The Category B CPD myth

There is a myth circulating in the migration profession that migration agents need to do 5 Category B CPD points in a registration year.

This is not the case.

Here is the reality:

Migration agents must do a MINIMUM of 5 Category A CPD points in any one registration year.  The rest of the CPD points can be from either Category A or Category B.  

Migration agents must do no more than 5 Category B CPD points towards their total of 10 points, if they plan to do Category B CPD points at all.   

Category B is the least popular way of obtaining points for re-registration purposes. The time it takes to complete a Category B CPD point is 1.5 hours, compared to 1 hour per point for Category A.  

It is normal for migration agents to do all of their 10 CPD points as Category A points.    Doing all 10 CPD points as Category A activities meets the re-registration requirements.

All agents need to make sure of is that they do at least 1 mandatory activity from either Category A or Category B.  The mandatory subjects are Ethics or the Code of Conduct.

Here is a handy summary designed by Legal Training Australia on the Office of the MARA requirements for annual repeat registration.

Liana Allan of Legal Training Australia says, "the most common way agents earn points in 2020 is through Category A CPD webinar workshops.  Most agents seem to do all 10 points this way, including their mandatory activity.  There are no exams with Category A webinar workshops which makes it even more attractive".