With taglines like “Ryugaku no chikara (Power of Studying Abroad)” attracting Japanese people aiming for a working holiday visa, one could learn a language while working abroad. With that there have been a number of problems with visas being cancelled suddenly due to falsified applications.
One service user who is currently in Sydney on a working holiday, working in a restaurant, said: “My visa was suddenly cancelled, and when I made enquiries, I was told that my documents had been falsified.”
A number of people who had obtained working holiday visas through an application agency “Ryugaku no chikara” had their visas suddenly cancelled.
One victim entered Australia in the winter of 2023 and temporarily returned to Japan in August 2024, where his visa was cancelled and was unable to re-enter Australia. He said he was only returning home temporarily, so all his luggage and stuff is still in Australia where he is still renting.
A number of Japanese people on working holiday have been unable to find work due to a lack of English skills and are finding it difficult to make a living. Surprising situations have also come to light, such as Japanese lining up at local soup kitchens.
This time, the problem was the financial institution’s balance certificate, which was required for the visa application. It was discovered that the application agency had been making fraudulent applications, changing only the name of the balance certificate used in previous applications.
A victim said “I was involved in a crime before and I immigration probably thinks that I have made a false application and entered the country with fraudulent documents, in other words, I am a criminal.” Victims are gathering information on social media and are considering class action lawsuits.
The representative of the agency admitted and said, “We took it lightly, and the applications were made under false pretenses since around June last year.”
The contractor admitted to re-using the balance certification documents. He has undertaken all the work alone, and was also unlicensed, without an Australian-recognized document agent qualification.
According to the contractor: About 150 people’s application forms were created by me. At the very least, I intend to take care of the customers financially. I’m really careless and selfish… I am so sorry, I apologize for that.
