10 REASONS WHY UNREGISTERED PEOPLE SHOULD BE PREVENTED FROM LODGING AUSTRALIAN VISA APPLICATIONS ON BEHALF OF VISA APPLICANTS. Written by: JUSTIN RICKARD B.A LL.B M.A (Syd.) M.M.I.A Australian lawyer* # 11272 (N.S.W) & Registered Migration Agent # 9790625. 1. Keeps fees low and creates unfair competition – most unregistered agents are not bound and could not care less about any standards except making money. For them increasing value is irrelevant. They make clients wonder why registered agents like us do not charge less than them. After all, if we’re good at what we do, clients expect us to charge more than our competition. 2. They attract clients who know the price of everything and the value of nothing 3. They damage the reputation of registered migration agents by undermining our credibility, almost inevitably lying and defaming us just because they can 4. They damage the reputation of Australia and Australians as a civilised country with a long established rule of law and a national commitment to the highest levels of excellence in all we do internationally 5. Unregistered people who are paid to lodge visa applications on behalf of others undermine registered migration agents as a profession & lower us to their level as nothing more than a money making industry. “A profession is something a little more than a job, it is a career for someone that wants to be part of society, who becomes competent in their chosen sector through training; maintains their skills through continuing professional development (CPD); and commits to behaving ethically, to protect the interests of the public” cf. totalprofessions/more-about-professions/what-is-a-profession (accessed 26/8/14) 6. They lessen the chances of success for visa applicants, as they will not have access to all the latest laws, regulations, policies and professional know how and therefore will not use these in their applications. This means applications will fail, visa applicants will give up on Australia and bad mouth our great country and our profession by thinking incorrectly that we are the same as the unregistered “agents”. 7. Allowing unregistered agents provides opportunities for unscrupulous, fraudulent and even criminal people to participate in the migration process, both as “agents” and visa applicants. This is outrageous and dangerous for everyone involved, especially genuine Australian visa applicants. We do not want criminals and fraudsters anywhere near us. 8. Lives are always endangered when unscrupulous, fraudulent and even criminal people are involved in anything. We only have to remember the unauthorised boat arrivals and their drowning to know this is a fate we would not wish on anyone. 9. They slow down visa processing because documents are not prepared properly, if at all and fraud and deception can be rife at every stage of an application. The inevitable result of this is that visa application fees will rise even further. When that happens we all know what the next step is – the fees we can charge clients may have to drop as they do not have unlimited money for their migration process themselves. 10. Such unregistered “agents” increase Australian Embassy & DIBP distrust of migration advisers generally. Having been practising migration law myself for over 22 years since early 1992, I know from bitter experience that the Australian government has a well-established tendency to already hold registered migration agents in low regard. They are more than likely to group us in with the unregistered ones and then think even worse of us. This can only make our work more difficult than it already is. Who wants that? Not me.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 03:47:19 +0000
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