Confidentiality & Notifying The Client Of Complaint Procedure
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Check List Using The Regulations As A Template eg - Spouse Visa
Get Enough Sleep
Visa Application And Associated Costs
Preserving Records
Record Keeping And Management - How Long Do Documents Have To Be Kept?
Initial Requirements Regarding Accepting A Retainer
Failure Of Proper File Management Can Lead To Suspension As A Migration Agent
Interpreters
Confidentiality & Notifying The Client Of Complaint Procedure
Give Your Client A Copy Of Everything
Give Your Client The Bad News Immediately
Take Care While On Holidays
Clients & English
Check Special Requirements For Offshore Visas With The Embassy's Or Consulate's Website
Don't Accept Immigration's Assertion That Decisions Have Been Made Properly
Have No Fear Of Appeals
Never Advise Your Client To Make Life Changing Decisions Prior To The Grant Of A Visa & Trust Your Instincts
Before You Set The Fee With Your Client And Before You File A Visa Application
Oral Instructions
What Can Go Wrong If You Don't Record Your Mail Properly
Prepare Your Client For The Oath
Ideas For Chronologies For Client Files
Immigration Goes Into Hibernation On 30 June Each Year
Australia Closes Down Between Christmas & New Year
Have An Industrial Strength Office Set Up At The Office And At Home
What Is A Permanent Residence Visa?
Practice Together Or Practice In Groups
A Proper Email Account And Email Management
Undercharging And Undercutting On Fees
Positioning And Pathways And Fees (Putting All One's Eggs In One Basket)
Email & Fax Communication & Errors With Credit Cards Emerge As Troubling Issues
Preparing A Client For Merit Review Hearings Or Interviews With DIBP
Accountants And Migration Law
Passport
Berenguel - Sometimes Time Of Application Criteria Can Be Met At Time Of Decision
Bare Faced Liars & The Fraudsters
Everyone's Doing It
Bridging Visas
Visas Remain Current Until Midnight
Immigration Closes At 4pm
Looking After Secondary Visa Holders In A Visa Cancellation Process
Applying As A Secondary Visa Applicant Onshore When The Primary Visa Applicant Is Offshore
Being Illegal
Essential Prerequisites For A Ministerial Discretion Application
Last Lunge Applications
State And Territory Sponsorship
Addresses
Believing The Client
Follow Up
Make Peace With The Tax Office
No Obligation On Immigration To Chase Up Information Or Documents From Migration Agents Or Lawyers Representing A Client
Errors In Visa Applications
Spouse Visas - Unexplained Large Deposits of Money
Managing No. 8503 On Tourist Visas
Medical Consent
Statutory Declarations
Merit Review
Tax Deductibility of Migration Advice
LEGENDcom
Dates On Documents And Names On Documents
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Take A Statement
Case Management Software
Work Rights
Student
Check All Past Visa Applications
Revealing Convictions
Visa Holders Being On Their Best Behaviour
Email Communication With Immigration - Delete All Strings
No Without Prejudice Conversations With Immigration
Accounts Managements
What Is A Secondary Visa?
Identify Australian Citizens Who Support An Applicant
Communications
Schedule 1 Criteria
Second Thing To Do On Starting A File - Download The Relevant Part Of The Law
First Thing To Do When Starting Any File - Identify Any 'Rights Destroying' Deadlines
Lodging Paper Applications
Social Media & Smart Phones
References
Disputes About Parentage And Children
Helping People Pass The English Tests
Managing Emails
What Is The Pomodoro Technique?
Immigration Telephones Client
When Is A Visa Application Made In Australia
Apply For A Visa In Australia
No Visa Application Is An Island
The Hammock Principle
Assuming therefore that there is no conflict of interest, the agent then has an obligation of confidentiality and then an obligation to inform a client of the complaint procedure. This is found in the Part 3 of the Code as follows:
3.1 A migration agent has a duty to preserve the confidentiality of his or her clients.
3.2 A migration agent must not disclose, or allow to be disclosed, confidential information about a client or a client’s business without the client’s written consent, unless required by law.
3.2A Before starting to work for a client, a migration agent must:
(a) provide the client with a copy of Information on the Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession; and
(b) make a record that the copy has been provided.
Note Information on the Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession is a document produced by the Authority with information about the migration advice industry, the functions of the Authority, the legislation regulating the industry, what a client can reasonably expect from a migration agent, and complaint procedures.
3.3 A migration agent must inform clients that they are entitled to receive copies of the application under the Migration Act or Migration Regulations and any related documents if they want copies. The agent may charge a reasonable amount for any copies provided.
As discussed elsewhere that obligation of confidentiality is subservient to certain obligations of disclosure to MARA.
The document Information on the Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession states (among other things):
If you consider that the advice provided by your registered migration agent was incorrect you may have a right to seek compensation from the registered migration agent, even if that agent did not charge you for the advice. Registered migration agents are not required to have professional indemnity insurance however the MARA strongly recommends that registered migration agents have professional indemnity insurance.
You may have contractual rights in a civil jurisdiction if you have a dispute in relation to any monies you have paid.