Mr. Brian Hearne:

The premise behind escrow accounts is that any money people pay for a course is secure while they are going through the visa process. In the event that they are refused a visa, the money should go back to them. What we have seen through our advocacy work as school closures have occurred and people have contacted us is that it is not happening, the money is not being placed into an escrow account and the students who were refused visas have not got their money back. In cases where schools have closed down, those people have been left with nothing.