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Should the OMARA investigate this public seminar?
The OMARA has effectively told the Migration Alliance that it will do nothing about a complaint raised by the MA that a public seminar on migration is set to be delivered by a person not registered with the OMARA.
You may have a PhD, you may be a lawyer, you may be a CPA or have other professional qualifications, but to provide migration advice you are required to be a registered migration agent with the OMARA, unless specific exceptions under the law apply.
It is Migration Alliance's concern that presenters need to be listed on the OMARA’s list of registered migration agents. According to the Global Talent Summit (Sydney) speaking schedule, the following workshops are set to run:
- Introduction to Australian & New Zealand Immigration for International Recruitment.
- Managing your risk – Immigration Risk Management for Intra-Company Transfers.
- Australian Immigration Policy Updates – Labour Agreements, English Language Requirements and Skills Assessment.
However, no RMA is listed as a presenter for these workshops. Do you think that this is right or the matters set out in the workshop amount to immigration assistance under the Migration Act?
Section 276 of the Migration Act among other things, indicates that a person gives immigration assistance if the person uses, or purports to use, knowledge of, or experience in, migration procedure to assist another person about nominating or sponsoring a visa applicant for the purposes of the regulation. To provide immigration assistance, registration with the OMARA is required.
The Migration Alliance has lodged a complaint with the OMARA and the DIBP stating that that any immigration advice or information being provided at this conference, especially within the sessions outlined above, ought to be delivered by a Registered Migration Agent pursuant to legislation.
The response from OMARA’s acting CEO was that the organiser’s website indicates that “the organisers are aware of registered migration agents and that they are a target market”. The Acting CEO concludes, that if there were any concerns for anyone attending the conference on the matter of immigration assistance by an unregistered person then they should dob them in using the official telephone 1800 009 623 or the feedback form on the Department’s website.
But the MA has already raised the issue with the OMARA. Isn't that enough to ask the questions?
Comments
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Friday, 01 May 2015I don't think the Omara can cope already. It's not their job. DI BP investigations should be there to enforce their rules. This looks like a case of blatant disregard for our laws. Just looked up the bloke running the show and he's not Aussie. He will probably come in here, do and say as he likes and get away with it. Just goes to show registration isn't truly needed! I'm going to go and listen to the crap immigration advice spew from their mouths and record it. Then send it to the dibp on a USB. Nobody will care.
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Friday, 01 May 2015
The law surrounding "migration assistance" is redundant. It's inclusion within the Migration Act adds layers of unnecessary dramatics.
Quibbling about what is migration information vs migration assistance makes for enlivening fire side chat.
The relevant sections of the Act and the Industry and its regulation need a polite upheaval. -
Friday, 01 May 2015The logical conclusion, after doing a bit or research, is that its industry sponsor will facilitate the events in question, like it did in 2013, but it's not clearly articulated and one could be forgiven to think that's NOT the case.
Is it our role to raise this? to comment on an event which smells, looks and sounds like a forum where migration advice will be provided? Yes. Discussing it will only strengthen the understanding we all must have about this issue as RMAs – What is immigration advice and how must we do it? DIBP defines immigration advice in plain English on its 956, for all to understand:
‘…A person gives immigration assistance if he or she uses, or claims to use, his or her knowledge or experience in migration procedure to assist a person with matters related under the Migration Act 1958. The most common times assistance is provided is during visa application processes, visa cancellation processes or sponsorship processes (including monitoring or sanctions). Note: Immigration assistance does not include simply filling in an application form, translating or interpreting or passing on information…’ UNLESS one is an exempt person or part of an exempt group and workshop organisers are highly unlikely to be exempt but if there were:
'...As an exempt person you must not charge a fee for your service. In Australia, if you do charge a fee you are committing an offence and penalties of up to 10 years jail can apply…’
All workshops will refer to a myriad of migration procedures. Attendees will be getting ‘advice’, not just information (whether personally or organisationally) and are being charged for it (through a registration cost) So where do activities such as these fall? In a dark hole, it seems, but these shouldn’t because there is a framework in place for them within the Regulations.
The community and the industry is being constantly bombarded about the perils and evils of using unregistered agents, the consequences of unregistered practice and all that goes with it; as RMAs we live in the shadow of the OMARA and DIBP just in case we are perceived to be providing wrong advice in a non-compliant way, though we know too well the result of unregistered advice on a daily basis - BUT Ed Agents, unregistered overseas ‘consultants’ and conference presenters who are NOT registered or DON’T appear to be, are OK, always… WHAT kind of a message is that? the wrong one. Complaining after the fact isn't going to cut it - raising it will.
MA and its members are not the thought police, by any means. However, the issue of unregistered migration advice in its various permutations over time (past, present and future) will NOT go away so we are always vigilant, raising it in the differing ways that we do and commenting on what we believe to be the right thing. -
Friday, 01 May 2015
Where are the federal Police when you need them?
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Friday, 01 May 2015
As long as DIBP keeps handing out "Agent ID's" to unregistered offshore "agents" who are not MARA registered, but can essentially then brand themselves "migration agents registered with DIBP" it undercuts the entire system. Same for Education Agents who routinely give migration advice but are not MARA registered. Until those massive issues are addressed, non-agents giving seminars about factual changes and news updates are a tiny drop in the bucket.
Immigration blog
I don't see how you can staple shut the lips of anyone anywhere who wants to talk generally on migration topics. That sort of thinking leads to a situation in which politicians dob in politicians, academics dob in academics, lawyers dob in lawyers, HR people dob in HR people, and MIA dobs in MA and vice versa, ad infinitum.
The rules are pretty clearly aimed at non-registered individuals assisting individual applicants. There's a lot of that going around. More importantly, MARA doesn't even enforce those rules until something sensational gets published in the news media. Why burden an organisation that is already unable to do its job.
Giving free advertising to organisations such as the one doing the presentation is probably not what we should be doing.