Irish workers allegedly caught up in Australian visa fraud

The Australian offices of construction company Murphy Pipe and Civil (MPC) have been raided, and documents seized, in an investigation into alleged working visa fraud involving Irish people.

MPC allegedly helped dozens of Irish workers to fraudulently obtain skills-based 457 visas and other Australian visas, according to a report in Fairfax newspapers.

The company allegedly misled the Immigration Department to help Irish nationals obtain visas to work on multibillion-dollar developments such as the Curtis liquefied natural gas project in Queensland, and an iron ore project in Western Australia.

Whistleblowers within the company and other sources allegedly provided information that pointed to “widespread rorting of temporary skilled worker 457 visas and, to a lesser extent, working­holiday visas”.

Among the alleged examples of migration fraud is MPC’s role in sponsoring an Irish woman to help her get permanent residency in Australia, despite the fact she no longer worked for the company.

In another case, an Irish man working as a labourer submitted a handwritten CV which was then rewritten and typed up. He then allegedly obtained a 457 visa as a “project administrator”.

One of the MPC whistleblowers identified numerous “unskilled workers [labourers and machine operators] holding 457 visas that classed them as project co-ordinators and contract administrators”.

Immigration officers are reportedly examining allegations that dozens of foreign workers employed by MPC may have lied about their education or career history in order to get a skilled migration visa.

The company may face civil or criminal sanctions, or a ban on hiring overseas workers, as a result of the investigation.

There has been criticism that the government has failed to properly investigate some claims of visa fraud, but the head of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, Roman Quadvlieg, said a new investigations division was being created to target "entities seeking to commit visa fraud here in Australia".

Mr Quadvlieg said the new division “will allow a stronger focus and approach to border crime, whether that crime is related to attempts to circumvent physical border controls or to rort our visa system”.

In a statement made when the allegations against it were first raised, MPC said it “would never intentionally commit a breach of the migration act” and that it had relied on external advice when sponsoring its workers.

The Murphy Group was founded in England by Kerry man John Murphy in the 1950s. Murphy Pipe and Civil was formed five years ago when Australian company Pipe and Civil merged with Murphy Group.