Hiring Migration agents

I have received a few queries regarding benefits of applying through a migration lawyer. Why should a person apply for immigration through a migration agent/lawyer when much of what an agent does can also be done by the applicant too? After all the agent does is to fill in the forms, send the application to DIAC and be the primary correspondent for all communications.

This is some thing the applicant can also do. So why hire a migration agent and pay large amounts of fees?

Well the above reasoning is very well justified. However, the real role of a qualified agent comes into play when the DIAC raises an objection which the applicant didn't fore see while lodging the application.

For example I have just received an email where an applicant applied for visa subclass 175 and on the date of application he didn't have a valid IELTS results. Although the applicant had appeared in the IELTS exam a few days before he lodged the application, he didnt have the results as yet.

In the opinion of the applicant, there was nothing wrong with lodging the application and he would provide the IELTS results to DIAC when the results are delcared.

What the applicant didnt know is that from Sept 2007, any person who lodges a GSM application must have a valid IELTS result on the date of application.

So according to the law, the application should be rejected on grounds of not fulfilling the criteria at the time of lodging the application and the applicant would incur a loss of $2000 AUD not to forget the waste of time.

So how can a qualified lawyer solve this issue? First of all, if the person had first consulted an agent, the agent would have informed him of the proper way of lodging the application. Secondly an agent knows the intricacies of the migration law and fully understands how the legal framework of the migration law. As a last resort a migration agent can apply for special consideration by invoking ministerial intervention.

This is just one of the many mistakes applicants make while lodging applications.

A good migration agent just doesnt fill in forms and serves as a PO Box service. A good migration agent can save you lots of time and hassle if not money.

So if you are well versed in the migration law, then there is no need to hire a migration agent. However, if you are not sure what you are doing, then its better to hire a migration agent.

Hope this helps