Malaysians rort Australian visa system

Malaysians are applying for Australian protection visas in unprecedented numbers.

Mr Marzuki said Malaysians had little to lose by applying for a five-year protection visa.

Malaysians seeking higher wages and better living conditions are ­applying for Australian protection visas in unprecedented numbers because the application process is cheap and there are few penalties involved if their case is refused, a senior Malaysian minister says.

Malaysians now make up the highest number of visa over-­stayers in Australia and represent as a nationality the second-highest number of applicants for protection visas in Australia, according to a parliamentary report on the issue.

Three-quarters of the approximately 10,000 electronic visa holders who had overstayed their Australian visas at the end of last year were from Malaysia.

In the nine months from July last year to April this year, the ­Administrative Appeals Tribunal received 4973 applications from Malaysians seeking protection, Malaysia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya said.

“They cited various reasons in their applications, including family­ stress, racial and religious discrimination and domestic abuse”, though, in reality, most were seeking better living conditions and higher wages, Mr Marzuki­ told parliament late on Tuesday.

“The world-class education­ system also attracts our citizens to migrate there and stay longer.’’

Mr Marzuki added that Malaysians had little to lose by applying for a protection visa. It cost less than 100 ringgits ($35) to apply, they could work while the applic­ation was considered, and if it was refused they would be flown home at the ­expense of the Aust­ralian government.

Successful applicants for an Australian protection visa must prove they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their own country, and that their civil liberty or life could be at risk if they were to be returned.

Mr Marzuki said few Malaysian applicants could satisfy those requirements given the protection of human rights was enshrined in the country’s constitution.

“The action of Malaysians in applying for protection visas on the pretext that their lives are in danger if they continue to stay in Malaysia is an excuse to stay longer in the country,” he added.

“It is hard for us to control the situation because many of them travel to Australia as tourists and later dispose of their passports ­before claiming to be refugees.

“However, the ministry will work with the Immigration ­Department and the Australian authorities to closely monitor the situation.”

A February Australian parliamentary report into education and migration agents in Australia found the number of Malaysian protection visa applicants nearly doubled between 2014 and 2017, and that in the 2016-17 financial year 26,247 Malaysians lodged ­applications. Of those, only 168 were successful but the cost of processing such claims — some of which stretched up to eight years — was $46 million.

Australian border officials are now refusing entry at airport gateways to an average 20 Malaysians each week, many of whom arrive on tourist visas with the intention of either immediately claiming asylum or doing so after earning money in seasonal farm work.

The report also found that ­organised crime and illegitimate labour companies were using the online visa system to bring out illega­l workers, in an “organised scam that enables these criminal elements to exploit foreign workers in Australia until their claims are finalised”.

Malaysian migration agent Robert Chelliah told The Australian there were Malaysian syndicates — among them travel agents — who promoted seasonal farm work in Australia and ­advised clients to apply for protecti­on visas once the work was finished to extend their stay.

“They organise their tickets and arrange for the workers to enter Australia on tourist visas, but in actual fact they’re going to work for three months on farms,” Mr Chelliah said, adding the workers would be met by Australian brok­ers who delivered them to farms.

“The end carrot is they’re selling the idea that these workers can claim protection when their work is finished” and continue to work in Australia while their application was processed.

However, the rate of rejection for Malaysian passport holders ­applying for online tourist visas had recently “increased manyfold” as Australian authorities had got wise to the scam.

“I am getting lots of calls from Malaysians whose visas have been refused on the grounds of suspicion that their intended visit is not for genuine tourism purposes,” he said.

Mr Chelliah said while he had knocked back a number of prospective Malaysian clients seeking help to lodge protection claims, the system was now so well known among Malaysians that many ­simply lodged the online forms themselves.

Not all Malaysians seeking protectio­n visas were scamming the system, however, and institu­tional discrimination against non-Malay Muslims in Malaysia made many feel that their “life chances were being obstructed”.