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Immigration Daily News DIBP's 'offshore IDs' used to dupe vulnerable Australian visa applicantsAustralian Immigration Daily News
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DIBP's 'offshore IDs' used to dupe vulnerable Australian visa applicants
READ THE COMMENTS FROM OFFSHORE AGENTS ON THIS BLOG: 17/06/2014
When is the DIBP going to do something about unregistered practice? When is DIBP going to help prevent vulnerable consumers from being duped by the DIBP's 'Offshore ID' status given out to unregistered agents? These ID's are being used to sell a range of immigration services to unwitting visa applicants, not just students.
The 'Offshore ID' is paraded around as an endorsement tool by unregistered agents overseas looking to instill confidence and security in potential clients who may be seeking to migrate to Australia. The issue is that most of the time, the potential clients don't even realise that there is such a thing as a RMA in existence on the planet. We can thank the OMARA and their $0.00 spend on advertising last financial year for that one. If migrants see a person with an ID, they, like me, would automatically assume that this person was a government endorsed immigration professional. Who knows what spin and lies are being sold to these unsuspecting visa applicants about how that 'offshore ID' was obtained.
I received the following email this week from a RMA who is of Indian heritage (I will keep their ID annonymous):
"......DIBP and MARA need to know about how applicants get exploited here in India by unregistered and unscrupulous agents. Also, many unregistered agents who have been assigned an offshore agent ID by DIBP, portray it as a special privilege and openly make claims of having contacts in DIBP and MARA.
Here’s an example (See the text on bottom right corner of the page) : http://www.dreamvisas.com/
While the Code puts many conditions on RMAs for advertising, the unregistered agents are having a field day...."
Check out the sensational claims on the Dream Visas website as follows:
"We are into Immigration Consultancy operating from Pune, India. Pune is a large city having a large number of skilled persons interested in migrating to USA, Australia, Canada, UK and other countries. We are mainly doing Immigration related work for these countries.I am member of ICCRC( Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council ) and my membership number is R422575.I am also member of Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) and my membership id is M110193. For Australia , Department of Immigration and citizenship (DIAC) has giving me Offshore id as 3000526. We are having an excellent track record of more than 10 years & Hundreds of our clients are successfully settled in Australia. We have got a good network of our own resources & contacts in Australia at DIAC, MARA, MIA & other important platforms."
Do I really need to say any more? Don't worry I will be sending this to The OMARA. They might want to know that their organisation is being used to promote unregistered practice.
If you have had enough of unregistered practice please send complaints to the Immi dob-in service: www.immi.gov.au/dob-in.
Christopher Levingston states:
"the provision of immigration assistance by unregistered person is a criminal offence. It follows therefore that a person that aids and abets the commission of an offence is also guilty of that offence and can be charged and convicted with aiding, abetting and procuring of an offence. DIBP in providing 'Offshore agent numbers' and purporting to register 'offshore agents' not being Registered Migration Agents is knowing concerned in the provision of 'immigration assistance' in circumstances which disclose a criminal offence.
DIBP asserts that it cannot regulate that it cannot regulate conduct offshore as the Migration Act does not have extra-territorial effect. Australian embassies and high commissions are Australian territory. It follows therefore that DIBP officers either onshore or offshore, being Australian citizens, in the main, or Permanent Residents, operating out of Australian Territory aid and abet the provision of immigration assistance in circumstances constituting the traversal of the Migration Act 1958.
If Commonwealth DPP needs any help in drafting the indictment and prosecuting, for example, the Secretary of DIBP then I would be prepared to assist in that process as well as conducting the prosecution for free.
Failing that why not a private prosecution brought by members of MA?"
Comments
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Tuesday, 17 June 2014Offshore is just venting, it's easy to vent anonymously, he/she is a very angry creature, sounds very frustrated, i operate both onshore and offshore and i get to meet people like this often. Too bad we have given him/her fuel on here.
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Wednesday, 18 June 2014
First of all I would like to say that the issue is not whether all unregistered overseas people (sorry but I will not call you agents) are bad. As with anything there are bound to be good and bad. The issue is that they are not regulated in any way, shape or form, thus increase the opportunity for the bad. You can argue all you want but anyone off the street with no training or knowledge can offer Immigration services overseas.
The second point is cost.
A Registered Australian Migration Agent must at a minimum pay for:
• OMARA yearly registration;
• Professional Indemnity Insurance;
• Professional Library, Legend, etc;
• Ongoing Professional Development Training (CPD);
• Archiving of documentation for 7 years;
• Workers compensation insurance for staff;
• Website, advertising, etc, which conforms to the Code of Conduct.
An unregistered overseas operator, in comparison must at a minimum pay for:
• Nil. -
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
From my website (www.pinoyau.com)
WARNING
The OMARA is an essentially useless office that is part of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and I have told them so repeatedly. With the stroke of a pen the minister can terminate them all as easily as s/he can terminate a perfectly valid visa application. The OMARA can do nothing about unregistered agents overseas or parliamentarians or DIBP officers who give often incorrect, migration advice in Australia, or education agents who give catastrophically incorrect migration advice under the table. About all the OMARA can do, having received a complaint, is haul a registered migration agent over the coals - after the event. They cannot order repayment of money lost. They can do nothing when the minister (The Terminator) changes the rules in the middle of the game or one of his delegates or ‘designated authorities’ bungles your case. By the way, the ‘average fee’ misinformation published by the OMARA is just that.
**********************************************************
and it is also on all my service agreements, tucked under the OMARA 'Consumer Guide'. It can be noted that they cannot get past the second sentence without getting it wrong. -
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
I just got approached on LINKEDIN by
Praveen Rao
Immigration Consultant, SAI Study Abroad Immigration
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Legal Services
they claim their offshore ID as 3012321 cann't even find their number on the OMARA. so brazen these people are. Please report to OMARA if it checks out that they are not registered. Furthermore, finding it disturbing that they have at least to Australian registered Migration Agents in their LINKEDIN as connections. -
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Don't confuse offshore and unregistered. I was an offshore agent, but I was registered, as I felt this was important. Some offshore agents are registered.
However, I agree with the disgust about some unregistered agents. How are we meant to compete, when we have ongoing costs of at least $3000 annually, just to maintain our registration. And we can not advertise or make claims in the same way as unregistered agents. I feel that DIBP see us as the enemy, rather than choosing to work alongside us, and I am heartily sick of their attitude. (so sick of it in fact, that I am retraining). -
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
If you practise unregistered (offshore of course) you can knowingly lodge fraudulent documents , admit doingso, bungle cases one after another and carry on as if nothing had happened. You can even attend free CPD courses that the DIBP runs for unregistered agents.
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Thursday, 17 July 2014
I really do not understand why we should talk about these Non Registered Off Shore Agents. Why the O-MARA can not simply fallow suit their NZ and Canadian counterparts who has banned any type of immigration advice by unauthorized consultants. I am really ashamed of being so regulated , bullied and no respect by the Australian High Commission and the DIAC. We at least do not have a phone no to contact a visa officer regarding a pending application. If you ring them on Aus or even in local office no in Colombo , you need to wait hours most with no success. Super Service complement for the compliance with all the hard standards.
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Monday, 09 January 2017
DIBP Australia Offshore Agent ID 3012321 ,Mr Praveen rao is run away from home and office .
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Saturday, 22 July 2017
i am sure offshore is one fraud agent from INDIA...also he is talking about Country of operation authorization licence...so send me your Indian Ministry of Overseas Licence No....i am very sure that u dont have that one also bcoz it also require too much investment and process....so if you really ahve in you send me your indian licence no.....now didnt tell that you are not Indian i can make out from your way of writing that you are one frustrated cheat indian agent sitting in some small town and shown frustration on Respected MARA AGENTS AND LAWYERS bcoz your CHEAT BUSINESS going down...
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Saturday, 19 August 2017
I can't see where this argument is headed to.
Let's accept the fact - Whether an agent is MARA registered or not, there is a chance that fraud can happen. I say so because I HAVE HAD such an experience with a MARA REGISTERED AGENT in Australia a couple of years back!!! I was in a different country at that time, and the money I paid was not that significant. So I just left it there.
(Just mentioning it here, so that when people read, they might opt not to blindly follow the acronym MARA-Regstd)
Immigration blog
Be nice to offshore. (S)he doesnt sound like the droid we're looking for. Just as every mara agent isnt perfect neither is every offshore agent dodgy. What is needed is a balance. If offshore agents can provide a competitive service in their home country under the same playing field (some form of registration and control by australia - if you dont like it dont play) then that would be good. Dont agree that our fees are higher. We often hear of clients paying $20,000 or more for a visa application.