Under new migration regulations introduced by the Federal government last month, visa applicants providing false information, even unwittingly, in their visa applications could potentially be banned for ten years from Australian visa.
The previous penalty was an exclusion period of 12 months and a possible ban of three years.
According to the Immigration Minister, this has been done to prevent applicants from circumventing the rules by way of withdrawing their applications “once notified by the Department of suspected fraud, only to re-attempt their visa application after the period of 12 months has elapsed.”
Experts believe the changes may have a devastating and life-long impact on some migrants.
“[It] would have quite a devastating impact on any migrant who breached their rule of perfection in any manner whatsoever,” Mary Crock, an immigration law specialist at the University of Sydney told SBS News.
“If you’re denied that long then it’s going to become impossible to come to the country.”
But, the Greens are opposing the changes, with Senator Nick Mckim introducing a motion in the Senate to against what he calls a “relentless attack” on migrants by the Immigration Minister.
“This is a punitive and vindictive proposal from Peter Dutton that really is cracking a walnut with a massive sledgehammer,” Senator Nick McKim told SBS News.
Senator McKim is introducing a motion in the upper house this afternoon to overturn the new regulations which came into effect on 18th November.
Unlike a Bill, the Migration Legislation Amendment (2017 Measures No 4) Regulations were introduced after the Governor-General signed those, and did not require a vote in the parliament.
Under these new rules, any applicant who has provided bogus documents or false or misleading information to the Immigration Department, Migration Review Tribunal or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, may face the stick under the Public Interest Criterion (PIC) 4020, and may be locked out of the visa process for ten years.
An application lodged since November 18 may now be refused if fraud was detected in any earlier application made within the previous 10 years.
The Greens are confident they have the numbers to disallow the regulation in the Senate.
