Australian Immigration Daily News

SBS News reports that a migration agent, Chetan Meshru, and his wife, Divya Gowda,a marriage celebrant, have been found guilty of 66 separate charges involving visa fraud after a two-week trial in the Brisbane District Court.

According to SBS, the scheme involved paying Australian women to participate in sham marriage ceremonies with men of Indian nationality who wanted to obtain partner visas to remain in Australia. The men also reportedly paid substantial fees to the migration agent.

The report quotes the Crown Prosecutor, Greg Lynham, as saying: "There was no courtship, there's no dating, there's no getting to know each other...It's simply rock up to the townhouse, sign some forms...and then the parties go their separate ways...."

How can you tell if your client has not been given a fair hearing by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal?

Or to put the question in “lawyer’s terms”, how can you tell if the Tribunal member has been guilty of bias, and has therefore fallen into jurisdictional error, so you can get the case sent back to the Tribunal for another, hopefully fairer, hearing?

Well, like a lot of things in life, it may all be a matter of degree – sometimes bias can smack you in the face like a bucket of ice water, and sometimes it may be more difficult to identify.

March 15th holds particular significance to many international students who have recently completed their studies.  This date in most cases signals expiry of their student visa.  By now most students would have completed their studies and received or about to receive their qualification.  These bright individuals are about to enter the next chapter of their journey living in Australia.  Naturally, the question on the minds of student visas holders wishing to remain in Australia and their employer where applicable is “Where to from here?”

If you are employing a student visa holder, there certain considerations to bear in mind:

• Have you conducted a VEVO check and kept record on file;
• Can you document the number of hours worked by student visa holder during the study session;
• When is the visa due to expire, it may not necessarily be March 15^th; and,
• What visa options are available to continue employing a student visa holder

If you are a holder of a student visa, it is worthwhile considering whether:

OK everyone, hang on to your hats!

Are you ready to read about a really interesting case about partner visas?

The answer better be yes, or I will go on strike (just kidding of course!)

After a long period in the dark, light is finally being shone on Australia’s domestic violence endemic. You may have noticed the harrowing adverts on television and accompanying sweep of law reforms. You may also feel like you have no power to help - after all, domestic violence is in the domain of social workers and doctors right? Wrong. While not traditionally thought of as a ‘first port of call’ for domestic violence victims, migration agents may be the only professional that a victim confides in.

It is likely that you deal with more domestic violence victims than you think, with migrants forming an overrepresented constituent of victims. A recent article highlighted that at any particular point in time, up to half of the domestic violence victims staying in emergency accommodation are on a visa.[1]

Migrants are particularly vulnerable to getting stuck in a domestic violence situation for a myriad of reasons: