The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is urging people to beware of a global scam offering overseas residents a Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC) and Australian visas to gain jobs with cruise companies.

Scammers have been targeting people in several countries via emails offering job opportunities with cruise lines operating in Australia, and a relevant visa. AMSA became aware of the email scam in October last year and a number of people have reported being targeted by the scam or have been scammed.

The email scam offers job opportunities with bogus cruise lines, including Silver Cruise and Princess Line Australia, operating in Australia and a relevant visa on the completion of paperwork of the inaccurately named 'Australia Maritime Security Identification Card' (AMSIC).

Ship Safety Division General Manager Allan Schwartz said the form sent to those responding to the email is fraudulent but has fooled some with a reasonably sophisticated look.

“The form has AMSA’s logo and name at the top and requests a payment, along with scans of passport and identity cards to apply for the identification card,” Mr Schwartz said.

The following invitation has come in to Migration Alliance members located in Western Australia:

Good Day Migration Alliance,

We wish to invite Perth-based representatives from Migration Alliance to attend our Business Migrant Network Event on Thursday 3 July. Please see the below and attached invitation. As we do not currently have the contact details of Perth-based members, would it be possible for you to ensure that they receive this invitation?

As of 1 July 2014 the only valid MRT and RRT application for review forms are those with design date 03/14 or those generated by the tribunals’ online application system.

Updated versions of the M1, M2 and R1 application for review forms were released on 12 March 2014 (design date 03/14).

Further information can be found at the tribunals’ website.

I received an annoying email today from IARC, an organisation which has largely been living off the purse-strings of the Australian government for as long as I can remember. 

The email was nothing short of a political sob-story, a media propoganda piece about IARC's poor legal centre.  The email suggests that IARC is losing IAAAS funding ( some of the approximately $17.3 million in 2010-11) to help non-Australian "irregular maritime arrivals" apply for Australian visas.

According to figures from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship this was around double the $8.8 million shelled out the year before that.

Women are somehow being trafficked into Australia and then forced into a life of slavery under the partner migration program, according to recent report by the Australian Institute of Criminology (ACI).

The success of a partner visa application hinges on the couple establishing convincing evidence of a ‘genuine and continuing relationship’ between the applicant and the Australian sponsor. In the end, the decision depends on what catches the eye of the beholder’s scrutiny. If the Case Officer is convinced on the face of the evidence provided, then there will likely be a decision to grant the visa without the need to interview the applicants. If they’re not convinced, then the applicants are interviewed and asked a set of questions, which are widely touted around on various internet forums and websites.

In recent years DIBP has reported that it has increased its scrutiny in partner visa applications and have cancelled over 1000 temporary and permanent visas on grounds of bogus claims. There are currently close to 60,000 partner visa applications in the pipeline.

Despite the strict process, several human traffickers have however managed to establish to DIBP the existence of a ‘genuine relationship’ in their ‘partner visa applications’ - successfully dealing with DIBPs scrutiny.

According to the report by the Institute of Criminology, the Salvation Army has helped about 40 women in the past year, who were victims of human trafficking and slavery in Australia. The organisation runs a safe house for these victims, the only one of its kind in Australia.