When Chilean national Valentina Olivares arrived in Sydney in 2016 as an international student, the reality of life in Australia was far from the rosy picture painted by migration agents.
The report found some international students were directed by education agents into “ghost colleges”, with concern that advice was skewed towards options which offer the adviser the highest commission. ‘We are totally unprotected. Politicians are blaming us for the housing crisis but we are not the cause - we are also the victims.’“Alarmingly, this power imbalance is exploited by some advisers for financial gain, often through false or overstated assurances about acquiring more secure visa options.”
“I didn’t have any type of sick leave or holidays but I didn’t realise I was entitled to rights as a migrant,” she said.Many international students are dealing with poor conditions.She found the advice from migration agents was often unclear and slow and the real costs of her English course significantly higher than what she had been told.
“We are totally unprotected,” she said. “Politicians are blaming us for the housing crisis but we are not the cause – we are also the victims.Melanie MacFarlane, chair of the International Students Education Agents Association, said there were unscrupulous operators who took advantage of a very vulnerable cohort.