Bangladesh has no shortage of immigration agents selling false documents to make up an application including academic credentials, English language scores and financial statements.
Wednesday April 26, 2023 07:05 PM Last Updated: Wednesday April 26, 2023 07:12 PM
Sydney Opera House, Australia. Photo: Collected
,
A sight very noticeable while walking the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. pasting pictures of the national flags of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States in front of various offices and writing various slogans there, mostly to attract international students.
Such a view can also be seen in various Mofaswal cities.
Latest news on Daily Star Bangla Google News Channel. Universities in the mentioned countries employ local migration agents to facilitate the admission of international students.
Political unrest and job insecurity in Bangladesh have forced students to migrate. A section of migration agents are taking advantage of this opportunity.
Bangladesh has no shortage of immigration agents selling false documents to make up an application including academic credentials, English language scores and financial statements.
Students who enroll in foreign universities without meeting the academic requirements or without English language skills face various problems for good reasons. Dropping out or neglecting education especially to drive the high cost of living, they just keep on working, finding a way to live sustainably.
Almost all countries in the world have set assignment deadlines for international students. Usually they get 20 hours of work per week.
In January last year, Australia’s former Morrison government removed student work deadlines entirely. Since then, fraudulent student visa applications have increased in Australia.
In such circumstances, Australian universities have taken the initiative to stop fraudulent visa applications. Under this, student visa applications from some states of India have been banned. Last year also more than 80 thousand Indian students were studying in Australia.
The concerned ministry in Australia told the media there that some applicants from India are not genuine students and their visa applications are being rejected.
The Australian Department of Education informed Indian overseas agents in February this year that it was temporarily suspending enrollment from Punjab and Haryana for all undergraduate courses.
A letter in this regard reads, “The increase in the number of visa rejections from these regions has raised concerns about the academic progress of students and we desire to take necessary precautions to protect the interests of genuine students.”
Investigations by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald last week revealed that education agents working for Victoria University, University of Wollongong, Torrens University and Southern Cross University had banned Indian students because of visa fraud. More restrictions imposed by Ministry of Home Affairs on students of some states of India are coming.
A Bangladeshi migration agent living in Australia said on condition of anonymity, “I have offices in 5 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. We have been working as agents for many universities in Australia for almost 20 years. The strictness that has been imposed on visas at present has never happened before.
He also said, ‘Universities should not be held responsible for this. A section of migration agents also masquerades many non-students as students. They took huge amount from the applicants and produced fake documents. If this continues, Bangladeshi students may also be banned like India.
Aqidul Islam: Australian expatriate writer, journalist