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Immigration Daily News Government looking into stricter regulation of education brokers.
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Government looking into stricter regulation of education brokers.
Desparate to control the misleading and fraudulent conduct of some education brokers in Australia, the government is looking into measures to make educational institutions directly liable for the behaviour of their brokers.
Education brokers are not required to be registered unless they intend to provide immigration assistance. To provide immigration assistance, a person must register as a migration agent with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (Office of the MARA).
It is not always easy to separate the two. If you browse the websites of some education brokers, you will find some boasting of how quickly they have managed to obtain student visas for their clients. Yet nowhere on the site is there any indication that they are registered for providing migration advice.
The big issue is how exactly do the authorities weed out brokers dealing in fraudulent student visa applications or misleading and misguiding students about the streamlined visa program and thus potentially damaging the reputation of Australia’s $16 billion dollar education industry.
Regulating education brokers has been an issue the government has been grappling with for a while, according to a report in The Australian. Currently there is an ad hoc system whereby brokers have the option of undergoing voluntary training which some education institutions have put down as a requirement for brokers wanting to represent them. The overriding legislation governing broker conduct however is the very general Australian Consumer Law.
In a move to protect the reputation of Australia’s education industry the government is considering making education institutions responsible for the actions of their international brokers.
A spokeswoman for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane told The Australian that proposed commonwealth standards, announced last year, would make colleges responsible for the behaviour of their agents. “The government is determined to stamp out misleading behaviour by brokers,” she said.
The Australian reported that the proposed standards make registered training organisations responsible for the behaviour of brokers subcontracted by them. If enacted, the standards will empower the Australian Skills Quality Authority to take action against colleges using brokers which breach the standards.
ASQA chief commissioner Chris Robinson told The Australian that domestic agents were currently subject to Australian consumer law, but not to the standards governing registered training organisations. He said ASQA was concerned about the operations of these marketing companies, particularly given that many did not have formal relationships with the colleges they represented.
The Australian states that it understands that Mr Macfarlane may be looking at further rule changes covering brokers which do not have formal contractual arrangements with colleges. Mr Macfarlane’s spokeswoman said the government was “looking at further measures to curb inappropriate behaviour by brokers”.
Comments
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Friday, 30 January 2015It is very funny for the DIBP to allow overseas education agency to lodge student visa on students' behalf. Some agency actually charge students to do visa for them. Is it considered "providing immigration assistant and advise without being registered as migration agent"?
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Friday, 30 January 2015
Section 276 of the Migration Act, set out below, spells out 'migration assistance':
MIGRATION ACT 1958 - SECT 276
Immigration assistance
(1) For the purposes of this Part, a person gives immigration assistance if the person uses, or purports to use, knowledge of, or experience in, migration procedure to assist a visa applicant or cancellation review applicant by:
(a) preparing, or helping to prepare, the visa application or cancellation review application; or
(b) advising the visa applicant or cancellation review applicant about the visa application or cancellation review application; or
(c) preparing for proceedings before a court or review authority in relation to the visa application or cancellation review application; or
(d) representing the visa applicant or cancellation review applicant in proceedings before a court or review authority in relation to the visa application or cancellation review application.
(2) For the purposes of this Part, a person also gives immigration assistance if the person uses, or purports to use, knowledge of, or experience in, migration procedure to assist another person by:
(a) preparing, or helping to prepare, a document indicating that the other person nominates or sponsors a visa applicant for the purposes of the regulations; or
(b) advising the other person about nominating or sponsoring a visa applicant for the purposes of the regulations; or
(c) representing the other person in proceedings before a court or review authority that relate to the visa for which the other person was nominating or sponsoring a visa applicant (or seeking to nominate or sponsor a visa applicant) for the purposes of the regulations.
(2A) For the purposes of this Part, a person also gives immigration assistance if the person uses, or purports to use, knowledge of, or experience in, migration procedure to assist another person by:
(a) preparing, or helping to prepare, a request to the Minister to exercise his or her power under section 351, 391, 417, 454 or 501J in respect of a decision (whether or not the decision relates to the other person); or
(aa) preparing, or helping to prepare, a request to the Minister to exercise a power under section 195A, 197AB or 197AD (whether or not the exercise of the power would relate to the other person); or
(b) advising the other person about making a request referred to in paragraph (a) or (aa).
(3) Despite subsections (1), (2) and (2A), a person does not give immigration assistance if he or she merely:
(a) does clerical work to prepare (or help prepare) an application or other document; or
(b) provides translation or interpretation services to help prepare an application or other document; or
(c) advises another person that the other person must apply for a visa; or
(d) passes on to another person information produced by a third person, without giving substantial comment on or explanation of the information.
(4) A person also does not give immigration assistance in the circumstances prescribed by the regulations. -
Tuesday, 03 February 2015
The current system of Education Commissions is restricting development and growth within our educational sector. The requirement rest9octing Registered Agent to receive commissions only if they have a contract with an educational institution limits opportunity for growth. Registered Migration Agents should be able to either claim a discount on enrollments for their clients clients or the opportunity to receive a commission to offset costs in recruitment and visa applications. There should be a way where an Registered Migration Agent who also holds qualification as an Education Agent can apply on line using their MARA number for a CoE.
The registration process of CoE should be state based or even Nation wide. It goes against our Code of Ethics to placed in a position where we are encouraged to nominate Institutions where we have a Service agreement in order to off set the fee provided for Visa support.
Our role as Migration and Education Agents should be to choose the most appropriate Institution based on the clients needs and expectations not which Institute has a signed agreement.
A more centralised Confirmation of Enrollment (CoE) process which would allow Agents to nominate a wide range of institutes based on their professional assessment and clients choice. IN return for the referral the Agent would wither receive a discount for their client's fee or a payment to offset other costs. There is no doubt in my mind that Education Agents MUST be registered to the same extent as Migration Agents in in being registered that should have access to a centralised CoE process that is available only to Registered Agents.
Until such a system is available MS might like to consider establishing such a register administration process by acting as a gateway for registered Agents to acquire a CoE and commission payment on behalf of its members without having to maintain a contractual basis with evert6y Educational Institution.
Immigration blog
Dear Mr McFarlane,
The solution to this problem is clear.
Stop DIBP from "registering" education Agents.
Require all persons giving Immigration assistance to be Registered Migration Agents.
Stop Universities and Colleges from paying commissions.
You have existing Commonwealth laws, stop messing around, stop being gutless and enforce the law.
Dont let DIBP tell you it is all too hard.