I had someone this morning at Down Under Visa concerned if we were legitimate and if dealing with us was safe, and yes of course this would be a valid concern if we were a bunch of unknowns. And there are plenty of fly-by-nighters here in the Philippines. Every Filipino travel agent becomes a visa expert when a westerner walks in their door, and they will happily take your money and deliver very little. What are you going to do after all? Sue them from Australia?

The Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) has been around for a lot of years, and has the statutory power to register and to de-register migration agents. Since 2009 it’s been under direct control of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (formerly “…and Citizenship”, ie. DIAC, now DIBP). Migration Agents who are REGISTERED Migration Agents (RMA’s) like ourselves need to re-register with them every year, and we need to operate under the Code of Conduct for Registered Migration Agents, which is written into Commonwealth Law.

If we didn’t operate according to the Code of Conduct, ie. if we took a fee and didn’t manage a high-quality professionally prepared visa application for them, then we would risk being “struck off” as it were. Not only would be de-registered, but the details of it would be on the MARA website for all to read!

Do we need to be registered to practice?

Here in the Philippines we don’t. In Australia, yes most definitely. Even those advice-forums and facebook groups risk prosecution for giving unqualified advice. However most people have heard of Registered Migration Agents and heed the advice given by the DIBP to use an RMA when you do need help, so even though our head office is here in Philippines we remain registered.

And if you find a well-established RMA in Manila who specializes in Partner Visas, Family Visas, Tourist Visas for couples and Citizenship applications, then logically this is a much better choice than Jhun and Margie’s Visas and Bus Tickets in a small shopfront in Ermita or Angeles City. Considerably less risk, that’s for sure.

So yes, we hang onto our registration and always will. It was hard work to get in the first place, and we like our pristine record. And we like that if somebody is concerned, we can simply say to go to www.mara.gov.au and enter our Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN) which is 0959797 and they can see our current registration. They can look up the “sanctions” section and see if we show up there, which we don’t and never will! Squeaky clean, and certainly not willing to risk our registration over anything! We run a clean ship, and everything is above board.

Why else would you use a Registered Migration Agent?

I can only really speak for ourselves, but I can say that I’m qualified to practice, and required to keep up to date with current Migration Law. I have professional colleagues I can discuss difficult cases with. And all advice to clients comes from me. My son Jeremy helps me with the nuts-and-bolts of visa applications, as does Julie Ann with tourist visas, but not a single email from them goes out without my scrutiny and approval. This is why I lack sleep! And we are also very well known for our high standards and keep extremely busy as a result.

If you haven’t done so already, please complete the free Visa Assessment Form on the website, and we look forward to adding you to the already thousands of successful Australian visa applicants who’ve benefited from our high standards over the years.