News

Monday, August 11, 2008

Source: The Age – August 11th, 2008
ROGUE trades colleges in Melbourne are taking illegal payments from visa-seeking international students in cash-for-certificates scams, an Age investigation has found.

The fraud works by overseas students paying college owners or migration agents to get bogus paperwork certifying attendance and results. The students rarely turn up for classes. The going rate for fake certificates is $5000. Some pay up to $9000. Overseas students seeking permanent residence in Australia must satisfy attendance rules. Many are more interested in living here than studying here and are complicit in the scams.

The Age has also found that a college owner had some of his Indian students allegedly working for nothing as "basic training" in a 7-Eleven store he also owns. A former student of Della International College said he worked for 17 days in the Sunshine 7-Eleven last year for no pay. The student, from northern India, asked that his name not be used. After enrolling at Della, owner Amanjot "Aman" Singh offered him "training" for one month. I got not one single penny for 17 days. Then he said there was no job and to get out, to go from the store," the student said.

A note from the StudyVoices team:

If you are an international student and are concerned about paying inappropriate fees or feel you are being exploited by an employer, please go to our links section and look under the “Employment and Other Legal Rights’ category for some links to websites and organizations that can help you.