Bir migration agent tutmadan önce sorulacak yirmi iki soru
The questions that separate a professional from an operator, grouped by what they actually test - credentials, scope, money, who does the work, and what happens when it goes wrong.
Bu, sistemin nasıl işlediğine dair yayımlanmış bilgidir. Bu, göçmenlik yardımı değildir ve hukuki tavsiye değildir; sizin koşullarınızı dikkate alamaz, ve bir ücret tarifesi veya bir düzenleme değiştiği anda güncelliğini yitirmiş olabilir. Yalnızca bir kayıtlı göçmenlik danışmanı (registered migration agent) veya Avustralyalı avukat (Australian legal practitioner) kendi başvurunuz hakkında size danışmanlık verebilir. Durumunuzu açıklayın ve bunların birkaçı size yazılı olarak, ücretsiz cevap verecektir.
Most people ask two questions before handing over several thousand dollars: how much, and how long. Both answers are unverifiable at the time they are given.
These twenty-two are verifiable, or they reveal something in how they are answered. Copy them. Ask all of them. You are not being difficult — a competent professional answers this list in ten minutes and is glad you asked, because it is the same list that makes the engagement go smoothly for them.
Credentials — five questions#
1. What is your MARN, or your practising certificate number?#
Seven digits for a registered migration agent. A practising certificate number and a state for a lawyer. Look it up yourself on the OMARA kaydı or the relevant state legal register while you are still on the call.
2. When does your registration expire?#
Registration is annual. If it expires in six weeks and your matter runs two years, you want to know that renewal is routine and expected.
3. Have you ever been disciplined, cautioned, suspended or barred?#
The answer is on the register anyway. Asking tests candour rather than the fact. A caution eight years ago that they mention themselves is a different thing from one you find later.
4. Do you hold professional indemnity insurance, and with whom?#
Registered agents are required to. Ask for the insurer's name.
5. How many of this exact visa have you lodged in the last two years?#
Not "years of experience". Volume in this visa. A twenty-year agent who does two partner visas a year is not the person you want on a difficult partner visa.
Scope — six questions#
6. Exactly what is included in the fee?#
Ask for it as a list, in writing.
7. What is not included?#
Ask this as its own question. It produces a different answer from question 6, and the money lives in the gap between them.
8. Does it include responding to a request for further information?#
The Department frequently asks for more, often a year in. If responding is extra, you want that written down now, not discovered then.
9. Does it include a response if the Department raises an adverse issue?#
A section 57 natural justice letter is a serious moment. Is dealing with it inside the fee?
10. Does it include the second stage, or a bridging visa application if I need one?#
Especially for partner visas, where the second stage is two years away and easy to leave out of a headline price.
11. What happens to the scope if my circumstances change?#
A new job, a separation, a pregnancy, a new applicant. All of these change the work.
Money — five questions#
12. Is this fee fixed, or hourly with an estimate of hours?#
Section 46 of the Code allows those two structures and nothing else. A bare hourly rate with no estimate is not compliant.
13. Is the figure inclusive of GST?#
It must be. If it is quoted "plus GST" to a consumer, ask why.
14. What are the disbursements likely to be, for my specific situation?#
Health examinations, police certificates from every country lived in, translations, skills assessment, English test. Ask for a number and for which items they are unsure about.
15. When does each payment fall due, and against what?#
You are looking for stages tied to work done, each invoiced before and receipted after.
16. Where is my money held before it is earned?#
Section 50 requires unearned client money to sit in a client account, separate from the agent's own. The right answer is immediate and specific.
If the answer to "when do I pay you" is "a deposit today, before we do the paperwork", stop. Section 51 of the Code prohibits an agent from asking for or receiving money before a written services agreement is in place. There are no exceptions for deposits, consultation fees or file-opening charges.
Who actually does the work — three questions#
17. Who will prepare and lodge my application, personally?#
Not the firm. The person.
18. Is that person registered, and what is their number?#
An unregistered person doing the substantive work under someone else's MARN is a serious problem for everyone, including you.
19. Who do I contact when I have a question, and how quickly do you reply?#
Ask for a normal turnaround in business days. It is a fair question and the answer is a promise you can hold them to.
When it goes wrong — three questions#
20. What is your complaints process?#
The Code requires them to have one and to respond properly to a complaint. Ask what it is before you need it.
21. What happens if the visa is refused? What is included, and what costs extra?#
Review at the tribunal is often a separate engagement. Establish that now.
22. If I want to leave, what do I get back and how fast?#
Your file within 14 days under section 54, a statement of what was done and charged under section 55, and a refund of anything unearned.
How to use the answers#
You are not scoring the answers on how confident they sound. You are looking for three things:
- Specificity. "It depends" is honest once. Four times, it means they have not read your situation.
- Willingness to write it down. Anything true stays true in an email.
- Consistency. The number on the phone and the number in the agreement should match.
An agent who declines to answer any of the credential questions has answered the whole list.
The shortcut#
Describe your case on VisaBid and the answers to most of these arrive with the quote, because the format requires them: fixed fee or hourly with hours, GST inclusive, government charges itemised separately, inclusions, exclusions, payment stages, and the refund position. Then use the remaining questions on the two or three you shortlist.
İnsanların sorduğu sorular#
Is it rude to ask an agent all of this?#
No, and the reaction tells you something. A professional who prices properly has answered these hundreds of times and has documents ready. Irritation at question 7 is information.
What if they will not put the answers in writing?#
Then you do not have a quote, you have a conversation. Section 42 requires a written services agreement before any work begins, so an agent unwilling to write things down is telling you how the rest of it will go.
How many agents should I ask?#
Three to six is enough to see the range without paralysing yourself. More than that and you are comparing noise. Posting once and letting them come to you is faster than ringing ten offices, and it produces quotes in the same shape so they can actually be compared.
They gave me a much lower price than everyone else. Should I be worried?#
Worried, no. Curious, yes. Work through questions 6, 7 and 10 specifically — a low fee is very often a narrower scope, which can be exactly right if the narrow scope is all you need.
Bunu okumak işin yavaş olan yarısıdır
Durumunuzu anlatmak yaklaşık on dakika sürer ve hiçbir ücreti yoktur. Kayıtlı temsilciler ve göçmenlik avukatları kalem kalem yazılı teklifler gönderir — kendi ücretleri ve devlet ücreti ayrı ayrı gösterilir — ve siz birini seçene kadar adınız bunların hiçbirine verilmez.