Australia to tighten screws on migration agents

Melbourne: Australia on Tuesday promised a zero tolerance approach on dealing with alleged migration and education scams after a TV channel expose claimed that many foreign students, including Indians, were being “duped” of thousands of dollars by dubious agents and colleges.
The ‘Four Corners’ programme of ABC News reported on Monday night that hundreds of private colleges in Australia were offering courses such as hairdressing and cooking, luring Indian students with false promises of permanent residency.
The channel, which conducted a sting operation, also claimed that a number of migration agents were offering “fake” work experience certificates to students.
An Indian journalist working undercover with ABC to expose the alleged scams was threatened and hit by an unidentified man over the weekend, an incident which has sparked an outrage in India.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the scams of ripping off foreign students would be looked into by immigration and education authorities and dealt with “no tolerance”.
The report also claimed Indian students aspiring to be pilots have been left in the lurch by a Sydney-based aviation college as their dreams of acquiring commercial pilot license remained unfulfilled even after paying thousands of dollars.
The expose were the latest to hit Australia’s $14.2 billion international student sector — the nation’s third largest export earner — after 22 racially motivated attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney in over a month.
Migration Institute of Australia (MIA), a professional association of migration service providers, today strongly urged the government to improve the existing regulation framework which it said was not good enough.
28/07/09 PTI/The Hindu