International students in low-wage jobs are being urged to contact the Fair Work Ombudsman if they think they have been ripped off by rogue employers.
The Ombudsman's office has written to more than half a million international students who they believe may have been short-changed on their pay or intimidated by employers for speaking up.
Last year, almost half of the complaints about wage exploitation related to visa holders, with a third involving international students, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.
"[International students] are only about 2 per cent of all of the requests for assistance we receive every year, but they feature quite prominently in the very serious matters we take to court," Ms James said.
"Although international students are the largest group of visa holders with work rights in this country, and although we have heard many stories of very serious exploitation involving this cohort, only a very small number of them come to us for help.
"That tells us that they're not coming to us for help and advice when they should."
The Fair Work Ombudsman has placed an open letter in several major newspapers today urging international students to speak up if they believe they are being exploited in the workplace.
Ms James said often dishonest employers can threaten to report employees to the Department of Immigration if they seek advice on their working conditions.
"We find that many of them are very hesitant to come to us for help," she said.
"They find themselves working more than those 20 hours [that they are legally allowed to work], and we have seen some unscrupulous employers then use this to threaten those students to report them.
"In a number of cases, we have gained appropriate protections for visa holders in that very situation, we've taken action, we've recovered unpaid wages and we have ensured that their visa status was not affected."
International students contribute $22 billion
Ms James said with international students contributing $22 billion to the economy annually, it is crucial they are offered protections.
For those concerned seeking help might endanger their visa status, she said the Fair Work Ombudsman has arrangements in place to account for that.
"If they suffer any sort of consequences in the workplace because they've come to us for help, like every worker in Australia they are also protected in that case," she said.
"The Fair Work Act imposes quite serious sanctions if people are terminated or lose shifts for example because they've come to the Fair Work Ombudsman for help."
Ms James said in the meantime, international students working part-time while they study should keep a record of the hours they work week to week as potential evidence.
"In the most serious occasions, when we see employers disguising hours works or falsifying records, we then have evidence to recover unpaid wages based on the information that the worker has kept for themselves," she said.
"I have been surprised and concerned. I mean that is the most appalling behaviour I think I've seen in my time as Fair Work Ombudsman."
