Australia’s ‘deportation laws’ laws target non-citizens with a 'substantial criminal record'. The ABC has discovered that the strict law has been applied to a father of five including a newborn, for driving without a license.

A Lebanese-born Sydney man with five children has spent most part of last year in detention awaiting deportation for driving without a licence according to an ABC report.

Fouad Arja moved to Sydney in 2010, married an Australian woman, and was given permanent residency last year. His wife Laila Ismail told the ABC that on three occasions, he made a stupid decision and drove without holding an Australian licence. He was caught, convicted and given a 12 month suspended sentence.

This was effectively enough to trigger deportation proceedings against him regardless of his family circumstances. After serving four months of the 12-month suspended sentence, Mr Arja wasn't able to return to his wife and children - instead he was taken into immigration detention, reports the ABC.

His Lawyer, Willem Oostdyck told the ABC that the Government should not be applying the law so broadly and should be dealing with such matters on a case-by-case basis particularly considering the impact on the family.

“The impact on the family is quite severe; the Government is breaching the Conventional Rights of the Child. The convention very clearly states, Article three states, that you know, the child has a right to a parent or parents, a father and a mother. And by you know implementing this very heavy-handed Section 501, the convention is breached and the children are going to be impacted and the father is going to be impacted” said Mr Oostdyck.

Mr Oostdyck says Fouad Arja's family only has one avenue for appeal, and that's to take the case to the High Court.

27 October 2015

Dear Migration Alliance members,

Migration Alliance and Vodafone, have a unique offer for your clients arriving prior to December 31, 2015:

The following information has been sent to Migration Alliance by the DIBP:

A news story that appeared on last night's "SBS News" and that has been republished oinline today reported that there are "dodgy operators" who are offering to "sell" fake IELTS test certificates. The story indicated that the price that is being asked for the false test reports may range from $5,000 to as high as $12,000.

The story says that these fake certificates are being advertised on several websites.

It also quotes one unidentified migration agent as saying that the company that she works for "offers a middleman service for those willing to pay". This agent is also quoted in the story as saying: " If the client wants to work and migrate to Australia, we offer them the fake IELTS".

When does an applicant for a visa that requires “competent English” have to take an IELTS test? 

The wording of Regulation 1.15C(1)(bb) says that the test must be “conducted in the 3 years immediately before the day on which the application was made”. 

Does this regulation mean what it “seems to say” – that the IELTS test must be taken “before” the application was lodged?