Australian Immigration Daily News

The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) describes itself as a discrete, and some would debate 'dysfunctional', office inside the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, that rationalises its self-existence, by launching ‘informal’ lines of inquiry and investigations against Registered Migration Agents.

Fact:  There is no prescribed format that compels a Registered Migration Agent to engage ‘informally’, with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), in response to a ‘informal’ request for information.

To achieve its investigative purpose the OMARA requires a flow of information to establish the framework of its investigation and with the power of compulsion, attempts to lure agents into a false sense of belief, that it wants to ‘informally’ make enquiries of the agent and quickly resolve the issue at hand.

Since inception four years ago, the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), has grown from an unnecessary regulatory authority to an overfunded and out of date Australian Labor Party cost legacy that, some would argue, has a crystal clear self interest mandate, in protecting its high paying jobs located in the plush offices overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park.

According to various sources, OMARA, rather than assisting registered agents or protecting consumers from unregistered practice continues to do the opposite.

Almost all Registered Migration Agents, including lawyers, are affected by the ongoing inefficiencies and incompetence at the OMARA and its culture of bureaucratic interference.