Bad Press for Australian Migration Profession

Over the last couple of months there have been many media reports about Australia's treatment of overseas students. A lot of these issues were explored in the recent 4 Corners current affair program which revealed a number of education and migration agent scams on Indian students which preyed on the desire for permanent residence in Australia. That program was appropriately called "Holy Cash Cows". There have been many other reports in Australian and overseas media (which a google search would quickly reveal)

Unfortunately these problems are not new. I have had a look at the parliamentary debates from 1989 and 1992 when changes were made to regulate the migration profession - it would appear that not much has changed!

Look at the following from 1992:

"This initiative reflects the Government's concern over the level and nature of complaints made against incompetent or unscrupulous agents, complaints which would be familiar to many members of this chamber. It also recognises the fact that many of those who are likely to seek the assistance of agents are among the most vulnerable in our society, sometimes having a poor grasp of English, fear of authority or meagre financial resources. This is not to say that the great majority of agents are not honest and efficient. It is a sad fact of life that the activities of a minority have tended to tarnish the reputation of migration agents as a whole."

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/par...c=0;resCount=Default

The rhetoric wasn't much different in 1989 either:

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/par...c=4;resCount=Default

and

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/par...c=4;resCount=Default

This is obviously a problem with rogue operators within the education/migration advice sectors in Australia. Various attempts at regulation and policing haven't been very effective. I accept that most barrels will almost invariably have a few rotten apples and that is unavoidable. In the immediate future, there are a few simple things that potential students and visa applicants can do. These include avoiding unregistered offshore "agents"and avoiding private educational institutions. In short, greater due diligence is unfortunately required.

Photo used under creative commons licence