Visa Sponsorship Scam
Following Domino’s Pizza Chain Visa Sponsorship Scam, where some franchisees have allegedly been charging up to $150,000 for a visa, Australian Government announced changes on 457 visa conditions. On 02 March 2017, Peter Dutton, The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection officially barred fast food chains from sponsoring foreign workers to work in Australia. Subsequent to this, Fast Food Labour Agreements that businesses like KFC and McDonalds previously had with the Government have also come to an end.
The real market statistics are as follows: Out of McDonalds’ 90,000 staff in Australia, they employ 285 foreign workers under the Fast Food Industry Labour Agreement – that is 0.31% of their total staff. Similarly, Hungry Jack’s workforce of over 18,900 staff is made up of approximately 0.39% foreign workers, and KFC’s workforce consists of 0.29% foreigners in their 30,000 strong work force. So averaging the above, the fuss is about 02% – 0.3% of the total fast food labour force!
Unfortunate for these workers, they will be forced to leave the country as soon as their current agreement finishes, unless the employer submits an individual case explaining why they should stay for an assessment.
Further to this, Labour continues to put additional pressure on Government by demanding that some occupations get taken off the CSOL, to enable improved employment conditions for Australians. Labour also wants more stringent labour market testing measures to be adopted based on mandatory four weeks advertising campaign prior to sourcing a foreign worker.
Clearly, 457 visa continues to be a ‘political football’ between the two leading parties as a vote winning exercise. It seems that both media and politicians often talk about 457 visa in a negative way but rarely do we hear them discussing the benefits that skilled migration brings to Australia in the form of training contributions and up skilling of local labour but also in keeping the regional businesses alive. BzMark’s philosophy is based on the belief that Australian economy, in order to grow, requires a steady influx of skilled migrants. This is why BzMark will continue to passionately defend each case that we take on.
BzMark is one of the oldest and most experienced independent business migration consultancies. We are results driven.
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