Here at Down Under Visa we have learned to be cautious in our daily migration agency practice. Very cautious indeed, because mistakes in Australian visa applications cost big time. Visa refusals and possible 3 year bans loom when mistakes are made.

Australian visa applications are governed by Australian Migration Law and by department of immigration policy. We are well-versed in both, given that we are qualified Registered Migration Agents and not people who also sell bus tickets from a shopfront somewhere. What we tell you is what the Law tells us. And the Law is pretty inflexible as a rule. Follow it to the letter, or fail.

How do we prevent visa refusals?

We communicate with you about visa requirements and other matters via email and therefore keep things in writing. That way you have everything there in black and white, and there are no mistakes. And as long as you don’t delete emails, you have it there forever to refer back to.

We like it too, because we have an easy reference to what we’ve discussed with clients. Sometimes visa applications can take a long time. We’ve had clients, especially those with annulments and other legal matters to sort out, take years to get their applications ready. There is no way that any of us will remember details of what we discussed on the phone one afternoon in 2013, is there? With no written references, it all comes down to guesswork.

The really good thing about emails is that you can search. If you’re wondering “What did Jeff tell me? Do I need to get a passport for young Johnny?”, you just search “jeff passport johnny” and chances are you’ll find the email from January where I said that yes you do.

Years ago I had an incident with an applicant who was a bit on the dodgy side, and she used to insist on coming into the office and asking questions. After one of these occasions I had her niece in Australia ask me if it was true that we told her to organise a fake document!! Ouch! We have never advised to get fake documents ever, and we never will! From that occasion onward, I said “Written advice only for important matters!” The last thing we need is a refusal due to a fake document, and the client saying “But the migration agent told us to!”

So please understand when we say we want to keep the discussion in writing. I want both you and I to have something to fall back on if there is any confusion on either of our parts.

What if it’s very personal and private?

We are governed by a Code of Conduct. What you say to us is confidential. No one reads my emails with clients. We don’t even admit to anybody that you ARE our client. We take it that seriously!

And if you want us to manage your visa application, you need to be completely candid with us anyway. You can’t have anything pertaining to the case that you don’t want us to know, or it will only cause a problem when the application is lodged with the Department or the Australian Embassy. Honestly, we’ve heard it all before anyway.

I have had cases where people don’t want to put things in writing because they have something sneaky that they want to hide, either some essential facts they want left out or some false statements or bogus documents they want submitted in an application. Well, sorry but we don’t work that way. We simply won’t take on your case.

Bottom line! Email us. Email us and let us manage your Australian visa application in the most professional manner possible, and let us get your visa granted.