Some foreign workers say they've been asked to pay as much as $50-$70,000 up-front for a job.
When Reema Gupta left India five years ago to study hairdressing in Australia, she didn't imagine her life like this.
"There have been many times I have run out of money and there was a time when we didn't have anything and I had to eat food from the bin, I prayed for my son from the bin. That was a very low time in my life."
But she completed her study and took her new qualifications to potential employers, seeking full time work under a 457 visa.
She says their response was shocking.
"Where ever I went, they ask for money. It's $50,000, $70,000. To me I have the skills I have the hard work the dedication. I don't want to pay I don't have the money to pay."
Also from India, Rohit answered an advertisement offering training and sponsored employment as a cleaner.
But thousands of dollars later, he says that job never eventuated.
"He exploited so many students, 100 nearly 200 students, we already sent the report to the Immigration Department but unfortunately they didn't do anything."
Gerard Brody, chief of the Consumer Action Law Centre, says dodgy visa deallers often target international students through online chatrooms and social media.
"We have seen an increase of consumers complaining about businesses making promises about training or employment opportunities with the goal of getting a visa to stay in Australia. The first thing any prospect employee should do is determine whether they are a registered migration agents, you have to be registered to provide any advice about visas and visa applications."
The government has launched a campaign to investigate allegations of migrant workers paying their visa sponsors.
The Assistant Minister for Immigration Michaelia Cash says initially 100 sponsor allegations will be investigated.
She says visa fraud is not acceptable and anyone who engages in this type of behaviour will face serious penalties.
Last month a review of 457 visas recommended that language requirements be relaxed, that employers no longer had to advertise for local workers first and that the fee structure for employers be reviewed.
Ged Kearney of the Australian Council of Trade Unions fears these changes will lead to more rorting of the system.
"It really creates a second class worker in this country so we have Australian workers who have good benefits, good living standards and we have second class workers in this country who are exploited, that's terrible to think that happens here."
Meanwhile, the hunt for a job continues for Reema Gupta.
Her visa status is up for review next month and she fears she may be forced to leave the country.
"Going back to India, my parents will forcibly marry me off to someone. I'll have to give up my independence, my son's independence, that would be hard for us now."
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