Despicable visa agents preying on the most vulnerable fleecing them of savings

ROGUE visa agents have been accused of failing desperate migrants from war-torn countries by dangling the hope of Australian residency, taking their cash and submitting substandard paperwork.

A MIGRATION agent put a vulnerable worker with no visa to work in his Indian restaurant, refused to pay her for months and harassed her.

Another agent submitted almost 20 refugee visa applications on behalf of her clients that were “substantially, if not completely, plagiarised” from online sources including speeches by Malaysian MPs.

Migration agent Bei Zheng has been accused of misleading a client and refusing to pay her.

Another pretended she couldn’t give immigration authorities the documents they demanded because her client’s house had burnt down and instead took thousands of dollars in fees despite there being little chance the application would succeed.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Migration Agents Registration Authority made at least 23 findings of inappropriate conduct against registered migration agents since last January, resulting in licences being cancelled or suspended but no other action. There are additional allegations of concocted documents, including TAFE certificates, forged signatures on court appeals and fabricated jobs linked to home ­addresses.

The federal government is expected to crack down on agents — who waste court time through pointless appeals as they fleece their customers — with an inquiry into the outrageous behaviour understood to be close.

Liberal MPs including Craig Kelly and Jason Falinski said unscrupulous agents needed to be stopped. “There are people out there who are giving others false hope,” Mr Falinski told The Telegraph.

In one of the most serious cases Ravinder Singh, one-time owner of Melbourne’s Punjabi Tandoori Corner, was accused of misleading a client on whether she was allowed to work, refused to pay her and allegedly harassed her.

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In January, the Home Affairs Department found Mr Singh was “not a person of integrity, nor a fit and proper person to provide immigration assistance” and cancelled his registration.

In December, Sydney agent Hoan Trang Nguyen had his licence cancelled after it was found he “demonstrated a blatant disregard, or significant degree of indifference, for the law” by engaging in fraud and providing fake documents for several visa applications.

Migration Agent Hoan Tranh Nguyen pictured at his Heckenberg home on Sunday.

Another Sydney agent, Bei Zheng, was also barred from working after being found to have wasted the time of immigration authorities and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by lodging on behalf of her clients at least nine plagiarised claims for protection visas. Another complaint alleges she made another eight fake claims.

Mr Nguyen declined to comment, while Ms Zheng said someone else prepared the false statements and her licence was cancelled for other reasons. Mr Singh could not be reached, but told Home Affairs that if there were issues with his behaviour, authorities could have raised them “at the time in question”.

Additional reporting by Ashleigh Gleeson