Canberra visa service accused of scamming thousands of dollars

A US citizen moving to be with his Australian wife has accused ICAustralia in the Canberra's city centre for cheating him of thousands.

Transcript

00:00 It's Bhagyashree Savyasachi from the Canberra Times and behind me is a building on Moore

00:04 Street in Canberra and it's home to an immigration consultancy firm that promises to help immigrants

00:11 with their visa application process.

00:14 One report that came to us at the Canberra Times was from an American who tried to get

00:18 his visa approved and he says he has lost about 28,000 Australian dollars over eight

00:25 months and still doesn't have a visa and is convinced that it's a scam.

00:35 Many Australians may believe that it doesn't affect Australia because the victims are not

00:39 Australian.

00:40 However, the issue actually affects us because of at least three reasons.

00:46 It affects Australia's reputation as one of the world's most favourable destinations.

00:54 Second, many of those victims are actually future Australians or the friends and relatives

01:01 of Australians.

01:02 Lastly, and very important, it will affect the integrity of our immigration system.

01:09 Thank you.

01:10 [END]

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