Australian Immigration Daily News

The Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 (the Bill) amends the Migration Act 1958 (Migration Act) to improve the effectiveness of the scheme that regulates migration agents.

Specifically, the Bill amends Part 3 of the Migration Act to:
- remove unrestricted legal practitioners from the regulatory scheme that governs migration agents, such that unrestricted legal practitioners cannot register as migration agents and are entirely regulated by their own professional bodies. This is beneficial as it will reduce the regulatory and financial burden on lawyers working in the migration advice industry;
- allow eligible restricted legal practitioners to be both registered migration agents and restricted legal practitioners for a period of up to two years. This period may be extended by up to two years (to provide a total maximum of four years in which a person can be registered as both a migration agent and a legal practitioner). This is beneficial as some restricted legal practitioners may otherwise be disadvantaged by the supervisory restrictions on their practising certificates;
- ensure that the time period in which a person can be considered an applicant for repeat registration as a migration agent is set out in delegated legislation rather than on the face of the Migration Act, and remove the 12-month time limit within which a person must apply for registration following completion of a prescribed course;
- repeal various provisions that reference regulatory arrangements that are no longer in place, which will make it clear that the powers under Part 3 of the Migration Act are exercisable by the Minister, as the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) is a part of the Department of Home Affairs, and remove references to the appointment of the Migration Institute of Australia;
- allow the MARA to refuse an application to become a registered migration agent where the applicant has been required to, but has failed to, provide information or answer questions in relation to their application by making a statutory declaration or appearing before the MARA;
- require registered migration agents to notify the MARA if they have paid the non-commercial application charge in relation to their current period of registration but give immigration assistance otherwise than on a non-commercial basis; and
- ensure that the definitions of immigration assistance and makes immigration representations include assisting a person in relation to a request to the Minister to exercise his or her power under section 501C or 501CA of the Migration Act to revoke a character-related visa refusal or cancellation decision.

Migration Alliance support this Bill: https://migrationalliance.com.au/immigration-daily-news/entry/2019-11-australian-lawyers-out-of-omara.html