Failure Of Proper File Management Can Lead To Suspension As A Migration Agent
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
In Tanari v MARA [2005] AATA 1091 here is what happened:
In evidence to the Tribunal Mr Tanari explained that in 2002 he was approached of 11 Malaysian clients seeking protection visas. He said that he had been in practice for only seven months at the time, and was inexperienced in this type of visa and in file and records management. He acknowledged that the clients provided almost identical statements of their claims which he did not attempt to verify, but he said he explained to each that further information would be necessary for the applications to succeed, and that there was no guarantee of success.
…the Tribunal finds that his handling of the 11 applications in 2002 was grossly unsatisfactory and fell far below the standard expected of a registered migration agent. He did not seek to verify the claims, he made inadequate file notes, he did not provide proper advice and he failed to keep a copy of the applications. The similarity of the claims should have alerted him to the possibility that the claims were fraudulent and that the clients had collaborated in their applications. Despite receiving instructions to proceed, Mr Tanari allowed the claims to be forwarded to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs when he knew that the claims lacked merit, and he did not provide proper advice about the consequences of refusal of the applications. The contracts that he used did not refer to the existence or purpose of the Code. The Tribunal finds that he breached clauses 2.1, 2.17(c), 2.19, 2.23, 6.1 and 11.3 of the Code.
On Mr Tanari’s own evidence he did not maintain a professional library as defined in the Act, and the Tribunal finds that he also breached clause 2.5 of the Code. He did not ensure that a professional interpreter was made available, and by failing to provide proper advice he did not have due regard to the clients’ dependence on him. For these reasons the Tribunal also finds that the applicant breached clauses 2.4 and 3.6 of the Code.
But the AAT did not cancel his registration but merely confirmed a period of suspension. The period of suspension matched the date of decision in the AAT but the penalty meant that he had formal record of having breached the code.