Australian Immigration Daily News

If your clients are taking the TOEFL iBT® test to meet the English-language requirements for their skilled migration or other visa, registration is easy!

Test takers just need to go to www.toeflgoanywhere.org and click the “Register Now” link. They will be able to create a TOEFL iBT account, select their test date and location, and submit payment.

It’s very important for test takers to check the identification requirements before they register. Only certain forms of ID are accepted, and the ID information listed in their account needs to exactly match the ID that they present at the test centre on test day. Test takers can be turned away at the test centre if the information (especially their name) does not match EXACTLY.

The following information has been sent to CPD providers in the Migration Advice Profession by the Office of the MARA:

Dear Continuing Professional Development Provider,
 
On Friday the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection made an announcement regarding the 2014 Independent Review of the OMARA.

In June 2014, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, appointed Dr Christopher N Kendall to conduct an independent review of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). 

The Review

The review examined the performance of the OMARA as the industry regulator, its organisational capability and challenges, and the quality and effectiveness of its internal controls and governance.

Consistent with the government’s commitment to de-regulation, the review examined the most appropriate organisational structure for regulating the migration advice sector in order to protect consumers.

It also examined the regulatory framework and powers of the OMARA to assess if they are still appropriate and identify opportunities to reduce regulatory burden.

The review received 32 submissions from 24 individuals and groups. Dr Kendall also conducted interviews and teleconferences with a variety of stakeholders, including registered migration agents, legal services commissions and university providers.

Dr Kendall made 24 recommendations.  The Government supports the majority of the review’s recommendations.

Implementation of the review’s key recommendations will commence later in 2015.  The Department will consult with stakeholders on the implementation of these significant reforms, some of which will require legislative changes.

The final report, entitled 2014 Independent Review of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), is available at:

Migration Alliance headquarters hosted a very different CPD today.  Provided by Legal Training Australia, the learning and development took on a new twist with RMAs donning Anonymous masks.

Did they attend?  Did they not attend?  Who were they?  Were they even agents?

Agents stand together in celebration of Migration Alliance's role in deregulating CPD and leaving it open to competitive market forces (see today's Minister's release on Review of the Office of the MARA).

GOVERNMENT RELEASES OMARA REVIEW 

Consistent with the Coalition’s deregulation agenda the Government will adopt the majority of the recommendations of the independent review into the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). 

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, said the implementation of the review’s findings will reduce unnecessary red tape and improve outcomes for consumers of migration services who are often amongst the most vulnerable in the community. 

Between 29 March 2015 and 1 April 2015, a number of blog posts and Tweets were published by Ms Liana Allan and Mr Christopher Levingston on the Migration Alliance Incorporated website and Twitter feed. The blog posts and Tweets, in the first instance, concerned the content of a lecture given by Ms Duncan to a class of students completing the ANU visa course 8168 at UTS on 29 March 2015. Subsequent blog posts and Tweets related to Ms Duncan's rebuttal of the initial publications.

The blog posts and Tweets have since been removed by us and we do not wish to "reignite the fire" by restating here, in any detail, the contents of those blog posts and Tweets.

While we based the comments we posted on what was reported to us by a student as having been said by Ms Duncan during the lecture, we accept that what we published went further than what we now understand Ms Duncan to have actually said. Further, we accept that we took Ms Duncan's words out of context and may have given them a meaning that was not intended by Ms Duncan. This, in turn, means we unfairly characterised Ms Duncan's subsequent rebuttal.