Trapped and scared: these migrants say they’ve lost thousands to a migration consultancy

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“Are you looking for employer sponsorship visa opportunities? Then let’s help you with your PR pathway.”
It’s an offer that seems fairly straightforward.
Advertisements like this were shared across social media, promising hopeful migrants a company called My Ambition Consulting could help them stay in Australia.
For Nisha, who migrated to Australia from Nepal six years ago, it was an attractive proposition.
The 27-year-old has been working in the aged care sector while studying on a student visa, but her ultimate dream is to become a nurse.
She shares her visa with her husband, Eshwar, and together the couple decided to meet with My Ambition’s managing director, Abhinaya Bhandari, in January.
“He promised us that he was going to arrange a sponsor employer for us. And he asked us to pay $11,000 for the process.”
Nisha says that amount of money had taken years to save.
“We have to pay everything here like college fees, rent, every bill, groceries and everything. And we can hardly save that money. Even when we first pay him that money, I said it’s our savings and we really worked hard for this… But he said, don’t worry, I’m like your brother, you have to trust us.”
The couple were promised they would soon receive a call from an employer, but the call never came.
After eight weeks, the couple confronted Abhinaya Bhandari and requested a refund.
He agreed to pay back $10,500 and sent the couple a screenshot of a bank transfer purporting to be the refund – but the money never appeared in their account.
When Nisha and Eshwar questioned why they still hadn’t received the money days later, Mr Bhandari advised them he had cancelled the refund as it didn’t meet the terms of the agreement they had signed and suggested a meeting instead.
Nisha and Eshwar reluctantly agreed to meet but My Ambition’s managing director didn’t attend and he has since stopped responding to the couple altogether.
Trying to find a way to contact him, they came across a Facebook page filled with comments from people claiming to have been scammed by My Ambition Consulting.
“After three months we saw a page, the scammer’s page, and everything was shown in the detail about that company and we were scared and we just realised that we were just trapped into a scam and it has happened to many people.”
The company’s managing director, Abhinaya Bhandari, did not respond to SBS.
Questions sent via his lawyer were also declined.
In July, the couple decided to take the matter to the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which ruled Mr Bhandari must pay back the full $11,000 on the basis of the uncompleted contract for services.
But the couple say they still haven’t received a cent.
“We came to a stage to take the pills. But thankfully we haven’t (taken them), but still we are depressed. We are sleepless until now.”
SBS News is aware of more than 70 people who claim the company owes them their money back.
The New South Wales consumer protection regulator has confirmed it is investigating the company for allegedly accepting payment and failing to supply services at all or in a reasonable time.
In a statement to SBS, a spokesperson said, “New South Wales Fair Trading has received 28 complaints about My Ambition Consulting since December 2023.”
Tala, whose name has been changed for privacy, contracted My Ambition Consulting to connect her with an employer who would sponsor not only her, but also her husband and two children.
Six years ago she migrated from the Philippines to Melbourne, leaving behind her eldest daughter.
“I haven’t seen my daughter since Covid time because we’re not allowed to fly out. We are allowed to fly outside, but we can’t come back. So my only option is to wait. So that’s why we’re looking for a visa process option, so that at least she can come and stay with us. So when we signed up with this in 2022, we are so excited about it and we were so happy because finally we’ll be together.”
But after waiting almost a year, and paying $32,000, Tala found out the employer nomination submitted by My Ambition Consulting had been refused by the Department of Immigration.
When she inquired further, the Department said the application contained significant errors including the absence of an employment contract.
In August 2023, Mr Bhandari sent Tala a letter, which SBS News has seen, promising to refund her $32,000 within 30 days – but the refund was never received.
Including payments to the Department of Immigration and to a lawyer, who Tala engaged to help recoup funds from My Ambition, she’s spent more than $50,000.
Tala says the worst part is the way it’s affected her relationship with her husband and family.
She says she can’t bring herself to tell her mother, or daughter, the truth.
“She’s actually not aware of what is happening. She kept on asking me when am I going to go there? What is happening? Are you still going to get me?”
My Ambition Consulting claims to have registered migration agents working in-house to advise its clients.
Simon Sen Tao was one of them.
“In early 2023, Mr Bhandari approached me to see if I could be the in-house migration agent of his entity.”
He agreed, saying he had successfully partnered with other companies in the past.
Mr Tao says when he started, the company was struggling with many of its visa applications being rejected, and he was asked to help train other agents to improve outcomes.
He says he was shocked to receive a call in late 2023 from a lawyer acting on behalf of a client who was pursuing legal action against the company.
He later found his picture had been shared among the Facebook group of claimants labelling him as a scammer.
“It created excessive headaches and stress. I had to explain to my business associates, my current clients, and even my family members who saw my picture online. I had to explain to them what’s going on.”
Mr Tao says he immediately ended his relationship with My Ambition Consulting and reported the company to the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA).
“It’s changed my professional mindset and the way I practise my profession. I became so cautious and mindful that my name and MARA number may be misused again. Therefore, I’m so reluctant to be engaged by any other migration agencies.”
Immigration lawyer Christopher Levingston has been practising for 35 years and he says Tala, Nisha and Eshwar’s experiences are not isolated.
He says the complexity of Australia’s legal system has long been taken advantage of by people such as community fixers targeting migrants.
“It’s fraud. That’s what it really boils down to. It’s just pure and simple fraud. But the Commonwealth doesn’t really spend much time trying to identify those bad actors, as it were.”
In a statement to SBS, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said, “the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority is committed to safeguarding the integrity of the migration advice profession by taking action against registered migration agents whose conduct undermines the standards expected of the industry.”
Official advice is to always check whether someone offering migration advice is a registered agent. However, even that doesn’t guarantee reliability and Helen Duncan, the CEO of the Migration Institute of Australia, says investigations by MARA can be slow.
She says warning signs to watch out for include excessive fees and promises to assist with things beyond immigration.
“As soon as someone says, if you give me a certain amount of money, I will find you a job, then alarm bells should really start ringing because that’s not the work of a migration agent for one thing. And also it’s not something in recruitment that should happen.”
It’s a lesson Nisha and Eshwar say they’ve learnt the hard way.
They’re now warning others to avoid rushing into any decisions that involve migration agents.
“Whoever says that they’re going to find a sponsor for you, they’re scammers I say. If you can find a sponsor by yourself, that’s a good thing. If some consultancy or some MARA agent says that they’re going to find a sponsor for you, they’re just trying to steal your money.”