Australian Immigration Daily News

The Director of the OMARA is sending out the following email today:

As advised in email correspondence of 22 February 2021, you have been identified as a registered migration agent (RMA) who holds an unrestricted legal practising certificate (ULPC).

Legislation commencing on 22 March 2021 will remove holders of ULPCs from the statutory scheme governing RMAs and as a result, on that date, holders of ULPCs will be removed from the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) Register of Migration Agents (Register). 

Source:  Benchmark

Please note: the OMARA sanction of 8 March has been posted on the Department of Home Affairs website. 

https://www.facebook.com/AusHomeAffairs/photos/a.371903576177377/4101947543172943 

“The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) has sanctioned an agent on 8 March 2021. The OMARA found that the Agent had facilitated the lodgement of four nomination applications without the sponsoring employers’ knowledge or permission. The applications also contained false and misleading information and documents.

For details about the actions taken by the OMARA to protect visa clients visit: https://www.mara.gov.au/news-and-publications/public-notices”

Purpose of the bill

The bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 10 December 2020 by the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Peter Dutton MP. In his Second Reading Speech, the minister explained the purpose of the bill and its provisions to amend the Migration Act 1958 (Migration Act):

Criminal intelligence and related information is vital to assessing the criminal background and associations of non-citizen visa applicants and visa holders. The measures in this bill will ensure that sensitive information – disclosed in confidence by law enforcement and intelligence agencies – is appropriately protected.

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, has issued a new Ministerial Direction to guide decision-makers applying the character test. The character test applies to certain visa cancellation and refusal decisions, as well as the revocation of mandatory visa cancellations.

This direction reinforces the Government’s intolerance for family violence by requiring decision-makers to consider family violence as a primary consideration when making visa determinations.

It also requires decision-makers to seriously consider other forms of unacceptable behaviour towards vulnerable people, such as the elderly, who are often the target of serious non-violent crimes including fraud, extortion, exploitation and neglect.