The right to live in Australia is a valuable commodity that many aspiring migrants are willing to pay money to obtain. The usual process involves a long wait while background is checked for authenticity and the final outcome is rarely certain. There is a strong incentive to listen to entrepreneurs who offer a plan to circumvent that process in return for money.
A former migrant who learned the intricacies of the system from his own experience set up such a scheme and gained a rich reward. It was delightfully simple and it appealed strongly to what are termed " economic migrants " who are seeking a better life rather than escaping persecution. In many cases they have the necessary funds to buy what is being offered.
This entrepreneur set up a legitimate company which offered migrants both a job and sponsorship for a permanent residency visa in exchange for a cash payment up front of seventy thousand dollars. In the majority of cases, this job opportunity was in country New South Wales or Queensland.
In fact it was a variety of the type of Ponzi scheme which operates openly and gives the impression of authenticity. The illegality was the fact that the entrepreneur was using a little over twelve thousand dollars of that seventy thousand down payment to provide incentives to those who were induced to hire a migrant and offer sponsorship.
Of course, in many cases these jobs did not last and the scheme ended with many migrants seriously out of pocket and the company in liquidation with debts of over two million dollars to forty-five creditors, many of whom were former customers - and with the prospect of serious prosecutions of both the entrepreneur and those who provided jobs and sponsorship because of a breach of current law.
It is illegal to offer, receive or provide money in exchange for a sponsored work-visa arrangement. The penalties include a two year prison sentence and a fine of $75,000 for an individual or $ 375,000 for a company. Money does not need to change hands to breach this law. A mere offer is enough to secure a conviction.
It seems that many of the country businesses induced to hire and offer a sponsorship thought that the inducements offered were actually part of a government scheme to settle migrants. The fact that it was being conducted from what appeared to be a legitimate business office went a long way in allaying any suspicion.
Such is the way of Ponzi schemes. A bold entrepreneur will often get away with something so brazen that its credentials are never questioned. In many cases the money is squirrelled away to untraceable sources and the criminal serves a short prison sentence - and emerges to enjoy the rewards of his crime.
Hopefully, the publicity will stop it reappearing in other states.
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