I've come into something very strange and I need any assistance from anyone living in Poland. My girlfriend has come to Australia to study (she came last November 2013) and she went to an agent in Poland who helped her get a study visa to study here.
Facts: - She had no sponsorship from anyone. - The agent (surname: iwanowski ) has no registration/no MARA number by the Australian government, despite apparently having one (I checked with the AU Government) - Agents workplace is apparently: perfect. wroc. pl/
My girlfriend told me that her agent told her that the Australian government would pay him money for getting her into Australia to study and that she didnt have to pay anything for his efforts.
This just doesn't make any sense to me and I have no idea what is going on. Maybe I dont understand the system as well as I should.
Please if anyone has anything they can tell me, that would be fantastic.
Is your gf in Australia now ? If so ...what are you trying to proof ? If she is not ...are you asking if the agent is legit ? Sorry I just dont understand your question.
I just want to be sure that the agent isnt a load a rubbish and that the Australian government actually pays agents to send young people to Australia to study (fashion)...it doesnt sound right that you find an agent, make the agent go through all the legal work to get you a visa, handle all negotiations etc - and then NOT pay them anything.
Also, if the Australian government DOES pay agents - they wont pay him because according to the government he is not a registered agent anyway. So I think something is up but I dont know what.
- The agent is not registered by the government, they have no record of him - I'm asking if it is even standard practice that the Australian government actually PAYS agents money to send a student to Australia to study. If so, he wouldnt be paid anyway because he is not a registered agent.
Ok , there are so called "agents / lawyers" who claim that they can help people emigrate to AU,CA or USA or.... in reality all they do is file application on persons behalf to immigration office or embassy of country of interest , this process usually costs about $1000-3000 or... All of this can be done by the applicant himself /herself for around $500 ,after filing its pretty much up to the immigration office wheter or not person qualifies to become visa student or resident or whatever other status there is . Then the "agent" will try to milk applicant for every penny , promissing quicker departure , speeding up the process and other b.s. Now if the agent truly helped your gf with student visa for no cost to her , then that my friend is a miracle . I honestly never heard of goverment of any country paying an individual money for bringing in foreign student . Other words I think it all is load of ...t
That is exactly my thoughts - what would someone get for sending a student to Australia to study? Nothing. I share your opinion - no government would pay anyone money for sending someone to their country. Never. This 'agent' told my girlfriend to pay for the visa costs (which she did), but just said that all his application services and more were free because the government would pay him later.
I spoke with an official who claimed that usually there are fraud agents who 'claim' who assist with visa applications, who come up with many of the excuses you mentioned, but also trade their services for money payments or for other (more carnal) reasons - Australian official's speculation on this situation.
An interesting side note: This agent emailed my girlfriend asking her if she would be in Sydney or Melbourne to meet with him or if she would travel to Alice Springs (very far from any main city in Australia)...something is not right with him.
I think there is a piece of the puzzle missing:
Girlfriend paid for plane ticket, visa application costs, insurance - everything herself to come to Australia.
Agent handled all communication, negotiations/planning/talking with the government and her college - also enrolled her into study.
She claims she never paid him anything for these services. She claims he told her that the Government will pay him for helping her.
"Agent handled all communication, negotiations/planning/talking with the government and her college - also enrolled her into study."
Negotiations, Communication ? With whom ? ....Talking to goverment ?About what ? Really it sounds to me like he is "head hunter" who works for college where he enrolled her , and he got a cut for bringing her in . I dont think its very hard for him to make money that way or difficult to obtain student visa for potential client. As long as students or their parents are willing to pay for education abroad , especially in attractive country like AU there will always be "the middle man " making a buck in the process .
"Really it sounds to me like he is "head hunter" who works for college where he enrolled her"
Interesting theory and Im sure it fits to many situations, except my girlfriend had already chosen the college herself before she met the agent and actually found him later on.
At the moment the AU government have no idea how she and her agent worked to get her here; of course if she did it herself, no problem - the fact that an 'agent' is involved, they want to know why he is apparently representing the government (which he is not) and why he agreed to help her for no payment.
Goverment is involved? Well if her papers are legit she has nothing to worry about . As for the agent I really dont know what to say , either your gf is not telling something or he genuinely helped her for free, or it was a mysterious fraud where he scored $$$
