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Sunil bought a car on Facebook Marketplace, but after driving away it began to make concerning noises.
Sunil told the seller, who requested he still take the car. Eventually, Sunil decided to get it repaired and pay the seller the difference.
“The seller started threatening me and said his solicitor will contact me and see me in court,” he told SBS Examines.
“But because of my visa status and being afraid of going to court and what that would do to my record, I just pay extra to get car repaired myself.”
Sunil said this is a common thought for many visa holders.
“There is fear in my community of visas being revoked when it comes to fines. They just pay them even if they know when sometimes they’re not at fault or get wrongly fined,” he said.
Immigration Advice and Rights Centre principal solitior Ann Emanuel said much of this fear and misinformation can be attributed to the compexity of the migration system.
“We do hear a lot from our clients that they’ve been told something about a visa being cancelled or being deported . . . Part of it is the complexity of the migration system, it’s not a straightforward or an easy thing to understand,” she said.
Ms Emanuel said the most common instances of visa abuse happen in workplaces or in circumstances of domestic violence.
“There’s a really big fear about what the consequences are if they leave or if they report,” she said.
In this episode of SBS Examines, we ask what it actually takes to have your visa cancelled and address how misinformation contributes to visa abuse.
