Australian Immigration Daily News

When clients based offshore receive an invoice from their migration agent in Australian Dollars, they are often faced with the task of wondering what the most effective way to pay for it is.

Many will use their bank and incur a $50 bank fee for the privilege, others will us their credit card and receive a less than favourable exchange rate, making the invoice more expensive than it has to be.

An ever increasingly popular method is clients using a foreign currency exchange payment specialist to assist with the transaction ensuring;

Welcome back everyone and best wishes for a fantastic year in 2015.

Migration Alliance is hosting a networking event to allow you to 'unlock the power of positive and proactive networking'. All attendees will receive a copy of The Professional Migration Agent: Best Practices for Registered Migration Agents. This is a new and inspirational e-book dedicated to the migration agent profession by the founder of Migration Alliance, Liana Allan.

Come and have some fun with your colleagues. Join in the trivia quiz on unlucky superstitions.

When: Friday 13th February 2015

Where: The Angel Hotel, 125 Pitt St Sydney

What time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

What to wear: Something black or freaky

Cost: $50 per head for canapés and drinks

Proposed menu:

- spiced lamb samosa
- tomato, black olive and basil crostini (v)
- mexican prawn and lime salad on corn chips (gf)
- vegetarian spring roll (v)
- green pea and mint risotto balls (v)
- tandoori chicken drummer and cucumber raita (gf)
- pumpkin and goats cheese ravioli with fresh tomato and parmesan (v)
* (v) - vegetarian (gf) - gluten free

Places are limited so get in early and pay now to secure your place at this premium networking event.

To register, please download the registration form below and return to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Click to download event Registration Form

We hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you there.

In addition to being available in English, the tribunals’ video guides for applicants are also available in Arabic (classical), Farsi, Mandarin, Punjabi and Vietnamese languages. The videos include a voice over and optional captions.

The videos are available on our website and focus on the role of the tribunals and its processes. The videos may be a helpful resource for migration agents preparing clients for hearings and for explaining other aspects of the tribunals’ work.

The videos available in this series are:

Sun protection means protecting skin from the harmful effects of the sun. Everyone needs to protect their skin from UVA and UVB rays, the two types of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun that reach the earth’s surface.

This radiation can cause health problems such as sunburn, skin ageing, eye damage and even skin cancer. Use a combination of the following main ways to help protect yourself in the sun:

• slip on a shirt,
• slop on sunscreen,
• slap on a hat,
• slide on sunglasses,  
• and seek shade wherever and whenever you can.

Cover up

Working as a Registered Migration Agent can mean assisting clients in making one of the most important decisions of their lives: helping them migrate to Australia.

Do I really need Professional Indemnity Cover?

Taking out Professional Indemnity cover is not only the most sensible professional decision you can make, it’s also a legal requirement. Migration agents are required under the Migration Act to hold a Professional Indemnity policy which features at least $250,000 in coverage. Why? Because it protects you against claims from clients who allege you or your business did something wrong or failed to do what it said it would. You might have made a genuine mistake or you might have done nothing at all, but either way you could be facing a big bill. You will have to hire lawyers and your business might be forced to pay your client compensation and its legal fees if you lose or settle the case.

A lawsuit is incredibly stressful and very time consuming to deal with. The future of a small Migration Agency accused of negligence can hang in the balance. If its reputation is badly damaged by a lawsuit then clients may not want to do business with it again. That’s where Professional Indemnity Insurance can be a real lifesaver for a small business. If your business is sued then your insurer would step in and effectively act like your company’s in-house legal team to help you deal with the situation.