WORK PLACEMENT IN AUSTRALIA
You’ll find hundreds of ads on the Internet promising work placement in Australia. Various agencies promise “fast and reliable” work placements. Videos show trade workers and plumbers who found happiness Down Under. For “just $300-500”, agents offer to send the job seeker’s resume to an “insider” in a recruitment agency – and the job is in the bag.
People who get frauded in such scams usually throw away their dreams of working in Australia and give up on immigration. We would like to contribute to fighting these scammers, who are a disgrace to the name of Migration Agents, as well as provide recommendations on what steps should be taken if you want to live and work in Australia.
HOW THE SCAM WORKS
The scammers’ main tool is the luck of knowledge people have about the workings of the Australian Immigration System. Drawing a parallel with Europe, where a work visa is granted as soon as the applicant finds an employer, one might think employment migration is as simple in Australia. Many still believe that they can cheat the complex Australian Migration System and thus become an easy prey for scammers.
Australian Migration Legislation differs from European in several important points.
Firstly, Australia does not need any more low-skilled workers, as there are already plenty of those among its residents. On the contrary, there is a shortage of professionals and those with university degrees. Consequently, work visas are only granted to applicants who have been offered jobs paying over $70,000 a year. Pizza delivery people, truck drivers, cleaners, etc do not earn that much. The above sum is roughly equal to a university graduate’s starting salary or an experienced technician’s income.
Secondly, a visa is not automatically granted just because you have received a job offer. As a rule, employers are not allowed to hire foreign workers. This right must be earned by proving that the vacancy cannot be filled by a local specialist and that the employer’s company contributes to preparation for the Australian workforce.
These restrictions make hiring foreign workers troublesome and expensive, so if you are not a unique specialist in your field, have average English-speaking skills, and know next to nothing about the Australian Labour Market, why would an employer bother hiring you? And in this case, is there any weight to the agents’ promises of work placement?
You can easily find the answer yourself: look up job vacancies on Australia’s most popular job-seeking site, seek.com.au, and you will see that 99% of job advertisements include, “Applicant must have the right to work in Australia”. The recruitment agent is simply trying to cheat you. You are asked to fill out a questionnaire on everything from your height to your eye colour and pay the agent in advance to “review” your application. The questionnaire is then simply thrown out and you, of course, receive a negative response to the application – that’s the whole “business”.
Less frequently, you may come across a different kind of scam – educational or immigration agents offering to help you find a job in Australia. Time and again, we meet people with temporary student visas who were promised “immigration through learning English” and, at the same time, a job. Naturally, both the immigration and the job turned out to be non-existent.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
The above information sounds rather glum and hopeless, but does that mean you should give up on your dream of living in Australia? Not at all! Apart from the Employer Nomination Scheme (also known as a ‘work visa”), there is also General Skilled Migration, not very simple either, but, at the same time, a much more realistic immigration path.
Swindlers usually avoid this program, since it makes it much harder to cheat customers, but if your skills are needed in Australia, you can speak English, and have work experience, the program gives you an opportunity to receive a permanent visa without going through the Sponsorship process and enter the Australian job market as an equal to local specialist. This means a potential employer will judge you based on your skills rather that you Immigration status.
SO, who can use the General Skilled Migration program to immigrate to Australia? Anyone who:
- Is under 45 years old
- Has a Skilled Occupation and work experience in the field
- Has a IELTS score of at least 6666
- Has no criminal record and no serious disease
- Scored enough points in the Points Test
To assess your chances for Australian migration visa, please fill out our survey