Queensland is falling behind other Australian states as a preferred destination for Irish workers on 457 visas, figures show.

A total of 5,590 primary 457 visas were granted to Irish citizens for the financial year to April 30.

Primary visa grants refer to people who applied for sponsorship on their own behalf while secondary applicants are those attached to partners’ applications.

The number of Irish workers granted sponsorship with companies in Queensland fell by just under 4 per cent, compared to the previous financial year.

Western Australia remains the most popular destination for Irish citizens joining the 457 visa scheme.

New South Wales has traditionally attracted the majority of Irish workers on the scheme but WA has now captured almost 40 per cent of the new migrants.

Some 2,130 are based in WA, while NSW is home to 1,520 people granted the visa.

The figures for South Australia doubled to 140 compared to last year. Victorian employers sponsored 900 Irish workers and Queensland 710.

Canberra and surrounds attracted 60 new Irish people on primary visas, while 110 were sponsored in the Northern Territory and 20 in Tasmania.

Just under 14 per cent of all Irish 457 visa workers in Australia are based in Queensland, the figures show.

The number of visas granted in NSW fell 6.3 per cent compared to the previous financial year, but in WA they rose by 26.2 per cent.

The latest round of figures released by the government show that 3,100 secondary applications were attached to the primary grants, making up a total of 8,680 new visas.

This figure represents 8.3 per cent of the all applications – making Ireland the third largest contributor to the scheme behind India and Britain.

The number of 457 primary visa applications lodged was 6.8 per cent higher than the same timeframe last year. But the number of visas actually granted was just 1.7 per cent higher.

The number of onshore primary visa lodgements rose by 27.4 per cent and the overall number of primary visa holders was 20.4 per cent higher than in April 2012.

There is a general downward trend since applications hit a peak in August 2012 but the number of Irish people on the 457 scheme continues to grow.

Overall the level of applications are falling from Britain, the United States, Canada, Germany and South Africa compared to last year. But applications from Ireland, India, China, South Korea, Nepal and Italy are still showing significant growth.

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor said the laws will deter those abusing the system.

New legislation to change the 457 visa scheme includes an amendment to give workers 90 days to find a new job, instead of the current period of 28 days.

The Australian government has introduced a bill after months of debate about alleged abuses within the programme, which allows skilled workers and their dependants to be sponsored by businesses for up to four years.

Business groups have opposed plans to tighten the scheme, first mooted by Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor in February.

The government and unions have claimed the scheme is subject to widespread abuse, claims tested at a recent Senate hearing into the efficacy of the programme.

The provision to extend period that a 457 worker can remain in Australia after ceasing employment with a sponsor is a boost for temporary workers.

If passed, the legislation will take effect on July 1 and the 90 days amendment will apply to visa granted from this date.

In a speech to parliament today, Mr O’Connor described the extension as “enabling a more socially just outcome for visa holders as they will have more time to find an alternative job with an employer sponsor or to arrange their personal affairs at the conclusion of sponsored employment.”

He said it was in line with recommendations of a 2008 review into the integrity of the scheme and more recent recommendations contained within a report from the Migration Council of Australia.

The bill also seeks to enforce in law extensive labour market testing conditions, which require employers to show they have tried to fill vacancies with local staff before seeking to sponsor an overseas worker.

It gives powers to Fair Work inspectors to investigate compliance with the programme, activity currently undertaken by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor outlined the bill’s main thrust in a speech to parliament.

“The government has concerns that some employers are turning to overseas workers first, rather than investing in local training and recruitment,” Mr O’Connor told parliament.

“There has also been evidence of some sponsors paying overseas workers below the market rate, failing to commit to training requirements of the programme, and using the visa to fraudulently help friends and family migrate.”

He said the bill would expand the government’s capacity to “detect and take action against sponsors who do the wrong thing and ensure that overseas workers are not used as a substitute for Australian workers”.

It is understood the government hopes to pass the bill in the final two sitting weeks of parliament.

The latest figures for the scheme show 8,680 of the four-year work visas were granted to Irish citizens for the financial year to April.

TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon addressed yesterday’s public hearing.

The head of the Transport Workers Union has told a senate inquiry into 457 visas it received 24 reports of abuse within the scheme in the past two months.

The union’s national secretary Tony Sheldon addressed a public hearing on the scheme yesterday and claimed visa holders were afraid to complain about employers for fear of deportation.

The four-year 457s are temporary residence visas offered to skilled workers and their dependants who are sponsored by an Australian company.

Challenged on government and union claims of widespread rorting, Mr Sheldon said the human rights of the 100,000 visa workers in Australia are being exploited.

Mr Sheldon is also the Labor Party’s national vice-president.

Yesterday, the inquiry also heard from the ACTU, CFMEU, CEPU, the Migration Institute of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Mines and Metals Association.

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor’s claims of widespread rorting were also tested at yesterday’s hearing when the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) revealed it did not provide advice to him prior to his claim of 10,000 abuses within the system.

Mr O’Connor, who flagged a tightening of the programme in February, later said the figure was based on a forecast.

Senior DIAC official Kruno Kukoc told the hearing that when the department comes across evidence of abuse it acts upon it.

A number of written submissions to the inquiry have called for an amendment to the 28-day rule, which sees workers given four weeks to find a new sponsor or leave Australia.

When asked about such calls, a spokeswoman for Mr O’Connor told the Irish Echo that he is considering a range of recommendations put forward by stakeholders to improve the 457 visa system and will announce further changes to the programme in the near future.

Approximately 7,970 Irish nationals and their dependants have been granted 457 visas in the financial year to March 30, accounting for just over 8 per cent of all applications granted.

:: Visa fees

Elsewhere, it has emerged that impending price rises for a range of visa subclasses have yet to be rubber-stamped.

The government doubled the cost of a 457 visa application in the recent budget.

Plans to introduce fees for dependants on a 457 visa application and increase fees for up to 25 visa subclasses are scheduled to take effect in July, following the introduction of a ‘user-pays’ model by former Immigration Minister Chris Bowen in November 2011.

However, DIAC and the Immigration Minister’s office have not provided further details of the fee increases.

“While some fees are scheduled to increase in line with the November 2011 announcement, these changes have not yet been ratified by the Federal Executive Council. The Council needs to sign off on these changes before they become effective, and before any public announcements can be made,” Minister O’Connor’s spokeswoman said.

The Federal Executive Council gives legal effect to cabinet decisions.

Francis Murtagh has been given the right to work to pay his way back to Ireland.

A Dublin man has been handed a lifeline by immigration authorities after he found himself stranded in Australia.

Francis Murtagh, 26, has been allowed to work on a bridging visa to help him pay his way until he gets his tax back to pay for his flight home.

“Until the tax back comes through they are giving me a bridging visa. They said it will give me a chance to work to earn money to survive,” he said.

“They are saying I can find work and they are giving me a different class of visa.

“Every Monday I have to go in and get my visa renewed.”

The decision was a huge relief to Murtagh and his family in Ireland, as he was struggling to pay for food and accommodation.

He had he decided to overstay his visa by ten months. On reflection, he realises it was the wrong move.

A pub in Darwin agreed to sponsor him on a 457 visa but they suddenly decided to drop him with just weeks left on his second working holiday visa.

He flew to Sydney, couldn’t find a job for two months and opted for a cash-in-hand job. He then found himself in Melbourne without the money to return home and applied to the Assisted Voluntary Return Programme to fund his airfare to Ireland.

However, it has not been offered to him by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and as soon as his tax is refunded he will be able to book his flight back to Ireland.

“Because I’m due tax back they [DIAC] are not going to do it,” he explained.

Murtagh, from Lucan, is currently living in a hostel in Melbourne after he did some work for them. He hopes that his tax will be refunded by June 10 and is searching for part-time work to keep himself going.

“I’m currently looking. I got one interview and I think they are looking as someone is on holiday,” he said.

“I did work for a hostel and they are putting me up. Once I step on Irish soil it will be all good.”

Murtagh wanted to live in Australia because of the sunny weather. He has been offered work in the hotel business in Ireland.

A total of 22 Irish nationals were returned on the Assisted Voluntary Return scheme between July 1, 2010, and July 15, 2012, and their airfares were funded, according to DIAC.

A DIAC spokeswoman said before financial assistance is provided the client must demonstrate they are “unable to fund their trip”.

The assistance is offered to people who have overstayed on their visa and are seeking funds to return home.

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor.

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor’s recent claim of over 10,000 abuses of the 457 visa scheme is based on an estimate, he has said.

There are currently 105, 600 people working in Australia on 457 visas, some 12, 190 of whom are Irish nationals.

“I was asked to sort of give an estimate, and that is my estimate,” he told ABC radio, after the opposition and industry groups sought evidence.

“I’m making a forecast. I’m making a forecast like others have made forecasts. The difference is I seem to be being challenged, fine.

“My point is this – there are transgressions, they’re more than a few, they’re more than negligible.

“So, you know, I’ve sought to estimate what I think is the appropriate number. We don’t have an exact, precise figure. That’s not possible under the current arrangements, but it is significant and I make no apology in fixing a scheme that has problems.”

Meanwhile, an immigration report that found the 457 programme needs to be tightened has found little evidence of widespread abuse, as claimed.

The discussion paper was released to the coalition following a freedom of information request. It was prepared for Mr O’Connor’s predecessor, Chris Bowen.

Coalition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison told ABC’s PM programme yesterday that the report did not back up government claims.

“It certainly doesn’t anywhere justify the sort of inflammatory rhetoric and trash talking of skilled migration that the Prime Minster and Minister O’Connor have engaged in, nor does it in any way provide any evidentiary basis for the sort of claims they’ve made about 10,000 people rorting the system and so on,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Mr O’Connor has said the paper is not “the sole determinant of the government’s decisions”.

Minister O’Connor has indicated he plans to introduce legislation to amend the visa scheme this month.

The government is also understood to be planning a series of radio advertisements to promote its campaign to put local workers before migrants.

The ATO and DIAC will share data about temporary residents.

The Australian Taxation Office is set to target visa holders in a massive investigation into fraud and tax infringements.

The details of around one million temporary international workers will be analysed to pinpoint potential fraud amongst the holders of 27 different types of visa.

“Records relating to approximately 1,000,000 individuals who were granted visas under the above subclasses will be matched,” the ATO said in a government gazette notice.

“The ATO may also provide information to assist the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to maintain the integrity of the student and temporary working visa programmes. The ATO is legally able to provide this information.”

Tax authorities are collecting the names and addresses and other details of visa holders on a range of permits including the the 457 visa, the working holiday visa and the various student visas.

Other visa classes being targeted include the entertainment visa (Subclass 420), sport visa (Subclass 421) and the temporary medical practitioner visa.

The ATO will collect the data for the period starting January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2014 from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). This will then be electronically matched with certain sections of ATO data holdings.

The ATO have called the drive the ‘Department of Immigration and Citizenship Temporary Working Visas Data Matching Programme’.

The ATO wants to improve intelligence on the level of tax compliance by employers and visa holders. They claim it will “improve existing risk detection models”, “identify potentially new or widespread refund fraud methodologies” and allow them to “take steps to mitigate threats of non-compliance and fraud”.

The ATO also expect the programme to allow them to implement strategies that will “address the identified risks posed by temporary working visa holders and employer sponsors”.

The data trawl will include information about migration agents, the education institute where the person plans to study and details on all international travel movements by the visa holder.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister O’Connor told the Irish Echo that people on 457 visas are not being specifically targeted and that everyone on a temporary visa will be looked at.

“It’s about ensuring people who are here are working the hours they are supposed to be working and paying the appropriate levels of tax,” she said.

On the issue of DIAC supplying the ATO with information on temporary workers she explained that “it is normal for government departments and agencies to work together”.

Some 22 submissions have been made to a senate committee looking into the efficacy of the 457 visa programme.

Industry bodies are extremely concerned about the political debate surrounding the 457 visa scheme, with claims that it has even invoked “racist sentiment”.

A senate committee has been charged with investigating the popular programme for temporary workers and so far 22 submissions have been received from a range of groups including academics, migration experts and industry representatives.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that it has become increasingly alarmed at the recent public commentary and that the 457 visa scheme has become subjected to a series of unsubstantiated claims.

The chamber claims that the scheme has been used to “invoke parochial and even racist sentiment with claims of foreign workers “stealing” jobs from unemployed Australians.”

Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor recently claimed there were more than 10,000 abuses of the system and that there would be 350,000 temporary workers from overseas on 457 visas in Australia in three years time if demand continued at the current rate.

However, the chamber pointed out that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) reports few cases of abuse with 125 employers sanction in 2011/2012 with a further 449 employers formally warned.

“In any scheme, there will always be a small minority that don’t play by the rules. The government, with the full support of employers out there doing the right thing, should target those rule breakers through rigourous enforcement rather than reducing access to employers meeting the requirements.

“Since August 2012, the 457 visa trend has been downward, so concerns about alarming growth are unfounded, as are exaggerated claims of rorts and projections of visa numbers being over 300,000. This is unnecessarily alarmist, and a rational, evidence based discussion needs to return,” it stated.

The Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) also sent in a strongly worded submission, which argued that the “recent demonisation of 457 workers is extremely damaging.”

AMMA believes that the misleading depictions of 457 workers has tarnished Australia’s reputation as an open economy ready to do business with the world.

“The depiction that skilled migrants as foreigners that need to be “put at the back of the queue” and that Australians are being “discriminated against”, is base rhetoric that borders dog-whistling and invites allegations of industrial xenophobia,” the submission states.

They pointed out that it is up to $60,000 more expensive to employ a foreign worker than an Australian and that AMMA members have struggled to recruit their entire workforce locally as people are reluctant to relocate to remote regions.

“There have been incentive programmes run by government offering to pay for relocation for the long term unemployed to the resource rich areas, but these schemes have struggled for want of applicants. Money alone cannot lure essential skills to remote areas if the skills are not extant in this country, or the people with those skills will not relocate to where the skills are in demand from the resource industry,” AMMA states.

AMMA point out that 457 visa holders account for 2.3 per cent of the mining industry workforce and that they play a statistically small but essential niche role in the industry.

Consult Australia, which represents businesses in the areas of engineering, architecture and design, argued in its submission that skilled migration programs are essential to the health of engineering-based companies and the Australian economy.

“If the facility to quickly and efficiently recruit temporary skilled migrants did not exist, the Australian economy would cease to function as we know it,” the group states in their submission.

“Politicians, unions and industry associations easily forget that the public in general, workers and business owners in particular do not see what is, to us, simply political posturing.”

The Transport Workers’ Union, which represents 90,000 workers, states it doesn’t oppose the use of the scheme but believe it should only be used for genuine shortages. The Union has reported a 21 per cent increase in 457 visas granted in the transport, postal and warehousing industries over the past year.

“The ongoing public debate on migration to Australia, particularly the 457 visa scheme, forces us to consider the type of society we want in Australia. While we don’t oppose the use of 457 visas we do believe that it is there for genuine shortages and not for employers to exploit workers,” the union states.

“The TWU has been vocal on the manipulation of the 457 visa scheme by unscrupulous employers who have used this as a means to exploit foreign workers, evade their responsibility to educate and train locals and to undercut Australian companies that play by the rules.

“As we are seeing an explosion of “demand” for foreign workers without the proper labour market testing to determine whether demand and supply are in equilibrium. This is a deliberate undermining of Australian labour rights, conditions and wages.

“Without changes to tighten up the current system, the abuse will only continue and it will be the Australian workers and their families that will suffer.”

Mr O’Connor plans to introduce legislation this month to change the 457 programme.

Almost 8,000 Irish people and their dependants have been granted 457 visas this financial year, according to Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) figures.

The four-year 457s are temporary residence visas offered to skilled workers and their dependants who are sponsored by an Australian company.

The figures for the financial year to the end of March show the number of applications for the visa rose by seven per cent over the same period in the previous year.

However, DIAC’s latest monthly summary report notes that overall demand for the temporary work visa has been on a downward trend since August.

Approximately 7,970 Irish nationals and their dependants have been granted 457 visa so far this financial year, accounting for just over 8 per cent of all applications granted.

Only India (21 per cent) and the United Kingdom (19.8 per cent) have contributed more workers to the scheme.

Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are the states of choice for the majority of Irish workers on the visa.

As of March 31, there were 105,600 people on 457 visas in Australia, some 12,190 of whom were Irish nationals.

Politically, the 457 visa programme remains a source of debate in advance of a federal election on September 14.

Yesterday, Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor claimed there had been over 10,000 abuses of the system.

”Insofar as numbers, I believe that the areas where there’s been an illegitimate use of 457s numbers [is] not negligible,” he said.

”I would say it would exceed over 10,000,” he said.

Citing the latest visa figures, he said the number of the lowest paid 457 visa holders has almost doubled since last year.

Mr O’Connor said the figures highlight that despite a slight recent decline in the growth rate in the visa, 457 visa numbers are continuing to increase.

“If demand for these visas continues at the current growth rate, there would be 350,000 temporary workers from overseas on 457 visas in Australia in three years’ time,” he said.

“That’s more than the population of Wollongong and at a time when locals are looking for training and promotion opportunities, this growth is unsustainable.

“It’s particularly concerning that the areas with the biggest rates of growth are those with the lowest paid workers – accommodation and food services which has grown by 99 per cent and retail which has grown by 75 per cent when compared to the 2011-12 programme year.

“These two industries are the lowest paying of all sponsor industries,” he said.

The average base salary for 457 visa holders was $55,000 for accommodation and food services workers and $69,000 for retail workers.

Of the other 17 industries for which data is provided in the report, average salaries range from $69,800 for agriculture, forestry and fishing, to $118,700 in mining.

ABS figures for November 2012 show that the average full-time adult salary for private and public sector workers is $72,436.

The government plans to introduce legislation to amend the visa scheme this month, Mr O’Connor has said.

The Labor government is understood to be planning a series of radio advertisements to promote its campaign to put local workers before migrants.

Recently, the Irish Echo reported that thousands of workers each year are moving to different employers while on the 457 visa.

Some 7,600 people on 457 visas have switched sponsors, in this financial year.

Almost 1,000 Irish workers have moved employers while on a 457 visa so far this financial year, immigration figures reveal.

The number of workers switching employers while on a 457 visa has been rising since 2010 and a tenth of those who have made the move between July 2012 and March 31 this year are Irish nationals, figures obtained by the Irish Echo show.

The four-year 457s are temporary residence visas offered to skilled workers and their dependants who are sponsored by an Australian company.

People in Australia on a 457 visa who want to change employer are not required to submit a new visa application to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

However, such workers must be nominated by their proposed new employer and have that nomination approved first before they can start working for a new employer or in a new occupation.

Such transfers do not extend the term of a person’s 457 visa or change the conditions that are attached to the temporary work visa.

This means if a person were to change employer two years into their four-year sponsorship, they would have only two years remaining on that visa.

Figures released by DIAC to the Irish Echo show 7,600 people have moved to a different employer while on a 457 visa in the financial year to March 31.

The United Kingdom (2,228), India (1,317) and Ireland (965) were the top three nationalities of workers moving employer.

Some 9,116 people changed sponsors in the 2011-12 financial year and 917 of those to change sponsor were Irish nationals, more than double the previous year’s figure.

Overall in 2010-11, about 5,613 people made the move, of whom 423 hailed from Ireland.

Stephen, from Co Meath, came to Australia with the opportunity of a trial in a Sydney-based company servicing the woodworking and shopfitting industries.

After a three-month trial, the 25-year-old, who asked for his surname to be withheld, was offered a permanent position and sponsorship.

After working with this company for a further 18 months, he was offered a job in the same line of work by another company.

“As I was not fully satisfied where I was working, and saw the move to the new company as an opportunity to further my knowledge and separate myself from a company which was, as I found out after 18 months, renowned for disappointment, poor service and low work ethic,” he said.

“Moving companies proved to be quite easy. The new company set themselves up with the ability to sponsor me, covered all of the fees and took care of the paperwork.

“The transfer process was taken care of by an immigration agency and they took care of the direct contact with the Australian Department of Immigration.

“There was a wait of about three months before I was told I could hand in my resignation and make the move over,” he added.

He described the move as the “best decision I could have made in my situation”.

“Having my fiancée as a de facto on my 457 visa meant I had to think of both of us,” he said.

“The only drawback is that now, if my intention was to apply for permanent residency, this has to wait until I am with my current employer for at least two years.

“In my situation, this will not affect me negatively, but I don’t know how this would have affected me if I was to have made the move with less than two years left on my 457 visa,” the
Meathman said.

Vincent O’Donoghue has been waging an ongoing battle against his extradition to Ireland from Perth since 2005.

Ireland requested the extradition of Mr O’Donoghue in May 2004, after a district court judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant related to eight alleged offences of obtaining property by false pretences and a further eight alleged offences of fraudulent conversion.

He denies the allegations.

On Monday, Justice Neil McKerracher dismissed Mr O’Donoghue’s application for an injunction, paving the way for his extradition.

The father of four appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday, to face fraud charges. He has been remanded in custody.

Mr O’Donoghue was first questioned by gardaí in August 2001 about property deposits allegedly given to him by two separate individuals.

The O’Donoghue family emigrated to Australia in 2002. The Dubliner applied for permanent residency in 2003, with a Queensland law firm backing him under the Employer Nominated Scheme.

That application was put on hold once the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) learned that An Garda Síochána had an interest in him. The Australian Federal Police arrested him in Perth in December 2004.

Australian Federal Justice and Immigration Ministers and the superintendent of Hakea Prison were named as parties in a judicial review sought by the Irishman.

Mr O’Donoghue was detained at the prison from April 2009 until his removal from Australia two days ago.