Posted on 07/01/2002 7:48:24 PM PDT by maui_hawaii
CANBERRA, July 1 (Reuters) - Australian authorities have cracked down education courses being used by foreigners as a front to get into the country with over 5,000 overseas students thrown out in nine months for not attending classes or working illegally.
The expulsions come as Australia clamps down on illegal immigration, joining forces with regional neighbours to combat organised gangs of people smugglers profiting from human cargo.
The number of visas granted to students offshore has surged in recent years, with 75,594 visas handed out in the year to June 30, 2001, a 16 percent jump on a year earlier, creating a A$4 billion (US$2.2 billion) a year business in Australia.
Most of these went to students in nearby Asian countries, with 14 percent from China, eight percent each from Malaysia and Hong Kong, six percent from Japan and five percent from Thailand.
But suspicious authorities tightened up reporting rules a year ago and have found thousands of so-called students are not attending classes but working in brothels, on building sites and in cafes and restaurants.
An Immigration Department spokesman said 5,152 student visas were cancelled between July 2001 and March this year because conditions were breached. He had no breakdown on nationality.
"When a visa is cancelled, they have to leave the country," the spokesman told Reuters.
This was a significant jump from the year ending June 30, 2001, when 3,838 visas were cancelled -- 4.4 percent of the total granted --- with 18 percent of offenders from Vietnam, 16 percent from India and 13 percent from both Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
In contrast, Denmark, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and Switzerland had student visa cancellation rates of less than one percent.
Under Australian rules, an overseas student must attend at least 80 percent of classes otherwise their names are forwarded e to immigration officials, and they cannot work more than 20 hours a week although this is harder to police.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the higher number of visa cancellations suggested the new regime was working but the system would remain under review.
"People were using student visas as a means of getting into the country and then working illegally," said the spokesman.
"But so far there is nothing to suggest it is a mass scam like the people smugglers in Indonesia are running."
(A$1=US$0.56)
What the h*ll's going on with our bastions of the Leftist tolerance throughout the world?
Maybe it's time for a worldwide synchronized broadcast of the Internationale to get people back behind the correct oars again!
U.S. schools act as visa-for-sale stores, study says
Related story:
It doesn't matter what you know, it matters how much you pay...and how you will add to the repuation of the school... You are not a student, you are a revenue number. Their strategy is more about long term financial planning than it is about educating people.
The question is, do you get what you pay for?
I actually went to the VP of a major state university once and asked for a refund. Seriously.
Given there are quite a few with academic excellence, but there are also quite a few academic idiots.
Supply and demand, Freepers. I've heard it on good authority from more than one business owner in Australia that the Aussies just don't want to work. They tell me it's next to impossible to get good employees.
Just another reason for compassionate conservatism to spread to Australia.
Okay, comrade ... I'll do my part.
8')
Okay, that one seems to work.
We've had to roll with the punches, but soon the Workers of the World will Unite once more and blahblahblahblahblah....!
;-)
Now I need to find out when the Military Intelligence unit will be in charge of gate guard duties and see if I can mess with their minds a little.
8')
Der Elite Møøsenspåånkengruppen OberKømmååndø (EMØØK)"
All hail the great Møøse/Prøletåriåt/Wørkers Pårti
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