Officials Relent And Visa Victims Win Reprieve

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday September 14, 2007

Malcolm Knox

TWO Chinese 457 visa workers left homeless and penniless this week after a dispute with their employer have been granted an 11th-hour reprieve by the Department of Immigration, which decided not to cancel their visas yesterday.

After the Herald's report about the plight of Huang Jiandong and Gong Wei yesterday, offers of help poured in for the two construction workers, who say their former employer sacked them while owing them more than $30,000 each.

Having been evicted from their Enfield home, the men stayed in the Hope Hostel in North Parramatta on Wednesday night. Yesterday a Sydney legal firm offered to represent Gong and Huang pro bono, and arranged their accommodation for last night.

Mr Daniel Sheen, a solicitor with the firm Austin Haworth and Lexon, said: "It's our duty to help them. They have been kicked around from one place to another."

Various authorities sprang to action yesterday after it emerged that the two men were on the verge of deportation after being dismissed by their Condell Park employer, Frank Wang. They have taken the matter to the police, the Workplace Ombudsman and the Department of Immigration but, as their visas were tied to their employment, their joblessness meant that they could be deported any day.

Yesterday Mr Gong and Mr Huang met Immigration officials for two hours and were given more time to prepare their case.

The Chinese consulate, the Workplace Ombudsman, NSW police and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Engineering Union are among the bodies who contacted the men yesterday in an attempt to expedite their case or offer help.

One of China's biggest television networks, Phoenix, has also contacted the men to broadcast their story in China. Some readers contacted the Herald offering the men help in either cash or kind.

The two men arrived in Australia in March last year and worked for Mr Wang's Elite Marble & Granite Pty Ltd for 14 months. Bank and tax statements show that they were paid $55,700 for the 2006-07 financial year, yet the men say they only received $50 a week cash plus $125 a week deposited into their accounts in China. About $30,000 was taken out of each man's Commonwealth Bank accounts by Mr Wang and his wife, Julia, who had the men's bank cards. The Wangs say they passed the cash on to the men. The men say they never received this money and have fought their deportation while the allegations of fraud are investigated.

They hope to stay in Australia only as long as it takes to settle their case, before they return home to their wives and children.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home