Visadvice Blog
Aussie women offered up to $60K to wed in visa scam
- From: NewsCore
- September 04, 2011 12:51PM
Australian women are being offered up to $60,000 to marry international students. Source: AFP
AUSTRALIAN women are allegedly being offered as much as $60,000 to wed foreigners desperate for citizenship in a visa scam, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Top One Consultancy Services in Sydney's Chinatown is allegedly one of many agencies recruiting potential brides to match with Chinese men it solicits on the internet, an investigation by the newspaper revealed.
A woman claiming to work for the company quoted prices of up to $100,000 to arrange sham marriages, used to secure Australian partnership visas.
The service was being advertised on one of Australia's most popular Chinese-language websites, targeting students who want to stay in Australia when their studies finish, but one of the company's directors denied it dealt in sham weddings.
The woman, who identified herself in English as Melody Chan and claimed she worked for Top One Consultancy Services, said prices started at $70,000 for phony Caucasian brides and reached $
Chan said the brides -- who face jail if caught -- could expect to pocket more than half the price. In an email to The Sunday Telegraph, she said brides sold into a $70,000 sham wedding received $5,000 on the "wedding day" and $15,000 after the first interview with the Department of Immigration up to nine months later.
The final payment was made after two years, when the union was declared legitimate.
Top One Consultancy Services was registered to Zhe Feng and Ouyu Chen. Feng told The Telegraph commercial marriages were common in Australia, but denied his company arranged them.
The Department of Immigration said it would launch an investigation into the agency this week after being alerted to the claims.
A new era is emerging for Student Visas in Australia with the release of the Knight Report. Michael Knight conducted a review of Visa requirements for Students in Australia, and all 41 of his recommendations have been accepted and will be implement during the next year. New students, genuinely wanting to study in Australia will have a much easier time obtaining a student visa. Also it will be less expensive to obtain a Student Visa to study in Australia. But the most attractive change expected will be the new two year work rights.
Recommendations include:-
- Applicants for student visas in future will have to demonstrate they are a temporary entrant, as well as being a genuine student. Engage a Registered Migration Agent for professional visa advice and knowing how to address criteria such as this;
- Many University Students will now be treated as AL1 (the lowest assessment level) irrspective of which country they come from. This easier entry criteria will not be universally available, particularly for short and vocational courses. University students are being favoured;
- Most Bachelor and Master Degree students who spend at least two years at their courses will now be able to obtain TWO YEAR work rights, which of course can often result in a permanent visa through skilled migration pathways and employment;
- There is a simplified process to obtain TWO YEAR work rights after finishing most university courses;
- The thresholds for English are being modified;
- Students completing a semester or year long Australian University component as an exchange student from their home University will be granted streamlined processing;
- Student Work hours will to be measured as 40 hours per fortnight, rather than 20 hours per week.
In summary, although the integrity of Visa requirements to Australia is being maintained or even strengthened in some cases (e.g. sham marrigages), overall, the Student Visa systems are destined to become much more "student friendly" for genuine university students in the near future.
Please keep in mind that these are recommendations only, and although an announcment has been made accepting these recommendations, they are not yet law or policy. Although they should be soon. Your Registered Migration Agent can tell you when these changes are brought in and precisely what form the changes take, how to interpret the new rules and how to prepare a valid and potentially successful student visa application. Full details of the Knight Report and recommendations are available at http://www.immi.gov.au/students/_pdf/2011-knight-review.pdf
1300 26 78 48
mob. 0413 502 536
ceo@visadvice.com.au
PO Box 5011
Algester 4115
Australia
Kentlen Executive Centre
1048 Beaudesert Rd
Coopers Plains
Brisbane QLD 4108
Australia
