IT firm targets Australian visa holders with job lies
October 07 2009 by Liam Clifford
An Australian IT firm has been found guilty of misleading Australian visa holders with promises of guaranteed jobs.
The Australian federal court has ruled that an IT training firm has been
unscrupulously attracting student Australian visa holders to sign up to expensive courses
with the promise of ‘guaranteed jobs'.
The IT training courses, which
cost up to $4,700 to sign up for, were mainly targeting Australian student visa holders from India. The firm posted fake IT job advertisements on websites to
attract attention from young foreigners studying in Australia who were desperate
for a pathway to permanent residency.
The company was taken to court by
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the court’s judge,
Mr Justice Richard Edmonds, said the actions of the firm’s directors were
“unconscionable”. He banned them from making false guarantees of jobs in the
future, threatening to put the directors in jail if they do not play by the
rules.
Some 80 student Australian visa holders were thought to have been affected by
the IT firm’s actions. The judge stated, “this case sends a clear message that
the ACCC will not hesitate to take action against persons who seek to take
advantage of, or mislead, international students and those seeking residency in
Australia about training courses or job opportunities."
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