Immigration officials are visiting rural parts of Australia to provide information to people who have overstayed their visas.
A Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) spokesman said
that its Community Status Resolution Service outreach programme allows
those living outside capital cities who do not have a valid visa or are
on a bridging visa to meet officials to sort out their specific issues.
‘Where appropriate, officers also will be able to grant short term bridging visas to people while they settle their immigration matters,’ the spokesman explained. They will also be offering information to local community leaders and service providers.
They will be joined by staff from the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), an independent organisation which provides assistance
for eligible people to return home. IOM staff will be available to
discuss the services they provide and who is eligible.
‘The department is committed to ensuring the integrity of Australia’s migration and visa programs. People must have a valid visa to remain in the country,’ the DIAC spokesman added.
Meanwhile, the Australian government is continuing to crack down on employers who hire illegal workers.
‘We need to strike a balance between targeting those
employers who flout the rules, while taking care not to overstretch the
resources of the vast majority of employers who seek to do the right
thing,’ said Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.
As part of its strategy to encourage compliance, the government will
also ramp up its awareness campaign and help employers to gain access to
information about prospective employees’ visa work status.
‘There will be no excuse for errant employers who repeatedly test the system, claiming that they were unaware of the need to check a person’s work entitlements or they did not have the means to do so,’ explained Bowen.
‘Abusing employment practices affects everyone by limiting work opportunities, restricting the migration programme and allowing for exploitation of vulnerable people. Abiding by the rules ensures a fair go for employers and workers alike,’ he added.
New rules have tightened the criminal offences and created new
non-fault civil penalty provisions and an infringement notice scheme for
people who allow or refer an unlawful non-citizen to work, or allow or
refer a lawful non-citizen to work in breach of a work related visa
condition.
They have also created statutory defences where reasonable steps are
taken at reasonable times to verify a foreign national worker’s
entitlement to work and broadened the application of criminal offences
and civil penalty provisions to hold a person liable for participating
in an arrangement, or series of arrangements, that results in a foreign
national working without lawful entitlement.
Also they have extended both criminal and civil liability, in certain
circumstances, to executive officers of bodies corporate, partners in a
partnership and members of an unincorporated association’s committee of
management.
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