One strike, you`re out: The visa changes that could leave you facing a 10-year ban

Source: SBS, 25/04/2018

New regulations mean anyone who submits incorrect information as part
of an Australian visa application could be effectively barred from
reapplying for a decade.
Just one mistake on your Australian visa application could
carry “devastating” lifetime consequences, experts say, under new
regulations introduced by the Federal Government this month.
Anyone who submits false or misleading material as part of a visa
application - even unwittingly - faces being effectively barred from
making a new application for 10 years. The previous penalty was just
12 months.
The material targeted includes inaccurate statements, omissions of
fact, or lodging bogus documents such as bank records, work
experience claims or false English language proficiency scores.
“[It] would have quite a devastating impact on any migrant who
breached their rule of perfection in any manner whatsoever,” said
Mary Crock, an immigration law specialist at the University of Sydney.
“If you’re denied that long then it’s going to become impossible to
come to the country.”
An application lodged since November 18 may now be refused if fraud
was detected on any earlier application made within the previous 10
years.
This replaces a 12-month period that had applied to those who
withdrew their application once notified of suspected fraud - a way
to avoid a potential three-year ban if that visa was subsequently
refused.
The measure covers a range of temporary visa classes, including
student visas, family visas and skilled migration classes, as well as
any applications made by members of a person’s family.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the longer
time frame was designed to target fraudsters who actively “wait out”
the year-long exclusion period before trying again.
The Greens will next week seek support to overturn the new measures
in the Upper House, branding them another front in the Immigration
Minister’s “relentless attack” on migrant groups including temporary
visa holders.
“This is a punitive and vindictive proposal from Peter Dutton that
really is cracking a walnut with a massive sledgehammer,” Senator
Nick McKim told SBS News.
Professor Crock said applicants negotiating Australia’s increasingly
complex migration system already have little room for error. They
would also face the penalty “even if they were unaware that a false
document is being put in on their behalf,” she said.
“Where an individual has been affected by the fraud of a migration
agent, for example, these regulations will now operate to bar them
from making a valid application to come to Australia for 10 years,”
she said.
Melbourne-based migration agent Jujhar Singh Bajwa said the changes
were a “very good step” by the department to crack down on instances
of fraud.
But, he said, they were also “very harsh” on those who make a simple
mistake or unwittingly entrust the process to an unscrupulous agent,
often those operating offshore.
“They tell the client what documents they require and then the
trouble starts,” he said.
“Most [applicants] have no idea like what documents they need to
submit, especially when it comes to the financial documents.”
Changes are `unfair`
An Indian national, who spoke to SBS World News on the condition of
anonymity, said he withdrew an application last year when the
department detected a suspect work experience document.
“It just was said by my agent that ‘if you put it, it will get
assessed quickly’, so I said ‘okay, I’m fine with that’”, he said.
Now awaiting a 457 visa lodged in time to only attract the 12-month
penalty, he is concerned the new 10-year ban would nonetheless make
any future bid for permanent residency impossible.
“It’s maybe fair for [those] who genuinely did the wrong thing but it
will be unfair for [those] who don’t know this mistake and someone
else did for you,” he said.
A Department of Immigration spokesperson said the 10-year review
period was “a necessary, reasonable and proportionate measure to
protect the integrity of the visa framework”.
“It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure the documents
and information in the visa application is truthful, even if a
Migration Agent or third party is acting on their behalf,” the
spokesman said.
“Decision makers can take into account whether or not the visa
applicant deliberately submitted fraudulent documents.”
The department said applicants were given an opportunity “to comment
on any adverse information that may lead to visa refusal.”
If a visa application is refused, an applicant can also seek a review
of the decision through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.