The Albanese Government has stepped up its crackdown on Australia’s migration advice industry, with three registered migration agents sanctioned after allegedly allowing unregistered people to provide immigration assistance using their credentials.
The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) cancelled one agent’s registration and suspended two others in three separate cases involving what authorities describe as “front agent” activity.
The practice involves registered migration agents allowing unregistered individuals to provide migration assistance under their Migration Agent Registration Numbers (MARNs).
Assistant Minister for Citizenship Julian Hill said people paying for migration advice should be able to trust that their applications were being handled by properly qualified professionals.
“When people pay a migration agent they rightly expect a qualified person will do the work, not an untrained, unregistered fake agent.”
Hill compared the practice to allowing unqualified people to operate using the registration credentials of doctors, lawyers or financial planners.
In the most serious of the three cases, OMARA cancelled an agent’s registration after finding that hundreds of visa applications submitted through three business ImmiAccounts involved either undisclosed immigration assistance or work carried out by people who were not registered migration agents.
In another case, an agent was suspended after acknowledging that his son, who was not registered, had provided immigration assistance through the business.
Investigators also uncovered allegations that clients had received falsified departmental correspondence, creating the impression that visa applications had been lodged when they had not.
A third agent was suspended after knowingly allowing another business director to lodge visa applications using the registered agent’s MARN while the director worked towards becoming a registered migration agent.
The sanctions form part of a broader push by OMARA to strengthen oversight of Australia’s migration advice industry.
OMARA’s proactive monitoring team was established in October and monitored 85 registered migration agents during 2025–26, identifying 43 instances of non-compliance.
The Government said the regulator sanctioned 28 registered migration agents during the same financial year, through a combination of proactive monitoring and investigations.
OMARA said the overwhelming majority of registered migration agents operated professionally, but warned that a small group deliberately sought to exploit the system for financial gain.
“These actors bring the migration advice profession into disrepute and tarnish the reputation of those RMAs who do the right thing in the best interests of their clients,” OMARA said.
Only registered migration agents, Australian legal practitioners and exempt persons can legally provide immigration assistance in Australia.
The Government has also announced requirements for migration agents to undertake annual ethics training and regular refresher training on their professional obligations.
The tougher approach follows a 2024 Australian National Audit Office review that found Home Affairs’ regulation of migration agents was not effective, citing inadequate monitoring and delays in responding to complaints.
The audit found one complaint had taken five years to resolve and identified failures in the handling of allegations involving fraudulent behaviour and cash-for-visa arrangements.
The audit also found that an automated renewal system had approved agents despite complaints alleging misconduct.
The Government says strengthened monitoring and enforcement will help prevent unqualified operators from exploiting migrants and protect confidence in Australia’s migration system.
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