How To Avoid Illegal Australian Migration Agencies – Know Your Rights!

Here at Austral Migration Consultancy, we work hard in making sure our Australian migration practice complies to Australian law as per the Australian Migration Act 1958 (Cth) as well as the migration agent’s Code of Conduct prescribed in Schedule 2, Regulation 8 of the Migration Agents Regulations 1998 (Cth).

Although we have put in the effort, there are many agencies out there who do not have valid licenses to operate or are circumventing the rules in some way or another.

As a legally registered migration agency, we want you to know your rights and how to do a quick check to see if the agency you are dealing with is legitimate.

Providing Migration Advice Without A License Is Illegal

Providing migration services without having a license from MARA or being a licensed Australian lawyer is illegal in Australia, punishable by fines, jail time or both.

There been multiple instances where the illegal practitioner has been sentenced to jail, which are well documented in the various news portals.

Also, would you really want to trust an agent to deal with the Australian government when the government considers them to be operating illegally in the first place?

Before You Meet Them

You should check if they have legally registered migration agents (MARA Agent) or an Australian lawyer on staff. Instructions can be seen below.

MARA Agent

If the agency’s website claims to have a migration agent or be any type of migration agency, they need to have a MARA agent on their team.

1) Check their website and record down all MARA numbers displayed

• This information must be displayed by law on their website
• It is usually on the ‘about’, ‘certification’, ‘qualification’ pages or at the very bottom of their website in the footer
• It usually looks like this:

2) Go to https://www.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents/

Put the MARA number numbers displayed on their website into the search field labelled ‘Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN)’

Australian Lawyer

If they claim to be an Australian immigration law firm or an Australian law firm, they need to display their Practicing License Number on their website. You can see what looks like in the footer of our website.

1) Look for any Practicing License Number displayed

If they don’t have one but claim to be an Australian lawyer or Australian law firm, you should contact them for the license number. You need to also ask them which state of Australia they are licensed in.

If you find the details on their website, you need to record down the number itself and the state they are registered in.

2) Input into the respective State websites

You can see in the image above our lawyers are on the Law Institute of Victoria’s register. Depending on the state, you will need to check different websites. We have listed them below for your convenience:

• Victoria
• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Western Australia
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• ACT
• Northern Territory

WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK OUT FOR?

1) No MARA number or Legal Practicing Number (LPN) displayed on the website

This is a breach of the Migration Agent’s Code of Conduct. Avoid them at all costs, they are likely to be an illegal Australian migration agency.

2) If the search results from the MARA or Lawyer registrar website come back with 0 results this could mean:

• The MARA number or LPN listed on their website is fake
• The agent’s registration has expired and he cannot legally submit applications as a migration agent

3) If the search results come back with a valid result

• Check to see if the person is listed for many different business entities (with different business names) – this could mean he is not an in-house agent, instead they could be renting their license from an external agent and they are unlikely to be staff of the company
• Remember that any migration agent or lawyer should be staff of the company offering migration services for a fee, if not then in Australia that would be considered illegal!

WHY DOES ALL THIS MATTER?

We act as part of a group of 1500+ migration agents from around the world who are educating consumers on this matter and to protect the image of our industry.

We meet thousands of people a year and have heard countless stories about people engaging scam or non-licensed agencies to handle their cases.

More often than not, something goes wrong and the person loses not just time, but money as well.

And the worst thing is that there was nothing they could do about it afterwards – the Australian government can’t take action against unlicensed agents.

We do not want this to happen to you!

If you want to get professional advice from a legally licensed Australian migration firm, fill in your details below.