In Australia, immigration assistance is regulated. Only a registered migration agent (registered with OMARA) or an Australian legal practitioner may lawfully give migration advice. Everyone else (education counsellors, consultants, well-meaning friends, websites including this one) may only provide general information. That legal line is the first thing to check.

Check before you talk

  • The register. Look the agent up on the public OMARA register. Confirm the registration is current, and check for disciplinary history. If a person giving migration advice is not on the register and is not a lawyer, walk away. They may be right, but you have no protection when they are wrong.
  • Who handles your case. Big agencies sometimes market a famous name and hand the work to juniors. Ask directly who prepares your application and who reviews it before lodgement.

Questions that separate careful from careless

  • "What are the weaknesses in my case?" A careful professional finds some, because every case has them. A pitch that is all confidence is a sales script.
  • "What happens if it's refused?" Careful agents discuss review rights, deadlines, and fallback plans before lodging. Careless ones treat the question as negativity.
  • "Can I have the fee agreement and scope in writing?" Registered agents are obliged to provide written agreements setting out services and fees. Vagueness here predicts vagueness everywhere.
  • "Will I see the application before it's lodged?" You are responsible for every answer on your own application. Declarations made in your name follow you, whoever prepared them. Never let anything be lodged that you haven't read.

Warning signs, in plain terms

  • Guarantees. Nobody controls the outcome, and a "guaranteed visa" is the oldest trick in the industry.
  • Pressure to sign today, discounts that expire tonight, or fees demanded entirely upfront in cash.
  • Suggestions to bend facts "just slightly". A professional who will lie for you will eventually lie about you, on a form with your name on it.
  • Courses or occupations recommended without any explanation of the pathway logic. If they can't explain the chain from course to assessment to visa, they haven't checked it.

Good professionals exist, and at the hard ends of the system (refusals, reviews, intervention requests) they're worth every dollar. The purpose of this checklist is to make sure the one you choose is one of the good ones.