Claim: A post, which is gaining traction on WhatsApp, has called for application for Australian Visa sponsorship and job due to a labour shortage and that there’s guaranteed success of 99.9 per cent using the platform.
Verdict: False. While it is true that Australia has declared that it is having labour shortage, the website is a phishing platform with the aim of compromising victim’s data.
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Full story
A message is being posted on various groups on WhatsApp with a call to apply for visa sponsorship through job application in Australia.
The message says; “AUSTRALIA VISA SPONSORSHIP and JOBS 2023 (LABOUR SHORTAGE). The Australian government is looking for national and international applicants who can fill the shortage of jobs in Australia.
“The Australian Government announced a 400% number of Immigrants. This is an opportunity to work legally in Australia. Australia has already increased the number of Immigrants from 35000 to 195000 in the current year.”
It stated that “Benefits” of using the link provided in the message include; “99.9 percent Visa Sponsorship and 99.9 percent Success Rate.”
Background
A publication by the Financial Review, a newspaper publication in Australia, described as gloomy the state of business environment in the country when it stated that business owners are in limbo over shortage of workers with more than 423,000 job vacancies declared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This is just as the country is having a 3.9 per cent unemployment rate, a 48-year low, and the proportion of adult population with a job or looking for at a record high of 66.7 per cent. The review added struggle with getting staff to applicants not having the required skills (59 percent) and a lack of applicants (79 percent).
“The inability to find workers is also not sector-specific, with the shortage affecting every industry. The five sectors that have been hit hardest with staff shortages are trades, hospitality and tourism, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology,” it stated.
A diplomat blamed the shortage on Australia’s daunting visa process which involves high fees and long processing time. “People often have to wait years for decisions to be made, limiting their ability to plan their lives effectively, and preventing Australia from being able to take advantage of their skill-sets.”
It said a visa like the Temporary Skills Shortage visa can often take a year to process, undermining its usage to bring essential labour into the country quickly.
According to a report by Reuters, this was compounded due to a backlog of over 914,000 applications for permanent and temporary visas as of August 12.
It said from these, about 370,000 are visas in key temporary categories of visitors, students and skilled visas that are key for the country’s economic recovery after the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes applicants already in Australia and looking to change their visa status to a more permanent one.
“It said the delays are largely due to resource shortages at immigration offices and a huge backlog of applications that were left unattended for two years as the pandemic forced the government to seal the borders.”
But, to tackle the problem, the government announced some measures to allow “older Australians being able to work more hours without it affecting their government pensions, and relaxing work restrictions for international students which will allow annual immigration intake from 160,000 people to 195,000.”
Verification
When this reporter visited the link on the message, he was directed to a page stating “Start your journey towards Australia. Now Companies and Employers in Australia will provide Visa Sponsorship to International applicants and they will invite them to work in Australia.
“The government is also looking for National & International applicants who can fill the Shortage of jobs in Australia. Australian Public services are giving thousands of jobs.”
It further asked for the First Name, Title, Last Name, Phone Number, Email address and country and a bar that says apply.
Without filling any of the information, this reporter clicked on the apply bar and it brought another page saying, “Your Application for the ongoing Australia Sponsorship Visa and Jobs Program Is now on process. Kindly Validate Your Name to proceed to the next step. Note! The Number Of Applicant is limited.”
It also has a timer that shows the number of people that has applied through the link with comments claiming to be from those that have successfully applied.
When the bar on ‘continue’ was clicked, it asked for full name and current level of education. But he tried to proceed without filling the information but was prompted to “please fill your name.”
When a name was inputted, another page propped up congratulating him for being qualified for job and study in Australia.
This is despite the platform not asking for the course the applicant intended to study while there or the sector they would like to work in.
Also, it was accompanied with a message asking him to share to five groups or 15 friends on WhatsApp.
A check on Australia’s Department of Home Affairs indicated that from the 195,000, Employer Sponsored Visa was only 35,000.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, it is evident that while information on labour shortage in Australia is true, the website is a phishing network that steals information from individuals which can be sold or used for online scams.
