For nearly every Australian visa application, a registered migration agent and an immigration lawyer can do exactly the same work, and the agent usually charges less. You need a lawyer when your matter reaches judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, or when it involves law outside the Migration Act.
This page sets out the difference honestly, including the parts that do not favour us.
Visa Point is a registered migration agency, not a law firm. Robbie Toor holds MARN 1170356. Below you will find five specific situations where we would tell you to hire a solicitor instead of us.
Why the two get confused
Anyone giving Australian immigration assistance for a fee has to be one of two things. A registered migration agent, or an Australian legal practitioner holding an unrestricted practising certificate.
Here is where the confusion comes from. Until 22 March 2021, lawyers doing migration work generally held a MARN as well. After that date they stopped registering with OMARA. So a solicitor who did migration work for years might have had a MARN on their website in 2019 and not have one now, and nothing about their competence changed.
The two categories today:
Registered migration agent. Holds a MARN. Has completed the Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice, or an equivalent, and keeps up continuing professional development. Bound by the Code of Conduct administered by OMARA. Publicly searchable at mara.gov.au, complaints handled by the same body.
Immigration lawyer. Admitted as a legal practitioner, holds an unrestricted practising certificate, regulated by the legal services commission in their state. Can appear in court.
Both give immigration advice. Both lodge applications. Both represent clients at the Administrative Review Tribunal.
What each one can do
| Registered migration agent | Immigration lawyer | |
|---|---|---|
| Advise on visa options and eligibility | Yes | Yes |
| Prepare and lodge visa applications | Yes | Yes |
| Respond to a notice of intention to refuse | Yes | Yes |
| Respond to a section 57 natural justice letter | Yes | Yes |
| Apply for health and character waivers | Yes | Yes |
| Represent you at the Administrative Review Tribunal | Yes | Yes |
| Appear in the Federal Circuit and Family Court | No | Yes |
| Advise on law outside the Migration Act | No | Yes |
| Legal professional privilege over your communications | No | Yes |
| Typical professional fee | Lower | Higher |
The Tribunal row is the one that surprises people.
The ART is not a court. It is a merits review body, and a registered migration agent has full rights of representation there, including running the hearing. A fair bit of the "you will need a lawyer for an appeal" advice floating around online is either out of date or it is marketing.
Five situations where you genuinely need a lawyer
Be straight with yourself about these.
1. Judicial review.
If the Tribunal has affirmed a refusal and your only remaining option is the Federal Circuit and Family Court, you need a legal practitioner. A migration agent cannot appear. This is not a preference, it is a rule.
2. Criminal proceedings running alongside a visa problem.
Section 501 character cancellations frequently sit next to criminal matters. You want one adviser who can see both files at once, and that has to be a lawyer.
3. Family law, employment law or a commercial dispute tangled into the visa.
A partner visa collapsing mid-application at the same time as a family law dispute is a legal matter first and a migration matter second.
4. You need legal professional privilege.
Communications with a lawyer attract privilege. Communications with a migration agent do not. If you are dealing with genuinely sensitive material, that difference is real and it is worth paying for.
5. Sponsorship enforcement action against a business.
Where the Department is investigating a sponsor for breaches, civil penalties are on the table. That is legal territory.
When a registered agent is the sensible call
Most of the time, honestly.
Skilled migration, employer sponsored applications, partner visas, student visas, parent visas, skills assessments, and the bulk of tribunal appeals.
These are migration process matters. What decides them is whether the evidence has been assembled to meet the criteria and put clearly in front of the decision maker. Not whether the person who lodged it holds a practising certificate.
An agent doing partner visas every week is usually better placed on a standard 820 than a general practitioner who takes a migration file now and then. The reverse is true too, and we would say so.
How to check either one before you pay
Checking an agent. Search the name or MARN at mara.gov.au. The register shows registration status and any disciplinary history.
Checking a lawyer. Search the register kept by the state regulator. In Queensland that is the Queensland Law Society.
Two things apply to both. Nobody can guarantee you a visa, and anyone who does is not someone to hire. And you are entitled to a written fee agreement before work starts, from either one.
What about "immigration consultant"?
That one is not a regulated term at all.
"Immigration consultant", "visa agent", "visa consultant" and "immigration agency" are marketing descriptions. Some of the people using them are registered agents. Some of them are not, and some of those are operating unlawfully.
The only question worth asking is: what is your MARN, or what is your practising certificate number? A straight answer to that takes a second. Anything else is a reason to leave.
What Visa Point does and does not do
We are a registered migration agency at Suite 1.12, Level 1/88 Tribune St, South Brisbane. Registered since 2011, MARN 1170356.
We do: prepare and lodge visa and nomination applications, respond to Departmental notices, apply for health and character waivers, apply for Schedule 3 waivers, and represent clients at Administrative Review Tribunal hearings.
We do not: appear in court. We are not lawyers and we do not describe ourselves as lawyers. If your matter reaches judicial review, we will tell you, and you will need a solicitor.
We would rather say that in the first consultation than take a file we cannot see through to the end.
Related reading: what an immigration agent in Brisbane does, our immigration legal services, and immigration detention in Australia.
Not sure which one you need?
Call 0425 825 500. A short conversation is usually enough to work out which category your problem sits in, and if the answer is that you need a lawyer, we will tell you on the phone at no cost.
Visa Point Studies and Immigration
Suite 1.12, Level 1/88 Tribune St, South Brisbane QLD 4101
MARN 1170356