News just in from India from a RMA travelling through India at the moment:

"I am currently in India visiting my parents. Today, I  saw one Mr. Manish Gupta (details attached) being interviewed by one of the Punjabi TV channels here. Mr. Gupta made claims of being an Australian and New Zealand Immigration lawyer. The channel seems to be solely dedicated to immigration matters. It appears consultants such as Mr. Gupta pay this channel to have them interviewed and present their expertise.

Manish-Gupta-2.pdf

Mr. Manish Gupta ‘s details do not appear on MARA’s register of agents. And his NZ license is expired. I was not able to verify if he is a lawyer (NZ or Aus)

Mr. Manish Gupta made claims of his ability to successfully source SVP CoEs from University of Canberra and advised how an Australian student visa could be received. He also discussed spouse visas.

Mr. Manish Gupta’s interview was immediately followed by another interview where the gentleman (.jpg attached)  also claimed to have worked for the Australian High Commission and had the presenter complement him for his years of service to the immigration industry and why he did not need to be a MARA agent (with 40 years of experience behind him).

References were made to Australian visa regime…BVA, BVB, BVC, MRT etc and how he recently travelled to Australia as part of a delegation to discuss issues affecting Indian students with the Australian government."

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.