8.1 OMARA Registration, Scope of Practice, and Consumer Protection

8.1 OMARA Registration, Scope of Practice, and Consumer Protection

The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority administers the registration and conduct framework in Part 3 of the Migration Act 1958. The first professional question is whether an activity is regulated immigration assistance and, if so, whether the person may lawfully provide it.

Immigration assistance and clerical work

Section 276 focuses on using, or purporting to use, knowledge of migration procedure to assist with visa applications, cancellation processes, sponsorship or nomination matters, and review. Advising a person which visa pathway to choose, assessing legal criteria, completing an application through migration-law judgment, or preparing submissions will ordinarily be immigration assistance.

Mechanical help is different. Typing information exactly as instructed, translating or interpreting, passing on information without explanation, or performing genuine clerical work may fall outside immigration assistance. The label on a role is irrelevant: an “education consultant” or HR employee who selects a visa and gives legal-strategy advice can cross the line, while a trained administrator doing only supervised clerical tasks does not become an agent.

Section 277 separately addresses immigration legal assistance. Australian legal practitioners operate within the statutory arrangements applicable to their practising-certificate status. An RMA should not describe their work as legal practice unless independently entitled to do so.

Unregistered practice

Section 280 restricts unregistered immigration assistance, subject to the statutory scheme and exemptions. Section 281 imposes a particularly serious offence for asking for or receiving a fee or reward for immigration assistance when not entitled; its maximum penalty is 10 years’ imprisonment. Agents must not lend their MARN to an unregistered adviser, rubber-stamp work they did not properly supervise, or let marketing imply that unregistered staff give immigration assistance.

Code sections 23 and 24 reinforce the practice-management obligation. Immigration assistance must be given by RMAs, and the responsible agent must ensure that non-agent work is competently performed and appropriately supervised.

Initial registration

OMARA’s current registration pathway requires the applicant to satisfy the prescribed education and exam requirements, unless another lawful pathway applies. The prescribed Capstone provider is Legal Training Australia, and a person relying on the Australian qualification route must apply within the period specified by the current rules after passing the Capstone. The Authority also assesses fitness, integrity, identity, police history, and Australian citizenship or qualifying residence status.

Professional indemnity insurance is both a registration and professional-duty issue. Section 292B of the Act and regulation 33 of the Migration Agents Regulations 2026 prescribe cover of at least AUD 250,000, held by the individual or by an organisation of which the person is a director, employee, or member. If assistance is provided through more than one business, OMARA requires appropriate evidence for each business.

Continuing registration and public protection

Registration does not confer a government connection, special influence, or guaranteed outcome. An agent must use their MARN correctly, keep OMARA and clients informed of relevant changes, maintain insurance, and meet the current CPD requirements for repeat registration unless a lawful exception applies. The public register allows consumers to confirm whether an individual is currently registered and to view relevant disciplinary information.

Boundary scenario

A company’s HR coordinator compares a candidate’s duties with ANZSCO, selects the Core Skills stream, and drafts a submission about nomination criteria. Even if the coordinator charges no separate fee, those evaluative tasks use migration knowledge and are not merely typing or translating. The RMA should take responsibility for the advice, supervise permissible administrative work, and prevent the coordinator from presenting themselves as the adviser.

Registration control file

An agent should maintain a registration control file separate from client matters. It should contain the current OMARA registration record and renewal date, insurance policy and covered entities, CPD record, police or identity documents required for renewal, business names and addresses notified to OMARA, and evidence for every practice through which assistance is provided. Diary renewal well before expiry and plan client continuity if registration could lapse. Check that websites, email signatures, engagement documents, social profiles, and staff scripts identify the correct registered individual and MARN. When engaging a new adviser, verify the public register rather than relying on a résumé. For every staff role, document which tasks are clerical, which require an RMA, who supervises, and how doubtful questions are escalated. These controls turn the abstract prohibition on unregistered assistance into a system that prevents clients from receiving substantive advice from someone without current authority.