As the media sieves through hundreds of leaked documents and reports covering the period between 2008 and 2013, more allegations of visa fraud and the department’s inability to deal with it have emerged. With the budget cuts and the merger of the Immigration and Customs, which will result in fewer staff managing the already crippled system, things are likely to get worse.

Here are some of the allegations highlighted in the reports:

• As many as nine in 10 skilled migrant visas may be fraudulent. Fraud within the General Skilled Migration program is extensive with estimates at around 90 per cent [or] more than 40,000 suspect visa applications lodged per year for the last three years''.
• More than 90 per cent of Afghan cases in 2012 contained "fraud of some type" and raised "people smuggling, identity fraud, suspected child trafficking and national security implications".
• A Somali people-smuggling cell operated in Melbourne linked to terrorist suspect Hussein Hashi Farah, who "is believed to have links to the al-Qaeda offshoot al-Shabab" and who fled Kenyan counterterrorism officials using an Australian passport in 2010. But the departmental file shows that a 2009 investigation into the cell's activities was "deemed low priority and ceased due to a lack of resources".
• There is an organised immigration crime network consisting of a facilitator with suspected Pakistan terrorist links, along with "migration agents, employers and education providers. Fairfax Media has confirmed this network was never properly probed, allowing many of its members - including federal government licensed agents - to continue to operate.
• Tens of thousands of immigration fraudsters are living freely after being assisted by migration crime networks exploiting weaknesses in working, student, family and humanitarian visa programs, including loopholes that have left the department sometimes ''generating the fraud''.
• The department is ''responsible for granting a record number of student visas to people who may not be considered genuine students as well as granting permanent residence to skilled migration applicants who do not have the appropriate skills being claimed''.

In 2013, department chiefs were warned in a confidential report that the agency's investigations arm had collapsed, risking ''the integrity of its programs and ultimately national security''. Immigration Department insiders have warned that investigation failures are set to worsen with the merger of the Immigration and Customs departments into a ''border force'' in 2015 because of corresponding budget cuts, and uncertainty as the new agency ''finds its feet''.

Having failed in its first application for a labour agreement 18 months ago, “ethno-specific” aged care provider Fronditha Care has now been given the green light to sponsor 60 overseas personal care workers in the first such agreement to be struck with the Federal Government, according to a report by the Australian Ageing Agenda.

The three-year labour agreement, which had union backing, will allow the Victorian provider to recruit Greek-speaking care workers under the same wages and conditions as local employees.Under the terms of the deal, the overseas workers will need to have a Cert III in Aged Care attained locally and an English language competency of 5 in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Fronditha chief executive George Lekakis told Australian Ageing Agenda the deal would allow some of the organisation’s Greek-speaking workers currently employed on a student visa, which permits them to work 20 hours per week, to be transferred to full-time employment on a four-year visa.

Former staff that have returned to Greece will also be recruited back to the organisation under this program to help meet the communication needs of residents, he said.

“The care workers will be offered an annualised salary of over $54,000 and health insurance for each year of the labour agreement,” said Mr Lekakis. The organisation can recruit up to 20 overseas care workers per year under the deal.

The migration advisory industry has taken a terrible hit with the allegations of widespread fraud in Australia’s immigration system. Unfortunately, professional migration advisors have been "tarred with the same brush as unregistered agents and education agents and the word 'agent' has become synonymous with dodgy". Perhaps, the time has come to consider a name change?

Fairfax journalists have claimed that leaked documents from the department of immigration allegedly show that ‘migration agents’  perpetrate the fraud. Such sweeping statements thoughtlessly and unfortunately tarnish the reputation of thousands of professionals practicing ethically in a highly regulated industry.

“Migration Alliance is sick of seeing news about 'agents' in the press.  We are sick of being tarred with the same brush as unregistered agents and education agents and the word 'agent' has become synonymous with dodgy.  I am thinking of re-naming our members Registered Migration Practitioners (RMP). Hopefully this will go some way to distinguish registered practitioners and lift the type of work we do“ says Liana Allan.

The word “Agent” is a simple generic term to indicate a person who is authorised to act on behalf of another. There is no element of professionalism in that definition. Whereas, the word “Practitioner” is generally accepted to mean a person engaged in a discipline or profession and is expected to exercise skill and due care gained from prior learning and experience in the execution of their work. It is no wonder that legal and medical professions use the terms Legal Practitioners and Medical Practitioners, respectively as opposed to Legal Agent or Medical Agent.

Is it time for RMAs to distinguish themselves from unregistered agents and be renamed RMPs? Please share your views.

Australia’s Immigration Department is in crisis, according to a Fairfax report. The report claims that their investigative journalists have uncovered internal DIBP documents showing that DIBP has lost control of the immigration process and that over half of the General Skilled Migration applications are associated with some form of fraud.

Hundreds of pages of internal government documents obtained by Fairfax media apparently lay bare a system festering with visa fraud, migration crime and an impotent enforcement capacity, says a Fairfax media report.

There are allegations apparently in the leaked DIBP documents that over half of the General Skilled migration applications had some form of fraud linked to them and were labelled ‘non-genuine’.

The report alleges that ‘migration agents’ perpetrate the fraud. There are claims that some migration representatives purchased false work records for applicants. One of the allegedly leaked documents states:

“Based on testimony from applicants and informants, the street value of a fraudulent work reference ranges from between $4000-$10000, generally paid in cash.”

This email came in today from a member of Migration Alliance:

I had received a refusal for a nomination. I did not understand the reason for refusal as the case officer did not provide any evidence in support of her decision. I asked the decision to be escalated. After almost two weeks of wait and couple of reminders, I received the following reply from the Team Leader

Can you please help me understand the Team Leader’s comments -