It has come to the attention of Migration Alliance that a small number of Registered Migration Agents (RMAs) have been promoting a view that the sky is going to fall in with the removal of 2000+ lawyers out of Registered Migration Agent population of 7000+. Their predictions include the fact that this is going to cause a catastrophe for vulnerable consumers because every lawyer in Australia is suddenly going to get involved with migration applications.
The concerns of these RMAs seem to stem from the recently taken decision to remove lawyers from the requirement to register as an RMA, and their supervision by the Office of the MARA (OMARA) in line with the recommendations of the Kendall Report (The Deregulation Bill 2019).
These RMAs also seem to think that 60,000 Australian lawyers will be unleashed on the community, and that those lawyers have no training or experience in immigration law.
The reality is that the possession of a law degree currently qualifies a practitioner to be registered as a Migration Agent. Thus it would appear that the only impediment to the "foreshadowed disaster" has been the fact of an annual registration fee with the OMARA and the supervision of the OMARA.
Primarily the concerns of this small number of RMAs appear to have been driven by anxiety about recommendations made by the Law Council of Australia (LCA) concerning first, the removal of lawyers from the OMARA's supervisory scheme, and second, concerns regarding existing RMAs who are not lawyers practicing in a highly complex statutory environment.
The decision of the Kendall Report to recommend a Capstone exam as a precondition to entry as an RMA has also fueled concerns of a "hidden agenda" to require existing RMAs to undertake Capstone exams.
Christopher Levingston, Accredited Specialist Immigration Lawyer, and Registered Migration Agent was interviewed today and said the following:
"These concerns reflect the anxiety of a small minority of non-lawyer RMAs who have been in practice for many years.
Their concerns are that they would simply not be up to the Capstone standard. The reality is that about 40% of the profession has been in practice for 10 years or more but that the balance of the profession is made up of relatively new entrants. That being the case, the standard of work and competence of the profession generally has been lifted by the increased requirements put in place since the Kendall Report."
An analysis of the statistics published by the OMARA shows a profession (RMAs and Lawyers) which is compliant with the Code of Conduct and where professionals conduct their practices in a way which is consistent with community expectations and concerns regarding vulnerable consumers.
Notwithstanding the suggestions of the LCA, which include tiering of the profession into fields of practice with a delineation between lawyers and RMAs there is no indication that those recommendations will be implemented so as to undermine traditional areas of practice currently enjoyed by RMAs.
What is more likely is that there will be some period of supervised practice introduced, and perhaps some tiering of the profession based on qualifications and experience. Such tiering may require bespoke CPD so that the profession, including senior practitioners continues to develop, and offers world class migration advice.
If tiering is to be implemented then it will encourage the best Registered Migration Agents to develop their practices into the more complex areas of the law including Citizenship and AAT proceedings without the risk of newly admitted and/or less experienced practitioners operating in the same space.
Ultimately it is thought that tiering of the RMA profession will see the accreditation of RMAs who demonstrate higher levels of competency in much the same manner that the Law Societies in various states of Australia accredit their own lawyers as specialists.
Over the course of a non-RMAs course of career it could be possible that they proceed through various tiers of accreditation with the end result being the best of them will end up being accredited as experts in this complex legal environment. An RMA could either choose to be an expert or not to be an expert. Either way, the vast majority of Migration Alliance's 5,500+ member migration agents support the growth of the RMA profession.
Almost all professions permit someone to display higher-level or expert qualifications through a process of certification or accreditation.
Professions simply do not in effect accredit people as experts simply by reason of the effluxion of time.
A feature of every profession is that people prove that they are skilled and up to par. It would appear the Australian Migration Advice Profession will be not much different.
Christopher Levingston says:
"Knowledge and experience resulting in expertise, and any proposal to encourage expertise is to be commended, and to that end, I commend the government in its quest for a World Class Migration Profession."