Why cant they get it right way round
Jul 16th 2004, 7:48 am
#1
small steps long journey
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Why cant they get it right way round
From SMH
Immigration blunders let thousands overstay
By Cynthia Banham
July 16, 2004
A host of systematic failures in the Immigration Department's procedures for dealing with illegal workers and visitors overstaying their visas had left tens of thousands of people in Australia illegally, according to an investigation by the national bureaucratic watchdog.
The report by the Australian National Audit Office said that last month there were nearly 60,000 visa overstayers in the country. The department located around 21,500 non-citizens who had invalid visas in the last financial year.
Despite this, the Audit Office said the department failed to analyse the information it collected on these people to work out what the deficiencies were in its policies that led to such high numbers of visa breaches.
The department also failed to analyse its tip-offs - a "significant source of information" leading to picking up overstayers.
The Audit Office said the department could not even provide it with a national aggregate of the number of tip-offs it received in the last financial year.
Among other criticisms, the report found that applicants for visas were not given enough information about what they could or could not do while they were in Australia and about the consequences of breaching their immigration papers.
The department also failed to collect and analyse feedback from employers who hired illegal workers and did not profile employer groups and labour suppliers who were likely to employ or refer workers with no authorisation to work.
In a highly damning appraisal of the Immigration Department's systems, the Audit Office made a number of recommendations for change, including that it needed to develop a better understanding of its "onshore compliance population" - that is, visitors to Australia.
Immigration blunders let thousands overstay
By Cynthia Banham
July 16, 2004
A host of systematic failures in the Immigration Department's procedures for dealing with illegal workers and visitors overstaying their visas had left tens of thousands of people in Australia illegally, according to an investigation by the national bureaucratic watchdog.
The report by the Australian National Audit Office said that last month there were nearly 60,000 visa overstayers in the country. The department located around 21,500 non-citizens who had invalid visas in the last financial year.
Despite this, the Audit Office said the department failed to analyse the information it collected on these people to work out what the deficiencies were in its policies that led to such high numbers of visa breaches.
The department also failed to analyse its tip-offs - a "significant source of information" leading to picking up overstayers.
The Audit Office said the department could not even provide it with a national aggregate of the number of tip-offs it received in the last financial year.
Among other criticisms, the report found that applicants for visas were not given enough information about what they could or could not do while they were in Australia and about the consequences of breaching their immigration papers.
The department also failed to collect and analyse feedback from employers who hired illegal workers and did not profile employer groups and labour suppliers who were likely to employ or refer workers with no authorisation to work.
In a highly damning appraisal of the Immigration Department's systems, the Audit Office made a number of recommendations for change, including that it needed to develop a better understanding of its "onshore compliance population" - that is, visitors to Australia.
