My personal opinion is, first you have to frame the issue to DHA in a way that is compelling enough that they are incentivised to consider taking some sort of action. So I like the language around 'planned sabotage' and framing the issue as a critical risk management issue to the migration program in general / a national security issue.

Foremost in my mind is highlighting to DHA that the current SkillSelect system at present is likely not helping but hurting Australia in achieving its Migration Planning goals, specifically when it comes to general skilled migration visas (including the new regional migration goals and associated visas that will be rolled out soon).

The current system is open to easy compromise, especially if a state-sponsored actor wished to disrupt the skilled migration flow to Australia via false and/or misleading EOIs with no intention of subsequently lodging a visa.

There are some people like Abdul Rizvi - a former Deputy Secretary at DHA - who over the past months has been exceptionally candid about the current failings and flaws in the 'immigration system' - perhaps it is worth reaching out to allies like him to flag the issue and see if he has any interest in articulating the above or exploring how this issue can be elevated further.

Here is a small example of some of his writing: https://insidestory.org.au/authors/abul-rizvi/

 

Opening this thread to discuss more on fake EOI & wasted invitation and how can they be stopped. Admin please feel free to delete if it is duplicate.

For last few months the sharp increase rate of 85+pointers EOI has been a point of discussion, and I think most of us believe a big chunk of those EoIs are actually fake EOI. Now with fluctuating invites from DHA is making that those 85+ pointers are getting invited only, which means out of total 2700 invited in 2019-20 , probably more than 50% will be wasted invitation and again in 2 months they will come back to system. And we original candidates will be deprived of our chances.

What is the reason for fake eois?
1. Individuals making it to ensure earlier DOE, so even if 1st invite is lost on 2nd invitation they will reach that point after nov 16?
2. Planned sabotage?
3. Agents are creating eois so that they can get more money from clients?

No one knows. There are lots of conspiracy theories like Pearson PTE, NAATI, PY companies like Navitas and so on so they can earn more money. But here's my viewpoint of what I have seen over the last 3-4 years.

Fake EOIs doesn't stop an applicant from getting invite. It may proportionally disadvantage some occupation, but visa grant number is decided by DOHA and not on the number of Skillselect invite sent. DOHA adjusts invite based on how many they need. So, if they want to grant 10,000 people, they will send 10,000 invite and if 3000 doesn't accept due to fake, they will invite another 3000-4000 till they can fill the gap. So, overall the number of people getting grant remains at the hands of DOHA and planning of Australian government. It may cause temporary crisis but only genuine people will spend $3500+ to take the invite.

So, what is causing this sudden cry of too many fakes and stuff? Well fakes and duplicate EOIs been here all the time. But DOHA has slashed invite from 190,000 to 130-150K now and based on the numbers, we are probably looking at 140K this year which includes a lot of NZ applicant. So, that's 50,000-60,000 less visa grant and hence it has ballooned points requirements and cry among intending migrants.

One can simply see if they invite an extra 20,000 people this year, points will hit 70-65 in a jiffy as all of the 90,85,80 and 75 will be cleared. So, supply and demand is the issue and not fake EOIs.

What can we do to stop this?
1. As suggested by NB & some other members can we suggest DHA to introduce application fee? Is there any way like petition?
2. System level integration with ACS/ EA etc to check the ref no is correct and allowing the ref no to be used only once in skill select.
3. a humble request to all person who has multiple eoi in system - please delete your other eois once you get invitation.

1. That's the best option but DOHA has too much to do than fix SkillSelect.
2. That doesn't stop genuine applicant from submitting 1000 copies of the same EOI and never taking invite. So, there maybe no fake EOIs but wasted invite will still be there.
3. That's never gonna happen so no point.

 

I think they did the same strategy with partner visa to make the processing time for 189 to 18-33 months. Who lodged fake EOIs will live in limbo forever.

 

I’d charge a nominal amount for an EOI submission. It usually sorts out most issues.

 

Can we start a petition to get DHA attention on this?

 

There has already been petition and DOHA knows. But it doesn't matter. Also if you look up one of the invitation round in late 2017 where 95% of the invite went to fake EOIs, DOHA just manually invited that round and moved on. As I posted above, fake EOIs doesn't stop people getting invite. Its DOHA who decides how much they want.

If there were no fake invites, then lets says for 10,000 places DOHA will only invite 10,000 and not 13,000 (with 3000 wasted on fakes/unused EOIs) which means even less number of invites will be issued by DOHA. So, fake doesn't make much difference. Its DOHA who is not inviting people.

 

Asides from charging a small fee to submit an EOI, i've always thought it should be possible to not include invites the second time around by default.

The user's record should be suspended after the first invite and if the user didn't apply for a visa in the 60 days then their record should need the user to do something if they want it to be considered at a later date (ie unsuspend). I think this makes more sense to seek some positive affirmation from a user before considering an EOI for a second time.

 

Looks like the fake EOI is not an issue at all for DHA
So they will not take any actions
A problem can only be solved if you accept in the first place that a problem exists

Cheers

 

How about the guys who fake their PTE/ IELTS Cert?

 

Another very interesting fact is here: https://myimmitracker.com/en/au/trackers/consolidated-visa-tracker-sc189/analytics/visa-lodged-by-period

First of all, there is no specific reason why people starting using immitracker or stopping using it. Therefore I believe the graph reflects at least the ratio of visa lodge.

Obviously, compare to last FY, the ratio of visa lodge has dropped dramatically this FY. I believe this is due to increasing number of fake EOI.

 

The quota for 189 couple of years back was 44,000 every year
Now it’s reduced to 18,000
So even without fake EOIs the number of visas lodged would be 2.5 times lesser

Cheers

 

Without any offence and with all my respect to all opinions here; I guess that there is no need of trying very hard to justify an unethical behavior on behalf of those who create fake EOIs!! "Wrong is wrong".

I personally know many people who lost their chances to get invited because of losing age points (when it comes to age, each single day matters not couple of months!!). and if the reason was the wasted invitation so it is UNFAIR.

I also didn't mention those who create multiple EOIs for 190 (different states) & 189 & 489 and don't withdraw the rest once they got invited or lodge the visa application.

 

I dont think migration agent will have the intention of creating fake EOIs because they can earn more money when their client gets an invitation and ask them to help, resulting in them charging a higher service fees.

 

Agents in Australia run PTE and Naati classes

Getting dates for Naati, Preparing for Naati is now a big thing onshore as competition is increasing

If everyone starts doing Naati, its more money for Agencies

Current rates - $1000 for Naati booking ($800 + $200) $200 for booking an earlier date which are not available on websites. What they do here is pre-book with some id, when someone comes to them to book, they release from one id and book in the applicants id and charge them $200

Naati Classes - $600 to $800

After all this if a person gets invited it is obvious he/she will go through them for application, that's more money.

 

Duplicate post...

 

For clarification I'll explain with an example

5 agency employees submit Naati application with ID's and stuff, They all book dates for April in different cities. Over next 1 month all the April dates are gone.

They advertise that they can book April dates for you for $200.

Person 1: Gives $200 + $800 (Naati fee) to the agency. The Agency simply reschedules the employees naati date to July now. Logs into the person's account and gives him/her April date.

This keeps on going until Naati demand will decrease, which is unlikely due to limited 189 PR Grants so everyone will do Naati. So how to convince people to do Naati? Fake EOI's, create a fear that without Naati PR is impossible, oo also we can book naati dates for you for a mere $200, oo we have classes also, more competition more money

Hope this explains how this is possible

 

They should be sued. this is daylight robbery. Can't believe a first world country like Oz is letting these unscrupulous vultures run riot, that too with the tacit blessings of the govt

 

Serious fine should be placed by DHA on the fake EOIs. If they encounter any agents with more number of such fake EOIs, there licence to be cancelled and MARA membership needs to be revoked.

 

Good news for Naati aspirants, they just released a whole lot of new dates yesterday and exam bookings until December 2020

 

OMG ! I owe you a lifetime.
I usually check this every day as it has become a daily routine of mine. But somehow I missed yesterday.
Just checked now and was fortunate enough to reschedule my May 2020 to Feb 2020.

 

Thanks for the tips on rescheduling NAATI! Unfortunately, I have to keep my July 2020 date, since I'm relearning Spanish to gain complete fluency and take the exam (yes, this is how badly I want to move to Australia).

It helps in the future though, because in case I need to go take it again, I know that I could possibly get an earlier test date. Of course, it would be even better if I got an invite without having to take NAATI. Don't we all wish?

But in getting back to DOHA not paying attention, is there any sort of FOI request that can be put in to see how many fake EOIs there are? Like if there are exact matches on IELTS IDs etc? I know it would take time, but they should be able to do a diff on certain columns in an EOI database to see if there are exact matches.

 

Just get more points then

 

What was the purpose of this post other than to be rude? If you read the responses on this thread, and many other threads, you will see people talking about working to get more points from PTE, IELTS, and NAATI.

Getting more points, which isn't always an easy thing to do based off of age or other factors (e.g. you can't go on a working holiday visa if you're over 32, etc) is not the answer to combating fraud in the system.

There are plenty of other countries who make people pay for their EOI and then they either refund the money if the person doesn't apply for their visa or that cost is applied toward the visa application. No one here is whining or complaining. This is a legitimate concern.