Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring an immigration consultant

July 1, 2002

New legislation aimed at cracking down on bad migration agents underscores the need for potential immigrants to make informed decisions about who they choose to help guide them through Australia’s migration system. On June 6, the House of Representatives approved the Migration Legislation Amendment (Migration Agents) Bill 2002, which empowers the Migration Agents Registry Authority (MARA) to investigate complaints against former migration agents. At present, MARA only has jurisdiction over registered agents, and is forced to abandon disciplinary action when an agent deregisters. As a result, migration agents who have acted improperly can simply leave the industry with their reputation intact. The new legislation empowers MARA to bar agents from returning to the industry for a maximum of five years for serious breaches of its code of conduct. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Citizenship Minister Gary Hardgrave said he had evidence of agents charging clients to visit him when such visits were free. One agent even charged a client $100,000 to fill out an immigration form that costs nothing to lodge. But the problems go beyond unscrupulous agents. MARA has suspended or cancelled agents’ registration on grounds of incompetence. For example, MARA canceled the registration of an agent in Victoria for failing "to deal with her clients competently" and her inability to provide accurate advice. Last year, there were 164 complaints filed against 119 agents. Multiple complaints were filed against eleven agents. MARA finalized 149 of these complaints, cautioned five agents, suspended five agents who were involved in six complaints, and cancelled the registration of four agents who were involved in nine complaints. In addition, 23 complaints were made against persons suspected of operating without registering as migration agents. Under the Migration Act, it is an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison for a person who is not a registered agent to charge money for immigration advice. While dealing only with registered agents is essential, it doesn’t guarantee good service. The migration industry consists of lawyers, non-lawyers and community sector workers. Not every agent has the skills to deal with every problem. Just 34 percent of all registered agents possess legal qualifications, and only 17 percent of agents have Practicing Certificates as lawyers. MARA’s statistics show that sixty-three percent of complaints were made against agents with no legal qualifications. Gauging an agent’s experience and skills can be difficult. Agents average 3.3 years of experience, and only 150 out of 2,500 have more than eight years’ registered experience. As MARA’s website only lists agents’ most recent registration, the burden of gauging experience and skills falls heavily on the client. Accordingly, those seeking assistance should carefully quiz their agent about how long they have been in the industry as well as their qualitative experience in relevant areas of immigration law. As immigrants sometimes have a limited grasp of English and the local legal system, the potential for abuse is great. Accordingly, anyone considering hiring an immigration consultant must make sure that their chosen consultants are legitimate operators with enough experience to adequately deal with the relevant issues.

By: Anne O'Donoghue and Tim McDonald