Visa cancellations hit record high
Statistics released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection indicate that visa cancellations are now at a record high.
In the year ended 30 June 2017, 1,284 visas were cancelled on character grounds, up by 30% from the figure to June 2016. In 2010-11, only 137 visas were cancelled on character grounds, so the Department of Immigration has significantly increased its focus on cancelling visas in the last few years.
Many of the cancellations were for drug offences and violent crimes such as Assault and Armed Robbery. There were also instances of cancellation for crimes of Murder, Child Sex Offences/Pornography and even War Crimes.
More than half of the visa cancellations on character grounds were of New Zealand citizens (664 of the total of 1,284), and the next most common country was the UK with 137 cancellations.
These statistics emphasise the importance for employers of always checking visa work rights prior to and during employment. Even if an employee indicates that they are an NZ or UK citizen with residency, making assumptions on visa status is very dangerous. Employers who hire employees without work rights face significant fines of up to $315,000 and can even face jail time.
If you check your employees with vSure, you will know whether your employee has had a visa cancellation – they will either have no visa or have a Bridging E visa pending review of the cancellation. You can also schedule ongoing visa checks for your employees – if a cancellation occurs after you employ the person, you will be notified and be able to take the necessary action.
A solution for organisations of every size
If you only have a few foreign workers, use vSure Instant Check to confirm your employee’s work rights.
The vSure Work Rights app has been built to ensure medium to large employers are compliant with the obligations to take “reasonable steps at reasonable times” to check employee work rights.
Rather than having to manually check individuals, vSure has been built specifically for employers with more than 10 foreign workers to check and automatically keep checking work rights. The app will email or SMS you each time it checks (generally monthly), ensuring you maintain your compliance, without the manual effort.
If you want the easiest and most effective way to ensure work rights compliance, please click here to request a demonstration today.
