Australian Immigration Daily News

As a Migration Agent, when it comes to getting insurance sorted for your business it can be pretty straightforward - jump online, compare quotes and buy the insurance that suits your business.  However when it comes to your decision to take up business insurance there are a few things you want to keep in mind.

1. Your personal insurance doesn’t cover your business

A key thing to be aware of is that your personal insurance may not cover your business liabilities or property. If you are working from home it’s important to know that your home and contents insurance policy might not cover all the liabilities related to your business. As an example most home and contents policies do not cover you for bodily injury or property damage to a client or supplier that may occur at your home. The likelihood of a claim is low, but the implications could be extremely costly. The rule of thumb is “if the consequences are too severe to manage on your own, you should insure it.” However with a low probability of occurrence this simply means you will pay a lower premium – this is a small price to pay even if it is unlikely you will have a million dollar claim. 

Also note your business insurance may cover personal items. If you have cover for theft and there is a break in to your office, you may be able to claim for those personal items left in the office.

Following the Kendall review of the OMARA, DIBP has now foreshadowed adoption of the second limb of the Kendall report recommendations concerning the prohibition on lawyers from being registered as migration agents.

The relevant advice to that effect appears here:

https://www.mara.gov.au/news-and-publications/news/omara-independent-review/

Regulatory reforms are supposed to make life easier, not harder.  Cutting red tape is part of this government's agenda. 

That’s right, isn’t it? 

Will that be the case if “dual regulation” of lawyers is ended, as recommended by the “Kendall Report” concerning the “Independent Review of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority”? 

Are you thinking of applying for a visa for employment, residence or study in another country where the language spoken is different from your own language? Are you confused by the visa requirements and worried about whether you are doing the right thing and whether your application could be rejected because you have made a mistake?

For worry free migration applications the best suggestion is to use a migration agent. These professionals know their own immigration rules inside out and understand what you need to provide to support a visa application. Using a registered and approved migration agent means you can relax and let all the responsibility for presenting your visa application with the agent rather than spend hours trying to do it yourself.

One of the advantages of using a migration agent is that they can provide you with a reasonable idea whether your visa application is likely to be successful. Most immigration authorities these days demand that you pay a fee for a visa application. This is usually not returnable, so if your application is refused for some reason, then you not only have wasted your time, but you also lose your money. A migration agent will prevent these sorts of errors from occurring.

A Federal Court decision overruling the Immigration Minister’s decision to cancel a Brisbane man’s visa mid last year, has been overturned by the Full Federal Court last week.

Mas Eden’s visa was cancelled last year by the Minister using the power to cancel a visa under section 501(2) of the Migration Act because of a criminal conviction in 2011.

The Full Court reinforced the Minister’s powers to cancel Mr Eden’s visa finding the primary judge’s decision was affected with jurisdictional error.