2nd year visa - immigration/evidence advice

Diddler82

I had a search through for similar situations but was unable to find anything similar so this situation so any additional help would be welcomed. Long story short, a friend of mine has arrived over on his 1st WHV and he works with horses. His girlfriend was over here in 2006 for one year and she also works with horses, so this is where the plot thickens. She is now on a 3 month holiday visa for the time being

- She worked for a number of big horse trainers here in Sydney all of which can be accounted for.
- She went to work in a part of Queensland for a trainer (with an eligible postcode for a 2nd year WHV) with her then boyfriend but just got food and accommodation.
- As she did not get paid she has no details of the employer’s ABN but has his name and address from the time
- She has proof of working prior to going to Queensland and then her flight home after the regional work was completed.
- They have tracked down a number for the yard/stables and there is now a new trainer working there and he never heard of the previous trainer
- She is in the process of getting bank statements from the time she was in the area over the specified period (was in excess of the required 88 days) to prove she was there.
- They have done pretty much everything they can think of to track down the ABN/Trainer (including contacting Queensland racing, ABN Lookup, contacting trainers to see if they heard of him) but no joy so far. He may have been operating under someone else’s training licence which makes it even more difficult.

I have told her to go to immigration and state her case to them but before she does this, is there anything else you can think she can do or information she can get together that may help her when she goes to immigration.

Finally, the first question I did ask her was if she genuinely did work up there and I believe that she did. I told her visa fraud can land her in a lot of trouble but she is adamant and is happy to go into Immigration but wants to prepared as best she can.

They have spend hours upon hours on the phone from Ireland and then Malaysia where my friend was working recently trying to track this trainer down and get all the information possible together and they are coming up short. I'm just unsure how Immigration will treat a case like this - she completed the work and she has done everything to gather evidence so I do feel for them both.

hussey

Sydney doesn't count for anything in this case.

but if it was unpaid work and you can't find the trainer
"If the applicant chooses to undertake specified work in a voluntary capacity or for payment in kind, it may be difficult to verify they have completed the required specified work. If the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is not satisfied that they have completed three months specified work in regional Australia, their second Working Holiday visa may not be granted. To enable a successful visa application, it is preferable wages are paid directly into an Australian bank account and that an original bank statement is provided as evidence."

will be difficult

Diddler82

hussey wrote: »

Sydney doesn't count for anything in this case.

but if it was unpaid work and you can't find the trainer
"If the applicant chooses to undertake specified work in a voluntary capacity or for payment in kind, it may be difficult to verify they have completed the required specified work. If the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is not satisfied that they have completed three months specified work in regional Australia, their second Working Holiday visa may not be granted. To enable a successful visa application, it is preferable wages are paid directly into an Australian bank account and that an original bank statement is provided as evidence."

will be difficult

They are aware that the Sydney work counts for zilch - I included that information to paint a picture of her circumstances.

They have also seen the information highlighted above and they know it is going to be difficult, which is why I asked for people's help or opinions on what additional information they can provide!

Sorry hussey, your response confused me because it provided no useful information. I am not quite sure if that was your intention and you were actually trying to give some information/help.

The Aussie

I think Hussey was pointing out that DIAC are not that interested in voluntary work as such without watertight evidence of work carried out, imagine the crooked Farmers and lazy Backpackers just paying the Farmer some money to sign some paper.

Horse Racing in Australia is a tight knit community, someone in the community would know who he is if he was working out of Stables.

Diddler82

The Aussie wrote: »

I think Hussey was pointing out that DIAC are not that interested in voluntary work as such without watertight evidence of work carried out, imagine the crooked Farmers and lazy Backpackers just paying the Farmer some money to sign some paper.

Horse Racing in Australia is a tight knit community, someone in the community would know who he is if he was working out of Stables.

Fully accept what you are saying and I have no sympathy for people getting caught trying to pull such stunts. Unfortunate thing in this situation, at 21 or 22 leaving Australia back then it never dawned on her to gather as much information as she could back then.

Re the Horse Racing community, yes you would have thought so but the majority of her connections are here in Sydney and this guy was based in a remote part of QLD and as we both know its not like travelling from the Curragh to Listowel for example!

Mellor

Diddler82 wrote: »

Re the Horse Racing community, yes you would have thought so but the majority of her connections are here in Sydney and this guy was based in a remote part of QLD and as we both know its not like travelling from the Curragh to Listowel for example!

Regardless if where the stable was based, I'm sure he was training horses to race on the main venues around QLD. Somebody should know him.

hussey

Diddler82 wrote: »

They are aware that the Sydney work counts for zilch - I included that information to paint a picture of her circumstances.

They have also seen the information highlighted above and they know it is going to be difficult, which is why I asked for people's help or opinions on what additional information they can provide!

Sorry hussey, your response confused me because it provided no useful information. I am not quite sure if that was your intention and you were actually trying to give some information/help.

Sorry yes, my post was not helpful.
I was merely trying to point out that she has a very slim chance of this being accepted unless she can get some concrete evidence, which will be hard as she was unpaid. If she can prove by bank statements, that she was in that area during those 3 months, and a letter from the trainer. etc might strengthen her case

Diddler82

hussey wrote: »

Sorry yes, my post was not helpful.
I was merely trying to point out that she has a very slim chance of this being accepted unless she can get some concrete evidence, which will be hard as she was unpaid. If she can prove by bank statements, that she was in that area during those 3 months, and a letter from the trainer. etc might strengthen her case

.. and I sounded like a smart ars3! Apologies there ... you are more than helpful to all who visit these parts of Boards, which is why I thought you were getting to something but I didn't see it!

An update, they went to the ATO yesterday who verified she worked for 3 trainers here in Sydney and then a gap before she left which is just over 3 months.

Going to Immigration today in Parramatta to plead her case and see what they say. Hopefully they will see this as a genuine case and look on it favourably. Why I hear of all these little sh*t's using dodgy ABN's and getting away with it I get so annoyed .. they have ruined it for all the honest folk who actually done the work.

Sundy

Has she got things like emails and photographs from the time also. I have no idea if they will consider them but pub talk would suggest they are prepared to use things like that against you so may take them as evidence for also.