REMEDIES FOR MIGRANT WORKER EXPLOITATION IN AUSTRALIA - EXPLOITATION
Three-quarters of cafes in on migrant wages scam
Blackmail, extortion and slavery at a restaurant near you
Pawanjeet Heir's eyes well up as she retells the story of how she unwittingly became a victim of visa fraud, extortion and indentured servitude.
She is now facing her worst nightmare: deportation, along with her husband and young son, who have given up hope after the system failed them.
She is not alone. Exploiting foreign workers is rampant in Australia, so too is visa fraud. Most are too afraid to speak publicly for fear of deportation.
For Heir the nightmare began in 2013 when she saw a job ad on the Gumtree website for a cook and sponsorship on sub class 457 Visa. The pay seemed fair, $52,500 a year for a three-year contract at an Indian restaurant in the northern suburbs of Adelaide.
The couple who established one of Perth's best-known Indian restaurant chains have been accused of running a visa scam where fellow Indians have allegedly been charged up to $50,000 each to jump the migration queue.
The Immigration Department has confirmed it is investigating Maya Masala founders Bhupinder Singh Grewal and his wife Parveen Kaur Grewal over claims they have been selling access to 457 visas and jobs in their restaurants.
Mr and Mrs Grewal, who are going through a divorce, have denied the allegations.
Mr Grewal called them "total rubbish" yesterday.
_The Weekend West _has spoken to a licensed migration agent who claims he worked for the Grewals on about 10 visa applications between 2012 and last year before turning whistle- blower when he discovered what he called "significant irregularities".
Three Indian nationals who claim they agreed to pay the Grewals after answering advertisements for chefs have also spoken out, alleging that they were left broke and facing deportation after their visa applications fell through.
In one case, a 30-year-old man attempted to take his own life after discovering he had lost what was his elderly parents' retirement savings.
Sukhmeet Singh claims he first met the Grewals in late 2011 when he applied for a job as curry chef at Maya Masala in Northbridge.
In a statement he made to police, he claims he was told by the Grewals that they could sponsor him on a 457 work visa if he agreed to pay them $50,000 up-front. Mr Singh claims that he waited several months to receive his visa but was told repeatedly by Parveen Grewal that it was still being processed.
When he finally contacted the Immigration Department for an update, he was told the application had been rejected and he was an illegal immigrant.
The department says it is an offence under the Migration Act to charge an employee any costs associated with their employment.
But it refused to discuss the investigation into the Grewals, saying only that it was an "active matter".
Mr Grewal, who is in Vietnam on business, has accused those making the allegations against him of lying.
"We have not committed any offence, nor have we ever asked anyone to pay us $50,000," he said.
Mrs Grewal also denied having ever accepted payments for visas.
Through her lawyer, she provided documents to _The Weekend West _showing the department had given her company - Nirmal Nominees - a clean bill of health in December.
Former Ethnic Communities Council head Suresh Rajan said he believed visa scams were rife in WA.
He said he had been warning the Government for years that a crackdown was needed but little appeared to have been done.
He said he had heard of cases where workers had been granted 457 visas but had never worked a day for the employer who sponsored them.
The workers themselves had to cover the cost of their own income tax and superannuation payments to keep up the appearance that they had legitimate jobs.
"I have been raising concerns about this issue for seven years now and the department has not seemed to have acted," Mr Rajan said.
Internal Immigration Department papers leaked to the media this week revealed efforts to stamp out visa fraud were minimal, particularly in WA.
_The Weekend West _is also aware of two unrelated investigations being held by WA Police into similar visa-related scams.
Foreign students use fake work references from Indian restaurant
FOREIGN students have been busted cheating their way into Australia using fake work references from a bayside restaurant.
INDIAN and Sri Lankan students have been busted cheating their way into Australia with fake work references from Redland Bay restaurant.
The Maharaja Restaurant at Cleveland was used by up to 25 students who claimed they were working as trainee chefs at the same time – despite the owner saying the small restaurant only needed one chef and four staff in total.
The scheme was uncovered as part of a crackdown on skilled-migration fraud
VISA SCAM: Celebrant, lawyer face tribunal
When Immigration Department investigators questioned the owner, Baljit Singh Binning, 41, he didn’t recognise the students in dozens of photos of those who claimed to have worked for him.
Mr Binning told investigators that he had only had five or six students doing work experience. He told investigators his wife was the only person who cooked meals.
Details of the scam were revealed when four of the students unsuccessfully tried to deny they were cheats in the Migration Tribunal.
A reference showing 900 hours of unpaid work experience gives migrants half the points required for residency.
Sukhjinder Nanre, 28, claimed he cooked “many of the dishes” on the menu at Maharaja during his 936 hours at the restaurant.
But when the department smelled a rat and began investigating, Mr Binning couldn’t identify him from a photo and said he didn’t give him a reference. He told investigators he didn’t write the work references and he “just signed them”.
But a year later Mr Binning recanted.
He told The Courier-Mail an unknown person had stolen a stamp containing his business details, had forged his signature and begun selling references.
Mr Binning denied selling references, saying the saga was “bad for my name”.
He said he only ever had given references to about nine students who had worked for him. He stopped after Immigration questioned him.
Despite Mr Nanre’s denials, the Federal Circuit Court ruled his work reference was bogus.
Sri Lankan student Mallawaarachchige Gunaratne, 37, also claimed to have worked at the restaurant, but Mr Binning told immigration authorities he didn’t recognise his photo.
Mr Binning again later retracted his statement saying Mr Mallawaarachchige was hired by the “head cook” without consulting him.
The Migration Tribunal ruled the man did not work at the Maharaja Restaurant as claimed.
Guranditta Bajwa, 29, and Satbir Sekhon were also found to have submitted fake work references claiming they worked as cooks at the restaurant for more than 900 hours.
Visa fraud allegations at Coast 'ghost' restaurants
'GHOST' restaurants on the Sunshine Coast are being investigated by the Federal Government following allegations they are being used as fronts for a visa fraud.
Man arrested for multi-million dollar migration fraud
I Linh (not her real name) was nervously facing the prospect of having to leave her partner behind in Australia after the Department of Immigration rejected her partner visa application.
Key points:
- Pre-pandemic data showed the Department of Home Affairs received an average of around 500 visa scam reports per year
- Migration agent Jack Ta says many non-English speakers rely on migration agents to process visa applications
- Migration lawyer David Stephens says unregistered 'migration agents' severely damage his profession's reputation
A self-proclaimed migration agent approached her and promised to overturn the decision with their connections in the Department of Immigration.
With limited English, Linh, whose real identity is being kept anonymous for legal reasons, had to rely on migration services to process her paperwork, since the resources for partner visas were not available in Vietnamese.
The so-called 'migration agent' asked Linh to hand over her email account and passport as a requirement of the 'review process'.
"The person speaks my language and seemed very experienced with similar cases so I thought I could trust him," Linh said.
"He showed me pictures and screenshots of supposed government officials and they looked very genuine."
In desperation, Linh complied with the request and gathered every cent from her savings account and borrowed money from family to give the 'agent' $110,000 in multiple transfers.
Linh's suspicions began when she was asked to provide more money and refused to pay. Finding herself locked out of her email account, Linh decided to report the case to police.
How migration fraud works and ways to avoid visa scams in Australia
A corrupt Immigration Department official and her husband helped run a $3 million criminal migration racket involving more than 1000 fraudulent visa applications.
Fairfax Media can reveal that Reetika Ajjan and her husband, Jeetender, were able to flee Australia three days after immigration and federal agents raided their home in October 2011 – having wired more than $1 million to overseas bank accounts in 48 hours. Investigators had failed to take basic measures to stop them from leaving the country.