Live Work Travel Australia is a new glossy magazine for Irish nationals looking for a new life Down Under.

To be published in early October, LWTA will contain news, features and information for Irish nationals looking to live and work in Australia.

For those twentysomethings looking to come to Australia as a Working Holidaymaker or as temporary residents, LWTA will include all the latest visa and recruitment news.

For those individuals or families looking to emigrate, LWTA will offer a unique insight into the jobs and challenges of starting a new life down under by talking to Irish people who have already made the move.

The magazine replaces the previously published Irish Down Under title.

LWTA will be distributed throughout Ireland via

• The Working Abroad Expo (Dublin Oct)

• Newsagents

• Australia specialist travel agents

• Australia visa seminars

• Graduate fair (Dublin)

• By mail-order via website

The backpacker section will contain all you need to know about making the most from your year (or two) down under.

Our recruitment section will take a look at the Australian jobs market and sponsored visa opportunities for skilled workers.

The Emigrate section will examine the ups and downs of making the big move down under by talking to individuals and families who have done it.

To pre-order a copy of the Live Work Travel Australia, click here.

If you want to book advertising space, click here for more information.

If you want to be a stockist for the magazine, contact the publisher click here.

More than 12 Irish nationals have been detained and deported from Australia so far in 2010.

MORE than a dozen Irish 
nationals have been detained and deported from Australia in the first two weeks of the new year as the Department of Immigration began a serious crackdown on illegally-obtained second Working Holiday Visas (WHVs), the Irish Echo has learned.

In Sydney alone, seven Irish citizens – five of whom are 
understood to be female – were all stopped at immigration as they returned to Australia after spending Christmas in Ireland.

The seven people in question each spent a night’s detention in Villawood Prison in western Sydney before being deported to Ireland within 24 hours.

The actual number of Irish citizens to have been detained and deported at various Australian airports so far this year is believed to be far higher than the 12 cases the Irish Echo knows about, with the Department beginning to lower the boom on people who 
attained their second-year WHVs illegitimately.

No specific details were available on just how many others were detained and deported outside of the known incidents in Sydney, but the Echo has learned of at least one case in Brisbane.

A significant number of Irish citizens are also believed to have been refused entry to the country so far this year, but in most cases those in question were simply turned away and put straight back on a flight to Ireland.

That, in turn, is believed to have angered several airlines, and cost them thousands of dollars.

An airline that brings a person into the country is also responisble for footing the cost of their  removal should they not be allowed in by immigration, and the spate of recent refusals has proven to be a costly development.

The string of deportations form part of the Department’s latest efforts to crack down on those obtaining second WHVs by fraudulently claiming to have undertaken three-months’ 
regional work – the minimum necessary requirement to 
become eligible to apply for a second 12-month visa.

Late last year, the Irish Echo revealed how a number of fraudsters were making thousands of dollars by selling 
employment verification details, which were then being used to fraudulantly apply for second WHVs.

Last October we reported on how the Department was investigating a Wicklow man –  using the alias of Kevin Doyle – who alone had made more than $60,000 by selling details to more than 150 people.

In November, an Irishman became the first known person to have been convicted of using the scheme to defraud the country.

He was fined $1,400 and deported after admitting to obtaining a WHV by fraudulent means, but the Department has now stepped up the ante even further as it attempts to track down anyone who availed of the fraud.

A spokesperson for the Department told the Echo that anyone caught on a fraudulent visa faced more than just visa cancellation and deportation – jail time, and serious fines,  would also highly possible.

“The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has strengthened integrity measures to detect and deter fraud within the Working Holiday Visa program,” the spokesman said.

“The second Working Holiday Visa program will be closely scrutinised by the 
department on an ongoing basis to ensure applicants are acting in accordance with immigration law.

“The Australian Government regards immigration fraud as a serious offence that will not be tolerated.

“Temporary visa holders who acquire a visa fraudulently are liable for cancellation of their visa and removal from Australia and can also face criminal charges with jail terms of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to $110 000.”

by Aaron Dunne

by Pádraig Collins

AN Irishman was recently fined $1,400 and expelled from Australia after being convicted of immigration fraud.
The confirmation from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) followed a series of revelations in the Irish Echo of Working Holiday Visa (WHV) fraud among Irish backpackers.

Other Irish backpackers are under investigation for similar frauds, with one case already having been referred to the director of public prosecutions and 32 second working holiday visas being cancelled in NSW alone on the basis of fraudulent documentation.

The expelled man was convicted after admitting he bought employment verification details for a second-year WHV for $500. To get a second WHV backpackers must work for three months in agricultural or regional work during their first visa year. Typically this would involve fruit picking or working on a building site in a rural area.

But many, unwilling or unable to do the tough work required for the visa, have risked imprisonment for up to 10 years, and/or a fine of up to $110,000 by claiming they worked on a farm when they did not.

This work is ìprovedî through providing the Australian Business Number (ABN) of a farmer who has previously hired backpackers and saying you worked there too. This in turn led to a scam where people have been selling the ABNs of farmers for up to $500 each. This method has been advertised on backpacker websites such as Gumtree 
under headings such as ì2nd year visa, no problemî.

One Irish fraudster allegedly told clients who paid him $400 each for ABN details that DIAC checked only 10 per cent of second WHV applications.

Deidre Russack, director of the working holiday section of DIAC, told a backpacker conference that: ìThere’s a lot of fraud …they’re not working in regional areas… Immigration is trying to do something about it … There’s a lot of work going on in the department around this issue,î she said.

The fraudulent behaviour among some backpackers has made big news in Ireland in recent weeks, with The Irish Times, the Wicklow People  and both RT… radio and television reporting on the scandal.

Of the 21,727 second WHVs granted in the year to June 30, 2009, a massive 4,425 were given to Irish people.
Only Koreans, with 6,079, got more than Irish people.
UK backpackers got 4,072 second-year WHVs.

The recent visa scam revelations has led to uncertainty among some as to the future of the second WHV scheme.

But Sydney-based immigration agent John McQuaid says it is just a rumour.

DIAC has made no statements that suggest this might happen. An in depth review of the working holiday visa programme conducted in February 2009 made no recommendations to change the system,î he told the Irish Echo.

DIAC has just introduced a new version of its employment verification form used to record regional work for a second WHV. The new form asks more questions aimed to assist DIAC case officers reduce the risk of fraudulent applications.