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SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways across Australia.
Olivia
From SBS Examines, I'm Olivia Di Iorio. SBS Examines is here to dispel misinformation and disinformation impacting social cohesion. What does it actually take to be deported or have your visa cancelled?
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I had some friends worried someone might have reported them after they mistakenly worked more hours than they should. Do you know of anyone who's had their visa cancelled because of a report?
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My 1st 14 months in Australia, I paid for three traffic fines. Will this stop me from getting my citizenship down the line?
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I got a fine for going through a red traffic light arrow. I’m planning to apply for a visa within a month. Could someone tell me will this affect my visa application?
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Going through a red traffic light arrow. I'm planning to apply for a visa within a month. Could someone tell me if this will affect my visa application?
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I worked more than 48 hours thinking my session was finished. What will be the consequences? Will they deport if they find out? I'm scared.
Olivia
These are common questions swirling around communities and the online sphere. This week, we investigate how the complexity of the migration system creates fear and misunderstanding when it comes to knowing your rights.
Sunil
Yes, absolutely. I think there should be more out there for migrants on their rights.
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25 year old Sunil from India, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, is a visa holder in Australia. Last year he found himself in a situation after purchasing a car from a private seller on Facebook Marketplace.
Sunil
I checked the car was all good and organised to pay him in a few separate transaction.
Olivia
Sunil says after driving away the vehicle, it started making weird noises.
Sunil
I went back to the owner, and he said he would look into but told me to still take the car.
Olivia
Sunil decided he'd get the car repaired himself and just pay the owner the difference in repairs.
Sunil
Then the seller started threatening me and said his solicitor will contact me and see me in court.
Olivia
Sunil says he would have won the case if he went to court.
Sunil
But because of my visa status and being afraid of going to court and what that would do to my record, I just had to pay extra to get the car repaired myself.
Olivia
He's not alone in his thinking.
Sunil
There is fear in my community of visas being revoked when it comes to fines. They just pay them even if they know when sometimes they’re not at fault or get wrongly fined. They just don’t want to challenge it or go through the process in court. It will be costly and may show up in future police checks.
Olivia
Many also have the same thinking when it comes to both the workplace and family violence situations.
Ann Emanuel
We do hear a lot from our clients that they've been told something about a visa being cancelled or being deported.
Olivia
Ann Emanuel is a principal solicitor at the Immigration Advice and Rights centre. When these threats are made, she says her clients become fearful of someone having the power to decide their visa status in this country.
Ann Emanuel
I think part of it is the complexity of the migration system itself. It is not a straightforward or an easy thing to understand.
Olivia
Anne says visa holders having a lack of access to independent and credible information is causing misunderstandings.
Ann Emanuel
Access to justice generally and particularly in this space is difficult, particularly due to funding, I think part of it as well is a lack of access to information that's delivered in a way that is in language. So our service, when we're talking to clients, we're using interpreters, but it's a large cost for us, and so for other services as well, that can be a factor in how well they're able to communicate information.
Olivia
She says another factor is an imbalance of power.
Ann Emanuel
Between an employer and someone that they've employed. The power imbalance between someone who has lived here for years or English as a first language compared to someone who doesn't have that skill or that background is particularly part of part the factors that are leading into this misinformation.
Olivia
Ann says it's causing people to stay in an unsafe workplace situation or relationship.
Ann Emanuel
Because there's a really big fear about what the consequences are if they leave or if they report or if they, for example, stop working with a particular person.
Olivia
She says the most common situations where those on a visa are told they'll be deported or have their visa cancelled is through the workplace or as a form of family violence.
Ann Emanuel
We've seen this particularly with people who have been nominated and employed through the Palm Scheme, particularly regional areas. We've seen them being told that their visa is ended or cancelled and they're being deported on Monday or a day really soon. That's quite a common example we've seen, particularly in the recent years.
Olivia
PALM, otherwise known as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, allows eligible businesses to recruit workers to help fill agricultural labour gaps in rural and regional areas.
Pita Foliaki Lokotui
You can get employers, look, I'll be quite frank, who may be abusing the system. He doesn't want to lose the workforce because if they see, well, others are getting better opportunity than I am, but I can't run because he's got the passports with them or saying, look, if you go, I'm going to cancel a visa. Now, to me, it only works on those who are not informed.
Olivia
Pita Foliaki Lokotui is the PALM scheme’s country liaison officer. From his experience, he’s been able to identify key issues impacting the welfare of workers from Vanuatu in Australia. He calls the operation of the PALM scheme, ‘organised chaos’, meaning workers not knowledgeable about their rights and the contracts they sign.
Pita Foliaki Lokotui
Because of that, then once a worker arrives in Australia and says, Well, hang on, I've signed something in Vanuatu that was different to what I was signing here. So is the farmer wrong? Is the approved employer wrong or is the worker wrong? To me, I don't look at it that way. I guess I can't point the finger to the approved employer because it stems back to what information was given to the workers before they left the country.
Olivia
Peter is encouraging the gap in the system to be closed so workers have accurate information about their rights and responsibilities.
Pita Foliaki Lokotui
We need to take a step back and find out when an information from Australia gets to Vanuatu, how is that information given through a stakeholder that may not be the right person to speak even though they're in that position, like an agent. Unless the agent knows the ins and outs, the agent needs to be responsible to speak with the farmer and say, look, what's the reality on the ground? But see, that's going to be hard to get because that's a gap in the system that needs to be closed.
Olivia
This leads people to fear they could be deported if their employer tells them so.
Pita Foliaki Lokotui
What we do is we educate and equip workers. Keep it simple, 'we're not going to talk about all these like, oh, you have this visa and it's a subclass, this, it's this. These are the conditions.’ We don't tell them that. We just say, look, an employer cannot cancel your visa because it's not in his power . It's that simple. they cannot take a passport. They cannot threaten to cancel your visa. Your employer can put in the request to cancel your visa, but it's not in their power, they cannot. That's with the Australian government specifically Home Affairs. They have the power.
Olivia
SBS Examines reached out to the Department of Home Affairs. A spokesperson affirmed national workplace laws apply to workers regardless of their visa status. That includes Australian and non-Australian citizens. So, what can actually cause your visa to be cancelled?
Ann Emanuel
The first thing to be really clear on is that only the Minister for Immigration or a delegate of the minister within the Department of Home Affairs has any of those powers. So if someone is saying I'm going to get your visa cancelled or you're going to be deported as such, is incorrect.
Olivia
Ann says the provisions for cancellations are quite broad. But can be categorized into being ‘character related’, things like criminality, ‘breaching a visa condition’, not being ‘eligible for a visa in the first place’, or if false information to attain a visa was given.
Ann Emanuel
Generally though, in this context, if it's a delegate, so if it's Home Affairs making that consideration, we're looking at a discretion, so it's not something that has to happen, and there should generally be a notice first and a chance to comment. So there is still a process that has to be followed.
Olivia
Anne says if you are concerned about your visa status, you should seek out independent and confidential legal advice.
Ann Emanuel
Another key thing is knowing how the Department of Home Affairs communicates with you. Is that through a partner? Is that through a migration lawyer, are you not sure? It's helpful to find out or update the department. It's helpful to know how to check your own visa status. So, um, through the Department of Home Affairs website, you can do a VEVO check.
Olivia
This episode was produced by SBS Examines and presented by Olivia Di Iorio with additional assistance from Tejinder Pal Singh Halan. To find out more, visit SBS.com.au/SBSexamines.
