Prominent member of the Indian community in Melbourne, Jasvinder Sidhu appeared on ABC’s 7:30 program on Monday night to make some shocking revelations that point out how the 457 temporary skilled work visa was openly being sold in return for cash.
He appeared where he is seen in conversation with a visa fixer, who offered him a stake in the visa scam scheme.
When asked by the ABC if people were paying “for a phantom job” and in return they get a “skilled visa”, he said: “Yes. So you’re paying to create a job that doesn’t exist and to create a service which was never delivered. And you’re getting permanent residency which is not fake. This is real.”
“They were offering multiple sponsorships in commercial cookery, in mechanics, IT as well, because he said his boss could arrange IT visas,” he said.
“These people will then create your fake timesheets, fake pay slips and pay in your bank account and everything else will also be fake which is superannuation and other related documents.”
Mr Sidhu said he was concerned about the way people were being exploited and that the system was failing them.
“These people are paying up to $50,000 and you need to see the way they live. Ten people in one house and don’t eat properly and maybe work 18 hours a day. We have seen girls being raped by their employers. And we have seen people having injuries at work. Their thumb was cut or they had other major injuries and they did not complain,” he told the ABC.
Mr Sidhu said the "visa fixer" approached him on Facebook.
"He said, very confidently, 'in any industry we can get sponsorship'. And he even offered me money. For every case I think it was $5,000 he was offering," Mr Sidhu said.
In a series of conversations on Facebook, the fixer asked Mr Sidhu to find new Australian visa applicants among his friends and family back in India.
On Monday, Mr Sidhu also pointed out to SBS Hindi of a case but chose to keep quiet because she was dependent upon her employer to stay in Australia.
