1.3.3 Detection onshore
Objective
Identify and respond to breaches of immigration law in Australia and detect and locate people who have no lawful authority to be in Australia; have remained in Australia after their visa has expired (overstayers); or are in breach of conditions which apply to their visa (for example, illegal workers).
Description
Under this output component, the department aims to prevent and deter breaches of immigration law under The Migration Act 1958. Where this is not possible the department detects and locates those who have breached immigration law.
The department prepares an estimate of unlawful non-citizens at 30 June and 31 December each year. It is an estimate of all persons believed to have overstayed their visas at that date. ‘Overstayers’ are people who are suspected of remaining in the Australian community unlawfully after their temporary visas expire. The estimates therefore do not include overstayers who were in immigration detention at the estimate date.
A person who was unlawful for a period of time, but departed or was granted a further visa and became lawful again prior to the estimate date, is not included.
People found in breach of immigration law may have their visas cancelled, be removed from Australia and face prosecution. This output component also incorporates the investigation and prevention of organised fraud and immigration malpractice in the Australian community and the active engagement of intermediaries such as licensing bodies and employers to help reduce breaches of the Migration Act.
Performance
Despite a significant increase in the number of travellers to Australia, the number of overstayers has been trending down from 51 000 at 30 June 2004 to 46 400 at 30 June 2007.
The department attributes the decrease in the estimated number of overstayers to a number of factors, including the sustained improvement in relevant data quality. There has also been a higher level of adherence to conditions of entry to Australia, which is a product of more effective screening arrangements overseas.
In 2006-07 the department made significant progress on compliance business transformation to support the integrity of departmental programmes. This included a shift in focus towards a balance of prevention, deterrence and enforcement activities as reflected in the Compliance Programme Plan 2006-07.
This new focus is supported by enhanced training and procedures for the national compliance network.
In keeping with the department’s reform agenda, compliance staff now are not permitted to undertake field activities without having had appropriate training. Compliance officers now undertake an intensive 10-week accredited training programme. Sixty-nine officers underwent this training programme in 2006-07.
Under the Compliance Programme 2006-07, priority is now being given to the location and removal of unlawful non-citizens who pose the greatest risk to the Australian community.
The focus has also shifted from primarily dealing with individual visa breaches to focusing more strategically on employers, labour suppliers and organisers. The department’s aim is to work with these groups as far as possible, to prevent visa non-compliance and to use sanctions only where there is blatant or repeated non-compliance.
In 2006-07, the department located 11 304 people who had either overstayed their visas or were in breach of their visa conditions. This is an increase of 8 per cent on the 2005-06 total of 10 443 locations notwithstanding the shift in focus from general overstayers to more resource intensive, high risk cases. The actual number of detected overstayers has fallen since 2004-05 as a result of the focus on prevention, deterrence and targeted enforcement activities.
The department has introduced compliance quality assurance processes and IT improvements through the Systems for People programme and revision of instructions and policy. The use of the department’s Entitlement Verification Online (EVO) system by prospective employers to confirm individuals’ status has also increased
Cases where people approach the department voluntarily accounted for 7774 locations. Some 1513 locations occurred as a direct result of compliance field work. A further 1997 locations were recorded as ‘non-voluntary approaches’ where unlawful non-citizens are located by other government agencies - for example when police detain individuals for a criminal offence and it is then discovered they are unlawful non-citizens.
A total of 1309 locations concerned people who were found to be working illegally.
Of the 11 304 locations in 2006-07, some 9316 resulted in unlawful non-citizens being issued bridging visas. These visas can be granted for people to make arrangements to depart Australia, lodge substantive visa applications, or where they are pursuing merits or judicial reviews of visa decisions.
Employers and other intermediaries
A continuing strategy has been the focus on intermediaries such as employers, migration agents, education providers, and labour hire companies who can play a strong role in helping people to adhere to migration law.
During 2006-07, the department continued to promote the Entitlement Verification Online (EVO) system. This is an Internet-based real-time visa entitlement checking system that allows employers, labour suppliers, licensing authorities, and educational institutions to check immigration status and other entitlements of visa holders in Australia.
The EVO system has gained widespread acceptance from employers in every industry sector (including, for the first time, the sex industry) and is now the department’s main vehicle for immigration status checking. Feedback received from employers indicates a high level of satisfaction with the service, as they get an answer on the spot (compared with 24 hours or more for our faxback service).
In addition, employers do not need to keep any paperwork as the department keeps a record of who has been checking and what checks have been made.
The department continues to conduct employer awareness training sessions to educate employers about immigration status checking with the aim of reducing the number of illegal workers. These sessions also inform employers and labour suppliers about the immigration status checking facilities provided by the department. Illegal Worker Warning Notices are issued to employers or labour suppliers who have employed or referred illegal workers. The warning notices advise employers that they have employed an illegal worker and advise of the possibility of further prosecution. In 2006-07, the department issued 529 notices, compared to 1094 notices in 2005-06. A total of 175 employers received more than one notice.
The largest numbers of warning notices were issued in the following industries:
- accommodation, cafes and restaurants
- manufacturing
- retail trade
- construction
- personal and other service (sex industry).
An important milestone was reached during the year with the passage through parliament of the Migration Amendment (Employer Sanctions) Act 2007. From August 2007 it will be an offence for a person to knowingly or recklessly:
- allow an illegal worker to work
- refer an illegal worker for work with another business.
Individuals convicted of these offences face fines of up to $13 200 and two years’ imprisonment while companies face fines of up to $66 000 per illegal worker. The penalties are higher where exploitation through slavery, forced labour or sexual servitude is involved.
The offences apply to employers, labour hire companies, employment agencies and other people who allow illegal workers to work or refer illegal workers for work. This includes taxi owners who lease their taxi cabs to drivers, brothel owners who rent or lease rooms to sex workers and businesses that operate informal labour referral services such as hostels that organise harvest work for backpackers.
The introduction of these changes will be supported by an active information campaign explaining the department’s commitment to helping Australian employers find eligible workers from overseas, while at the same time enforcing Australia’s laws where abuse of immigration arrangements is detected.
Community information
Information from the public provides important support to the government in its efforts to maintain the integrity of the Migration Programme. Members of the public report instances of malpractice mainly through the department’s telephone reporting numbers. A free national ‘dob-in’ facsimile service is also available.
Members of the public made 47 432 calls in 2006-07 to the department’s telephone reporting numbers. This compares to 32 673 calls received in 2005-06.
Students
In 2006-07 the number of student visa cancellations was 6433, compared to 6922 student visa cancellations made in 2005-06.
In 2001, arrangements were introduced that provided for automatic cancellation of visas for overseas students who failed to meet the minimum class attendance requirements or achieve satisfactory academic results, as required by conditions attached to their visas.
The main condition is called Condition 8202 and provides that a visa holder must satisfy course requirements and, where such records are kept, attend at least 80 per cent of scheduled course contact hours.
Education providers must report students in breach of this condition to the department. They must also send students notices of breach, which require the students to attend a departmental office within 28 days to explain the breach. If students fail to comply with the notice their visa is automatically cancelled under s.137J of the Migration Act. Automatic cancellation enables a rapid response to breaches of Condition 8202, reducing the volume of resources required to follow up non-complying students.
Overstayers
‘Overstayers’ are people who are suspected of remaining in the Australian community unlawfully after their temporary visas expire. The estimates therefore do not include overstayers who were in immigration detention at the estimate date.
The department attributes the decrease in the estimated number of overstayers to a number of factors, including the sustained improvement in relevant data quality. There has also been a higher level of adherence to conditions of entry to Australia, which is a product of effective screening arrangements overseas.
Training
The department established the College of Immigration in July 2006 to provide training for people in key roles including compliance officers. During 2006-07, the college conducted three compliance courses – a pilot course in July 2006 (with 17 participants), in November 2006 (26 participants) and in March 2007 (26 participants).
Compliance officers who have the power to detain non-citizens and who are engaged in compliance field teams must be appropriately trained.
Only officers who have completed at least Module 1 of the nationally accredited Certificate IV (Statutory Investigations and Enforcement) course or the Compliance course at the College of Immigration are allowed to participate in compliance field activity. This includes all team members as well as people who undertake supporting activity in the field such as note takers. Team leaders need to have also completed Module 2 of the Certificate IV (Statutory Investigations and Enforcement) or the full College Compliance course before leading a compliance operation. It is expected that all compliance field officers will be trained by early 2008.
The department also conducted six new role-based visa cancellation packages during the year which were attended by more than 200 officers. Further training is a priority for 2007-08.