Australian Immigration Daily News

Migration Alliance has received the following email from the Director of Office of the MARA this afternoon:

Further to my note on Monday 15 June 2020 on ‘Bill Package – passing through the Senate’.

The Bill package comprises several different parts across the two pieces of legislation – the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 and Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Bill 2019. 

You can read about the Bills in detail at: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/billsdgs/7177556/upload_binary/7177556.pdf;fileType=application/pdf 

In general terms, most of the Bill package will commence six or nine months after the Royal Assent, or at specified dates within that six or nine month period. The Bills are expected to receive the Royal Assent in the next few working days. The Department of Home Affairs will provide comprehensive advice to the industry closer to the commencement dates to allow them to prepare for the changes to the regulatory framework. 

There is no change to current legislative requirements until the Bills commence. Until that time, legal practitioners still need to register with the OMARA and pay an application fee in order to provide immigration assistance. Penalties still apply for providing immigration assistance if not a registered migration agent or exempt person. 

There will be no refund on the registration (or repeat registration) application charge for legal practitioners who will be removed from the OMARA regulatory framework at the commencement of the Bill package. The registration application charge imposed by section 4 of the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Act 1997 is for the assessment of a registration application, which is completed when a registration application is assessed and decided. It is not a yearly registration fee. Pursuant to section 288(7) of the Migration Act 1958, registration application fees are non-refundable.