Tips For Choosing a Migration Specialist
1. Choose a specialist
Be sure to choose an actual specialist – someone that has the qualifications to be legally allowed, as well as capable, to provide the advice especially if you are paying big bucks for their assistance.
Legally, the only types of people you can pay to assist you with your application are Australian Legal Practitioners (ALPs) and Registered Migration Agents (RMAs). This means lawyers need to have a current practicing certificate and agents need current Migration Agent Registration. You can read about the differences between them here.
You can also be assisted by a spouse/partner or your employer sponsor, but they cannot receive money in exchange for the assistance and, to be honest, they may not always be the best person for the job.
You can search the list of currently registered RMAs on the MARA website and ALPs on the website of the legal bodies in each state (follow the links on the Law Council website).
If they aren’t listed as an ALP or an RMA avoid, avoid, avoid.
2. Do the checks to ensure your specialist is who they say they are
The benefits of having online registers making details of the current ALPs and RMAs publicly available is that you can easily check to see who is registered and who isn’t, identify them and get in touch with them.
The downside is that there’s people out there that try to take advantage of that by using their details to pose as being registered when they are not. This can result in big losses for the applicant, and sometimes issues for the impersonated ALP/RMA too ESPECIALLY when they dodgy person is overseas as there is no chance at recourse. Often the ALP/RMA won’t even realise there is someone using their details.
I’d be pretty wary if anyone initiates direct contact with you to assist in an application, especially online via email or social media.
The best way to avoid all this, is double check the contact details for your chosen specialist match those listed on the registers. If they don’t, contact the agent using the contact details on the register to double check it is them you have been talking to.
3. If it is too good to be true, it probably is, so be cautious
The age old saying stands true and if you are being promised the world and more you will likely only get burned.
This is not to say that all good news or advice consistent with what you hoped to hear is wrong. But, if there’s some extravagant promises or exorbitant amounts of money involved it may be.
Things like firm promises and guarantees of permanent residence and/or a job contract if you pay a huge amount of money upfront.
Another common misleading promise is that of special treatment by the Department of Home Affairs or the Australian Government.
And if you know you are categorically ineligible to apply for a visa but someone tells you they can ‘sort it out’, abort mission.
Recently the Department of Home Affairs became aware of an ‘agent’ who was offering to provide visa applicants with fake documents so they could get another working holiday visa without having done the required regional work. In the last few months, all the people who obtained visas using this agent have received notices from the Department regarding the cancellation of their visas.
The Department have information on things to watch out for with visa scams on their website here and here. If you have a gut feeling if something is a bit off, be vigilant and research
Apart from visa scams, some migration specialists just like to exaggerate what they can do for you. If you are getting promises like specific processing times for your application or guarantees of getting a COVID-19 travel exemption you might like to take this with a grain of salt.
4. Ask your friends, family, colleagues
I’m not suggesting here that you should ask your peers for advice on your visa application, but if anyone you know has used a migration specialist it would be a great starting point to ask them for a referral or about their experience. They might be able to recommend a company or individual they had a great experience with. If not, they may know someone else that can.
Referrals are the best. You can ask all sorts of questions about their experiences, and get a unique insight about what they loved or found challenging, what sorts of things they had to provide and just general what you might expect.
If you have no friends, or just none of them have had to do visa applications, then online forums and dedicated Facebook groups might offer some recommendations based on other peoples’ experiences.
5. Stalk them
No, I don’t mean be a total creeper and follow them home! I mean google them, Facebook them, LinkedIn them etc. Do your research on them like you would for your mate’s new boyfriend.
Google and Facebook reviews for Immigration law firms and migration agencies are great, as they often provide a bit of specific detail of the person’s experience and you can usually pick out the really genuine ones and ignore the ones that don’t provide much value (commonly the salty people who have received advice that was honest but not what they wanted to hear).
If the reviews for a law firm or migration agency consistently name a specific person, you might be able to request that person to handle your application. It also might be worth checking the company website or the professional’s LinkedIn page to confirm they are still working at that firm.
Googling the business or individual’s name may also show up other information about them. Maybe they have commented in a news story recently or won an award, or maybe they have been subject to disciplinary action.
6. Pick someone who has experience, in particular experience in the visa you are applying for
Following on from stalking them, you should also try and work out how much experience a specialist has. In general, the more experience, the better, particularly if you have a bit of a complex case.
It is simple to check out their website and see what sort of visas and visa issues they deal with. LinkedIn is a good way to check out a person’s credentials as well and how fair back they stem.
When reading the reviews, in your stalking, take note of when the reviews are being left as older ones might indicate that they have been in the field for a while. Similarly take note of the types of visas being mentioned in the reviews. If they only mention partner visas, and you are applying for a business visa it might be worth asking them whether they specialise in business visas and, if not, finding someone who specialises in or regularly deals with business visas.
For migration agents you can check their Migration Agent Registration Number (MARN). The first two digits point to the year they became a RMA. So if you RMA has the MARN 191234, then they were likely registered in 2019. If their MARN is 061234 then they were likely registered in 2006.
It is a bit harder to find this out for lawyers, and it is also common for lawyers to have been working in the field well before becoming a lawyer. If a lawyer is an Accredited Specialist in Migration Law, you can be confident they know their stuff. There are only about 97 Accredited Specialists in all of Australia. The process to become one is expensive and intensive, and has a very high fail rate. If you have a super complex matter, particularly one involving the courts, it might be worth selecting an Accredited Specialist.
7. Book in a consultation with them to discuss your matter and catch their vibe
A consultation is a great way to get a feel of whether you mesh and whether you feel confident that you have found someone who knows what they are talking about and can get the job down.
Do you get along? You might be thinking, who cares if we get along so long as we get the visa. But keep in mind processing times for some visas can be a year or two. That’s a long time, and a lot can happen and change in that time. You want to make sure you have a migration specialist you get along with, you have confidence in, you trust and you can confide in. It is easily going to be a much more positive experience when you get along with and are happy chatting to your migration specialist.
Other questions to ask yourself after a consultation:
Were they easy to understand? Or were there language barriers because maybe they speak a different language to you or use technical terms instead of plain English?
Do you feel confident in their advice?
Did they answer all your questions?
Did they provide valuable, insightful, or in-depth information (even if the information isn’t new to you)?
Did they be thorough, or did you feel rushed you out the door?
8. Check their fees are within your budget and check what is included in those fees
Fees vary a lot from visa to visa and migration specialist to migration specialist. More expensive isn’t always better, but cheap as chips is not usually going to be the smart option either (remember tip 3, if it is too good to be true then it probably is).
Get a rough idea of what costs different firms are charging for your visa type and work out which ones are realistically in your budget. It is standard practice in immigration for the whole balance of fees to be paid prior to lodgement of the visa application so you want to know you will be able to pay for the visa when it needs to be lodged.
It is also worth looking into what is included in those fees, particularly fixed fee offers. Will you get unlimited emails, will they monitor your application until a decision is made, will they prepare your documents neatly, can you call them if something comes up, will they contact you if the laws change before your visa is decided or if there is a pandemic, will they provide you with regular updates. If the agreement isn’t clear, be sure to ask them what their standard practice is and make sure you are happy with that offering and you are happy with the value of it.
If you need some assistance with a visa application, please get in touch via our Contact page and we can try to assist, schedule a consultation or point you in the right direction.
Disclaimer: The above information does NOT constitute legal advice and DOES NOT create a lawyer-client relationship between you and Visa Sidekick. It does not take into account individual circumstances and is intended to be informational only. If you need legal advice please contact an Australian Immigration Lawyer.