NHK reports that some people in Japan employed an agent to prepare their working holiday visa documents for Australia who submitted false documents. However, the agent faked the financial check documents and submitted the same information by just changing the name. He said he thought it wouldn’t be found because they rarely check.
He was charging USD $15 for making the certificate which is a hassle to arrange by yourself as you need to go the bank or if impossible if you don’t have USD $5000 in your bank account. Everyone who submitted a fake certificate could have their visa cancelled and be banned from entering Australia for several years.
Australia Working Holiday Visa Documents Scam
byu/stuartcw injapannews
2 Comments
I’ve been living in Japan for more than a decade.
Anecdotally, I feel like there’s a lot more “soft” scams in Japan than Australia or the other English speaking countries I’ve lived in.
Back home, the scams are more upfront and easier to spot. People are also used to calling out scammers so there’s solid deterrent.
Whereas in Japan, normal companies or scriveners like this one will pull soft scams on you in the guise of regular services. And it seems far more common for some reason.
As someone who has known alot of Japanese on one and then second year working holiday visas, the farm work requirement is/was as close to indentured labour as you can get,
They are not paid the award by the fruit/farm businesses and then are made to stay in the farm accommodations which are not up to par for the price.