DEAR John,
I’m on the second year of my working holiday visa and I’ve been going out with my boyfriend, an Australian citizen, for almost a year. We have been living together since last July but we have no lease together and cannot prove our joint address. We didn’t have our post going to our address until very recently. We do have lots of photos; shared experiences; friends. Our families have met and we’ve been to weddings together, etc., but we have no joint bills and have only recently set up a bank account together. My visa is up in July and we’re wondering if we have a chance with a de facto visa application.
Thanks, F.

Dear F,
In assessing a de facto application, immigration will generally want to see that you and your partner have been in a de facto relationship for 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application.

However, state governments are beginning to allow defacto registrations that might help here.

NSW is to introduce legislation allowing registration of relationships between unmarried couples of the opposite sex or of the same sex.

For migration the registration allows an exemption from the “12 month relationship requirement” See here.

The media release announcing the change says that only one party to the relationship will need to be resident in NSW in order for the relationship to be registered.

The Victorian Relationships Act, 2008 requires both parties to be living in Victoria and it has been suggested that Victorian authorities are refusing to register relationships unless both parties are actually Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents.

In visa applications, you need to show evidence that you have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others, that the relationship is genuine and continuing and that you live together (or do not live apart on a permanent basis).

In deciding whether the partners satisfy the requirement immigration look at the:

• Knowledge of each other’s personal circumstances.

• Financial aspects of the relationship, joint financial commitments such as real estate or other assets, and sharing day-to-day household expenses.

• The nature of the household, including living arrangements and joint care for any children.

• The social aspects of the relationship, provided in statements (statutory declarations) by friends and acquaintances.

• The nature of the commitment, including duration of the relationship, how long you have been living together and whether you see the relationship as a long-term one.

You need to provide statutory declarations about your relationship, including:

• How, when and where you first met.

• How your relationship developed.

• When you decided to start a de facto relationship.

• Your domestic arrangements (how you support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this began).

• Detail any periods of separation (when, why and for how long, and how you maintained your relationship during this time).

• Your future plans.

Recent recommendations to the Government have suggested slashing the country's immigration intake.

With a federal election due in Australia before the year is out, immigration is shaping up as one of the major issues of the campaign as talk of massive cuts to the current scheme loom ominously on the horizon.

Currently, Australia takes in around 300,000 immigrants per year, but new advice given to the federal government recently recommends that this figure should be drastically reduced to 180,000 a year.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on record as supporting what he termed a “big Australia”, but if the advice is followed it would likely lead to a huge drop in the number of Irish people allowed to emigrate to Australia.

The number coming from Ireland has steadily increased in recent years due to the recession there and the fact that Australia has escaped the worst ravages of the global financial crisis.

In the year to the end of June 2009, 2,501 Irish people got residence visas for Australia, up from 1,989 in the previous 12 months. Many of these are 457 visas issued for specific skills in demand, such as information technology and engineering.

The increase in one-year Working Holiday Visas in this period was even more dramatic. The number issued to Irish people aged 18 to 30 rose to 22,788, from 17,120 the previous year.

The Australian Financial Review has reported that the advice given to the Government is part of a push to exercise more control over the number of people coming to Australia outside the formal migration procedures. This includes 457 and student visas.

Liberal party leader Tony Abbott says he is opposed to the current situation in which Australia’s population is expected to reach 36 million by 2050. Australia’s current population is 22.3 million and is increasing by one person every 1 minute and 10 seconds.

The opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said that if the Liberals win the election later this year they will slash immigrant numbers.

There is support for this move from the public. A national survey taken by the Lowy Institute shows that while 72 per cent supported a rise in Australia’s population, 69 per cent want it limited to 30 million or fewer.

However, following concerted criticism by business organisations, and from some within his own party, Morrison played down his earlier comments. “If there is an interpretation out there that this is a wholesale policy, it’s not a wholesale policy,” he said.

Heather Ridout of the Australian Industry Group said population growth does not need to be curbed. “If we are going to make that choice to restrict migrants, over the years we are going to have to pay higher taxes to support an ageing population,” she said.

The managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council, Matthew Hingerty, said “the service economy would grind to a standstill without backpackers and 457s”.

by Pádraig Collins

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.