Backpackers who are being deported from Australia for submitting fake work details in visa applications arranged by a third party over email say they resorted to the scheme because there was not enough farm work for them to comply with their visa conditions.
Backpackers on a working holiday visa must show they have worked for 88 days in specified occupations in regional or remote Australia, if they want to extend their stay beyond 12 months.
In one email exchange seen by Guardian Australia, Golden Fish said they had been operating since 2009.
One Irish backpacker who used Golden Fish and is currently appealing his deportation said it was common practice.
Cameron, who did not wish to use his real name, said the Golden Fish email was passed around in the backpacker community.
Cameron travelled to Ayr, an hour south of Townsville, when the pandemic hit to complete his 88 days. But over more than four and a half months he was only able to secure 50 days of work on different farms.
Nine months later he received an email from the immigration department saying it had caught him using false documents and he would have to leave the country.
Cameron is currently on a three-month bridging visa. His partner is Australian and in a last-ditch attempt to keep him in the country the pair will apply for a partnership visa.
On top of the eight cases McMullen has worked on over the last two years, Guardian Australia is aware of nine others all in the process of being deported.
McMullen said there had been a recent increase in deportations.
She said there had also been an increase in people using fraudulent work experience documents who had not been able to fulfil their visa requirements.
The horticulture sector has been reliant on overseas workers, with the main source of the labour force being backpackers.
McMullen said the program ending was more reason to show lenience and let those at risk of deportation stay in the country.
Jay, who did not wish to use his real name, has just been given three months to leave the country. A teacher by trade, he and his girlfriend, who is a nurse, had hoped to permanently move to Sydney.
The pair, who were in Mildura, spent 10 weeks at the start of the pandemic phoning farms in the area but could only get a handful of days of work.
Text messages between them and the hostel operator, who often acts as a conduit between farms and backpackers, show they had repeatedly asked for work without success.
Golden Fish did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia.
