Customers claim firm failed to process their visa applicationsBy John Bynorth, Home Affairs Editor
THE bosses of a Scottish agency specialising in helping families build new lives in Australia have left a trail of unprocessed visa applications behind them after suddenly quitting the country.
Customers who each paid £2300 for Edinburgh-based Visa Connection to process their papers with Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Diac) now claim their applications have not been dealt with by the migration agency.
Clare Molnar, an unlicensed migration agent who runs the firm with her mother, has added to the confusion by quitting Scotland for a new life in Australia, leaving behind customers demanding to know the status of their applications.
Molnar, 31, set up Visa Connection with her husband, Peter, four years ago to process applications for people wanting to move to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
However, her husband quit as a director in 2006 and Ashley McEwen, the firm's registered migration agent, also resigned, leaving the company in turmoil.
Kerry Lyons and Brian Mitchell, from Alloa, are still waiting for news of their applications after paying Visa Connection £700 to process them in January.
Mitchell, a joiner, was told by the company that he would need to be assessed by the Australians before a final decision. However, the couple claim they have not been told what their visa application status is and are considering legal action.
Lyons, 25, said: "Brian was supposed to have been trade tested by the Australians last month and we hadn't heard anything from Visa Connection.
"We were contacted by the company and told that he would not be tested then, but they would put him forward in September. However, I've got no proof that anything has been processed and have now asked for our documents back and want the fees refunded.
"We haven't heard a word from the Australian immigration authorities that our application is going through. The amount of money we have paid may not seem like a lot, but it is when you are saving for a new life."
Mitchell, 36, said: "We told our relatives over there that we were going to come across and my work that I would be leaving at the end of the year.
"I have asked repeatedly for proof of what stage our application is at and haven't had any feedback from Visa Connection. We have been left in the dark and not told what is happening."
Another client, from Aberdeen, who didn't wish to be identified in case the company did not return her £2300 fee, said she has waited four months for her husband's work sponsorship from south Australia to be ratified.
She said: "I am very worried. My husband will soon turn 45 and he could be too old for the application under Australian immigration rules. Visa Connection kept saying the application has been done, but there are no documents, nothing to prove that."
Another customer, an IT manager from Stirling who spent £5000 on applications, said: "They were giving false reference numbers with the Australian immigration authorities, and telling people that everything was fine and their application had been lodged. We would have been waiting for months longer only to find out it had not been lodged. We were waiting in a visa queue that didn't exist. I know it can take a year to get the paperwork confirmed, but it's annoying when you find out the work's not been done in the first place."
The Molnars sold their home in Broxburn, West Lothian, six weeks ago, leaving the new owners Julie and Mark McGinlay with an outstanding £800 utility bill and an unwanted visit from HM Revenue and Customs. The Molnars' BMW is still parked in the street.
Mark McGinlay, 37, said: "They dropped the house price quite a bit because they were so desperate to go. We couldn't believe the speed with which the deal went through."
Molnar's mother, Sandra Grieve, Visa Connection's company secretary, is also believed to have sold her home and moved to Australia.
A spokesman for the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, the regulatory body for migration services in the UK, said it had not received any complaints against the firm.
The Sunday Herald has evidence that Molnar is contacting UK-based customers from Australia in an attempt to sort out their applications, in breach of the country's immigration laws.
A spokesman for Australia's regulatory body, the Migration Agents Registration Authority (Mara), said: "You are not allowed to give registration assistance in Australia if not registered with MARA. If it came to our attention, we would report it to Diac."
Neither Grieve nor Molnar responded to the Sunday Herald's attempts to contact them. Manager Danielle Kelly did not return our phone calls or emails at Visa Connection, which is not connected to the London-based agency Visa Connect.
In a statement on its website, Visa Connection said it was "experiencing a time of transition in relation to our business structure. This has coincided with communication problems by BT as a result of tramworks in Edinburgh. Visa Connection is continuing to work on behalf of the best interests of clients and is forming a relationship with a firm of leading Australian immigration lawyers to expertly handle our clients with Australian migration applications."
McEwen added: "A lot of this is crap. Clare has got in touch with some of these people and is helping them."
HM Revenue and Customs said it was not aware of any investigation into the Molnars or Visa Connection.
