Latest penalties have been started in Australia to fight the visa fraud as part of the government’s crackdown on activities like payment for visa sponsorships.
These penalties are targeted at the individuals who get, ask for, provide or offer money in return for sponsorship of the visa or job that needs the visa sponsorship.
Payments for the visa sponsorship has been prohibited by the Government of Australia as it under estimates the integrity of the skilled work programs that are prepared to address the genuine shortage of skills in Australian labor market by getting workers from outside of Australia.
According to the DIBP Spokesman, this is not good for the nominators, employers, sponsors or third parties for making a personal benefit in form of payment for arrangement of visa, it is also not acceptable that the present or potential visa holder to get the permanent residency in Australia or get a chance to work in Australia by offering money to the employer for getting a job.
The latest structure targets to defend the foreign employees from abuse or black mailing by minimizing the incentives to pay for visa arrangement. To assist and make sure that the vacancies are filled up by the most appropriate skilled employee and not by those who are willing to pay more for getting the job.
It also intends to ease descending pressure on the incomes and conditions of Australia that might overcome from the payment for visas and prevent the sponsors from getting an unsuitable monetary benefit and competitive benefit through selling the sponsorships, jobs and PR.
The penalty for the people is fine of up to $43,200 and two years jail while for the businesses the fine is around $3,24,000 for every wrong conviction. It also involves cancellations of their visas.
Sponsors who are involved in payment for visa sponsorships might had their sponsorship cancelled, and they might be granted a notice which would be followed by violation in payment for visas rule. And if sponsorship is cancelled the DIBP might refuse any associated nominations and the applications for the visa and revoke the visas of any sponsored visa holder.
