Forged Document Rackets

Although it seemed to go unnoticed in the mainstream media, there was a DIAC-Australian Federal Police raid on a migration agent's business in Sydney this week. The allegation is that the Australian citizen registered agent is involved in providing falsified documents to mainly the Chinese community.

There was a similar raid in Melbourne in March where it is alleged documents were being prepared for students wishing to apply for permanent residence in various trade occupations.

Both times, the Minister said:

1. Illegal activity by migration agents attacks the heart of Australia's visa programs and will not be tolerated;
   
2. People who obtain permanent visas based on falsified documentation can have their visas cancelled; and
   
3. The operation highlighted the need for a greater level of scrutiny on the migration advice profession.

The problem with these comments is that it is not the mainstream migration profession that is to blame - it is a small group (whether in the profession or not) who are engaging in criminal activity and who are preying on vulnerable people who desperately want to stay in Australia.

It would be unfortunate if tougher requirements are made of all because of the activity of a few, but unfortunately that's the way regulation usually goes.

Federal Magistrate's Court

It was announced today by the Attorney General that the Federal Magistrate's Court ("FMC") is being abolished. When the FMC was established in 1999 it's purpose was to provide an accessible and simpler alternative to the Federal Court of Australia. Now the government has decided that it is too expensive to maintain two courts and a revamped Federal Court will now have two tiers - with judges and magistrates (who will deal with the less complex matters).

This now means that most judicial review of migration decisions will be back in the Federal Court of Australia, but will be determined by the magistrates (who were previously part of the FMC). This is a classic case of the old is new again.

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizensheep/518034349/sizes/s/

Trade Occupations

I had an enquiry from a potential client during the week who is an overseas trained tradesperson (in this case a motor mechanic). The body which does the skills assessment for trade applicants is Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). Once upon a time they used to recognise verifiable on the job training as being good enough for a positive skills assessment. Now, apparently because of fraudulent documents being submitted they only recognise formal training. Although there are different pathways unless the client can show the required number of hours in "formal training" then they won't pass. This effectively cuts out a lot of people because many countries simply don't have formal apprenticeships or technical colleges courses...another example of a minority abuse causing problems for everyone!

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/docman/36125185/sizes/s/#cc_license