Instances of alleged criminal activity relating to the immigration portfolio can result in criminal and/or administrative penalties, including imprisonment, warns Scott Morrison, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)

 16/12/2013: 

An unregistered Melbourne migration agency was raided by federal police on Friday.

 “The business is suspected to have been making false promises of permanent residence as well as providing migration assistance while not being registered to do so,” a statement from DIBP revealed.

I decided to share my experience  of communication with Overseas Post  in relation to few cases we are involve in on behalaf of Indian clients.  Has anyone experienced being RMA ignored in communication by case officers? Not being notyfied about occured direct communication ?  I have 5  cases where the RMA has been ignored, contact made by the officers directly to visa applicants or sponsors  . When we brought the matter to feedback unit attention I got an answer saing it was our fault as we provided wrong e-mail adress in 956 form ( interesting as the form 956 is generated by Migration manger we use for all cases).  After insisting on further action to avaid being ignored in the future  I got 3 e-mails with assurance  it will never happen again .... nex day the same issue ocured .  Acording to my knowledge this sort of action is breach of the migration regulations . Anyone has an idea how to fight it ? I hate being informed by my client about progress of the case of documents requested.

See one of many e-mails assuring me that illegal activity of overseas mission will not occure : Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I am pleased to you to invite you to participate in a Survey, 'Migration Agent satisfaction with the Office of the MARA'. 

The survey seeks your views and feedback as a registered migration agent, who has interacted with the Office of the MARA in the past 12 months.  Your responses will be provided to the Office of the MARA, the DIBP's Migration Agents Section (MAS), and Members of Parliament as part of Migration Alliance's strategy to help improve services that the Office of the MARA offers to migration agents in the future.   This survey also seeks the views of RMAs regarding the future of our profession.    This is a Migration Alliance initiative.    

The survey results are set to compliment the survey currently being conducted by 'ORIMA Research' on 'Client Satisfaction with the Department of Immigration'.   The Office of the MARA is, for whatever reason, not included in the current 'ORIMA Research' survey of RMAs.  We have therefore created this mirror survey to research 'RMA Satisfaction' with the Office of the MARA, which is part of the DIBP.
 
Your responses will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and will only be seen by Migration Alliance's management committee.  The responses will be presented to the above entities in a way that will make identification of individuals impossible.    Summary results of the survey will be available instantly upon completion of the survey.   

The survey should only take around 10 minutes to complete online.

If you have any questions for Migration Alliance regarding this survey you can contact us by writing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We thank you for participating in this survey.  Your views are highly valued.

MIGRATION AGENTS - TAKE THIS SURVEY

This instrument operates by specifying classes of persons who are eligible to make an application for a subclass 600 (Visitor) visa to Australia via the internet on form 1419 (Internet).

For more information and further details click here:

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013L01699

Craig West is an Australian tax and strategy accountant who has created a great business which focusses on small to medium business owners, and helps them face the four key strategic issues that SME’s face as they grow:

• Raising Capital
• Building Equity
• Protecting that equity
• Extracting the value you have built when you exit.

Craig advises SIV 188 and 888 applicants on businesses in management, taxation and accounting issues, as he has done for his onshore clients for over 15 years.  

Craig has conducted numerous seminars and presentations throughout Australia for Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, MIA (see photo),  MLC, L J Hooker, the NSW Department of State & Regional Development, NSW Chamber of Commerce and CPA Australia.  Above is a picture taken of Craig at a MIA event this year.

Craig has been an expert adviser with a weekly segment on the Alan Jones breakfast radio program in Sydney and was a founding member of Thought Leaders.

Craig acts as a strategic business and financial mentor for business owners and has written three critically acclaimed books educating business owners on employee incentives, succession planning and asset protection and has recently been invited to complete a PhD in Business Succession Planning at Deakin University in Melbourne.

Migration Alliance is pleased to have forged a strategic relationship with Craig. We believe that the expertise within Succession Plus is a good fit with SIV and other high net worh individuals migrating to Australia.  We look forward to Craig presenting at some future migration agent CPD events across Australia.