3500 to be a cook and another paid a chef $2500 for a fake reference and a photo of him in the kitchen"
The tribunal, which has heard 15 cases of students fighting the fraud allegations in the past year, noted that many Indian migration agents touted baking and cookery courses as "a fast track to permanent residence".
Most of those cases fought in the Migration Review Tribunal were held in Melbourne, but they are merely a snapshot of a wider fraud that has taken place nationwide, according to the Immigration Department.
Five trainees who used fake documents showing they had worked as cooks or pastry chefs ended up working in Australia as taxi drivers, security guards or on check-outs.
One Indian student paid the scam's kingpin $3500 to be a cook and another paid a chef $2500 for a fake reference and a photo of him in the kitchen.
The key man in the scam, Carmine Amarante, worked at training college Della International in Melbourne. He has been jailed for three years for the $2 million rort but he was not the only one abusing immigration's lax security.
Amarante created 541 fake documents attached to 471 visa applications lodged with the department. He charged between $1500 and $2500 for each fraudulent document and paid the business owners $300 to $500 for each signature.
The Immigration Department has been cancelling visas since uncovering the five-year scam but declined to comment.Last month an Indian citizen who used fake documents, Ram Kishan Dhiman, lost his battle to stay in Australia in the Federal Magistrates Court.
Dhiman claimed to have done work experience at a Pymble restaurant, a claim the tribunal found was untrue.
In May, Rajinder Singh appeared before the Migration Review Tribunal and admitted he bought a bogus reference
David Young, a tribunal member who heard several cases, said "a scheme designed to bring skilled individuals, including cooks, into Australia" was manipulated to allow into the country "a taxi driver, who never worked as a cook".
He described the scheme as "a calculated fraud.
So Please, note:-
What we should not forget is even permanent residency can be cancelled if it is discovered later that fraudulent documents and evidence were provided in order to obtain it.
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