Australian Migration Lawyers: How to Find, Check and Choose One

What is an Australian migration lawyer?

An Australian migration lawyer is a lawyer admitted to practise in an Australian state or territory, holding a current Australian practising certificate, whose practice is Australian migration law under the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994. Two things in that definition do the work. The lawyer is Australian in the regulatory sense, meaning admitted and certified here and answerable to an Australian legal profession regulator, not simply located here or advertising Australian visas. And the lawyer practises migration law, which is a specialised field with its own Act, Regulations, tribunal and body of case law, rather than practising generally and taking on a visa matter occasionally.

Under section 280 of the Migration Act, a person who is not a registered migration agent must not give immigration assistance, and the Act then carves out exceptions. The one that matters here is an Australian legal practitioner giving immigration assistance in connection with legal practice. "Australian legal practitioner" is a defined term: an Australian lawyer who holds a current practising certificate. Since 22 March 2021, when the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Act 2020 took effect, lawyers holding an unrestricted practising certificate are no longer registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority and are no longer eligible to register. They are regulated as lawyers by the legal services board or commissioner in their state or territory.

That regulatory position is what distinguishes Australian migration lawyers from the other people who offer help with Australian visas. A registered migration agent is regulated by the Authority under a Code of Conduct and is a lawful and legitimate provider of immigration assistance. An education agent, a travel agent, a community adviser, a relative or an online service is not permitted to give immigration assistance for a fee unless they fall within one of the narrow exceptions. A person outside Australia who advertises Australian visa services is outside the reach of Australian registration altogether. An Australian migration lawyer is inside the most demanding of the regulatory frameworks: admitted by a Supreme Court, certified annually, bound by professional conduct rules, subject to costs disclosure obligations, and carrying duties to the court that override the client's instructions where the two conflict.

There is no separate licence for migration law. Any Australian legal practitioner may lawfully give immigration assistance. The label "migration lawyer" describes what the lawyer does, not an additional qualification. In practice the field is specialised enough that the lawyers who do it well do a great deal of it. The Law Society of New South Wales operates a specialist accreditation scheme that includes immigration law, and some other states have equivalents, but accreditation is voluntary and many experienced migration lawyers do not hold it. Its absence is not a mark against a lawyer. Its presence is one signal among several.

The rest of this article deals with the practical questions a person searching for an Australian migration lawyer is usually asking: how to find one, how to check that the person found is what they claim to be, what they cost, whether they are worth engaging, and how to choose between them.

Migration lawyer, immigration lawyer or migration agent: what do the terms mean in Australia?

In Australia, "migration lawyer" and "immigration lawyer" describe the same person, an Australian legal practitioner practising migration law, while "migration agent" describes a different person, a registered migration agent regulated by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. The terms are used loosely online, and the confusion matters because the three labels carry different regulatory consequences.

"Migration lawyer" is the term the Australian profession uses. The legislation is the Migration Act, the Department was for decades called the Department of Immigration, and lawyers who practise in the field describe themselves either way. "Immigration lawyer" is the more common search term and the more common term among clients, particularly those from countries where that is the ordinary usage. Both mean a lawyer. A person searching for either is searching for an Australian legal practitioner whose practice is migration law.

"Migration agent", or more precisely "registered migration agent", means a person registered with the Authority under Part 3 of the Migration Act. Registration requires a prescribed qualification in Australian migration law and practice, ongoing professional development, and compliance with the Code of Conduct for registered migration agents. The Authority keeps a public register. A registered migration agent is not a lawyer unless they also hold a practising certificate, and since 22 March 2021 a lawyer with an unrestricted practising certificate cannot be a registered migration agent, so for most practitioners the two roles are now exclusive. A person who describes themselves as both is either operating under transitional arrangements for restricted practising certificate holders or is mistaken.

The distinction matters in three ways. Regulation: a lawyer is answerable to the legal profession regulator in their state or territory and to the courts, and a registered migration agent to the Authority. Privilege: communications with a lawyer for the purpose of legal advice are protected by legal professional privilege, communications with a non-lawyer agent are confidential under the Code of Conduct but not privileged. Court: only a lawyer can appear for a client in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia or the Federal Court if a Tribunal decision is to be challenged for legal error.

None of this is a criticism of registered migration agents. Many are highly experienced, many handle partner, skilled and employer sponsored applications competently every day, and for an application with no complications an agent is a legitimate and common choice. The point is that a person should know which of the three they are dealing with before engaging anyone, because the checks are different and so are the protections.

Two other terms appear. "Migration consultant" and "visa consultant" have no regulatory meaning in Australia. A person using either title is either a registered migration agent, a lawyer, or neither, and if neither, cannot lawfully charge for immigration assistance. "Immigration solicitor" is British usage and means a lawyer.

How do you find an Australian migration lawyer?

An Australian migration lawyer is found through the public register of practising solicitors kept by the law society or legal services board in each state and territory, through referral from another lawyer or a community organisation, or through the firm's own website, and every candidate found by any of those routes is then checked against the practising certificate register before being engaged. Search results and directories are a starting point. The register is the confirmation.

The registers are the authoritative source. Every state and territory legal profession regulator maintains a searchable public list of solicitors holding a current practising certificate. In New South Wales it is the Law Society of New South Wales register. In Victoria it is the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner register. Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory each have an equivalent. Some registers allow a search by area of practice or by specialist accreditation, which narrows the list to lawyers who describe their practice as migration or immigration law. A lawyer who appears on the register with a current certificate is entitled to practise. A person who does not appear is not a practising lawyer in that jurisdiction, whatever their website says.

Referral is the second route. A lawyer in another field, an accountant, a settlement service, a university international student office or a community organisation will often know which migration lawyers in their area do the work well, and a referral from a professional who has seen the lawyer's work carries information that a search result cannot. The referral is still checked against the register.

Search is the third route and the one most people use. A search for "migration lawyer" together with a city or a visa type returns a mix of firm websites, directories, review platforms and paid listings. Useful signals in the results are a named lawyer with a stated admission and practising certificate, a physical practice address in Australia, a clearly described area of practice, and content on the site that shows the firm actually does the work, such as a detailed page on the Subclass 820 partner visa or the Subclass 866 protection visa rather than a paragraph of generalities. Less useful signals are star ratings, which are easy to manufacture, claims of success rates, which no Australian lawyer may lawfully make in a misleading way and which are meaningless in any case, and generic content that could apply to any firm.

Directories and review sites are a fourth route and should be treated with care. Some are curated and useful. Others accept paid placement and present it as ranking. A directory listing establishes only that the firm paid for or claimed a listing. It does not establish that the person listed holds a practising certificate, and it is checked against the register in the same way as anything else.

Location matters less than people assume. Migration law is Commonwealth law, decided by a Commonwealth department and a Commonwealth tribunal, and an Australian legal practitioner may act for a client anywhere in Australia or overseas. Most migration lawyers consult by video and exchange documents electronically. A person in Perth can engage a lawyer in Sydney and lose nothing. What matters is that the lawyer is Australian in the regulatory sense described above, does migration work as the substance of their practice, and does the type of matter the person has.

How do you check an Australian migration lawyer is legitimate?

An Australian migration lawyer is legitimate if their name appears on the public register of the legal profession regulator in their state or territory with a current practising certificate. That is the whole test for the question of whether the person is a lawyer entitled to practise, and it takes a few minutes. Everything else, from website design to reviews to office address, is secondary to it.

The check is done on the register, not on the lawyer's own website. The website may display a practising certificate number, an admission date or a law society logo, and those details are useful because they can be checked, but they are not themselves the confirmation. The person's name is entered into the register of the state or territory where they say they practise. If the name appears with a current certificate, the person is a lawyer. If the certificate has lapsed, been suspended or been cancelled, the register says so. If the name does not appear, the person is not a practising lawyer in that jurisdiction.

The register also shows the type of practising certificate, which matters for one reason. Since 22 March 2021, a lawyer holding an unrestricted certificate may give immigration assistance without any other registration. A lawyer holding a restricted certificate, such as a government or corporate certificate, may have needed to vary their certificate or register as a migration agent under transitional arrangements. For a lawyer in private practice acting for clients, an unrestricted principal or employee certificate is what should appear.

For a registered migration agent the check is different. The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority keeps a public register searchable by name or registration number. A person who describes themselves as a migration agent and does not appear on that register is not registered and commits an offence under section 280 of the Migration Act if they give immigration assistance for a fee. Because a lawyer with an unrestricted certificate cannot also be a registered migration agent, the two registers do not overlap for most practitioners, and a person should check the register that matches what the practitioner claims to be.

Beyond the registers, section 281 of the Migration Act makes it an offence for anyone who is neither a registered migration agent nor an Australian legal practitioner to ask for or receive a fee for immigration assistance, and a fee paid in breach of that section cannot be recovered by the person who charged it. That gives the applicant a simple rule. If the person asking for money is on neither register, do not pay.

There are secondary checks that add confidence once the register has confirmed the lawyer. The firm gives written costs disclosure and a costs agreement before taking money, because legal profession legislation requires it. The firm is appointed on Form 956, the Department's form for appointing a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person, so that the Department knows who acts and where to send correspondence. The firm has a physical practice address in Australia and a landline, not only a mobile number and a web form. The lawyer named on the website is the lawyer on the register, not a name that appears nowhere else. The firm's website explains what it does in detail rather than in slogans. The firm does not promise outcomes.

The warning signs are the inverse. A person who cannot be found on either register. A request for cash, or for payment to a personal account, or for payment before any costs agreement. A promise of a guaranteed visa. Advice to leave something out of an application or to give a version of events the applicant knows is untrue. A refusal to put the scope of work in writing. A website that names no lawyer, or names one who cannot be found. Pressure to sign at the first meeting. Any one of these is a reason to stop. Migration applicants, particularly those who do not speak English as a first language or who are in Australia without a visa, are targeted by unregistered operators who advertise in community languages, and the register check is the protection the law gives them.

What can an Australian migration lawyer do that an overseas agent cannot?

An Australian migration lawyer can be held to account by an Australian regulator and an Australian court, carries legal professional privilege over what the client tells them, can appear in an Australian court if a decision is challenged, and is bound by Australian costs disclosure law, none of which applies to an agent operating from outside Australia. The difference is not competence. Some overseas agents know the Australian visa system well. The difference is what happens when something goes wrong.

Australian regulation of immigration assistance operates within Australia. The registration scheme for migration agents, the offence provisions in sections 280 and 281 of the Migration Act, and the Code of Conduct apply to people giving immigration assistance in Australia. A person located overseas who prepares Australian visa applications is outside that scheme. They need no registration, they are subject to no Australian code of conduct, and there is no Australian body to which a client can complain. An applicant who pays an overseas agent and receives poor advice, a badly prepared application or no application at all has, in practice, no Australian remedy.

An Australian migration lawyer sits at the other end of that spectrum. The lawyer is admitted by an Australian Supreme Court, holds a certificate that is renewed annually and can be suspended or cancelled, is bound by the professional conduct rules of their state or territory, and is subject to a complaints process run by the legal services commissioner. Legal profession legislation requires written costs disclosure and gives the client a right to have a bill assessed. Communications with the lawyer for the purpose of legal advice are privileged. If the matter goes to the Administrative Review Tribunal, the lawyer can appear. If the Tribunal's decision is challenged in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia for legal error, only a lawyer can act.

There is a second, practical difference. Australian migration law changes constantly, and the change is visible to practitioners inside the system in a way it is not to people outside it. Regulations are amended several times a year. Ministerial directions alter how delegates weigh factors. Tribunal and court decisions reshape how criteria are read. The Department's own procedural instructions are updated and published. An Australian migration lawyer who does this work daily is reading those changes as they happen and applying them. An overseas agent is working from what they last learned, which may have been accurate when they learned it.

A third difference is the Department's own procedure. An Australian legal practitioner is appointed on Form 956 and receives the Department's correspondence. Requests for information under section 56, invitations to comment under section 57, interview notifications and decisions come to the lawyer, who advises on them within the response period. An overseas agent who is not an appointed representative may not receive them at all, and an applicant relying on that agent may miss a deadline they did not know had started.

None of this means an applicant overseas cannot use Australian help. It means the reverse. An applicant overseas can and should engage an Australian migration lawyer, who will act for them from Australia in exactly the way described in the next section.

Can an Australian migration lawyer act for someone outside Australia?

Yes, an Australian migration lawyer can act for a client anywhere in the world, and a large proportion of Australian migration work is done for applicants who are offshore. The lawyer's practising certificate is issued in Australia, the work is Australian legal practice under Australian law, and the location of the client has no bearing on the lawyer's authority to act or on the protections the client receives.

The offshore visas are the obvious case. The Subclass 309 partner visa, the Subclass 300 prospective marriage visa and most skilled and employer sponsored visas are applied for from outside Australia, and the applicant is usually overseas for the whole of the application. The sponsor or employer is in Australia. An Australian migration lawyer acts for both, coordinating the applicant's material from overseas with the sponsor's material in Australia so that the two are consistent and nothing lodged from one country contradicts what is lodged from the other.

The mechanics are simple. Consultations are by video. Documents are exchanged electronically and certified copies are arranged where the Department requires them. Statements are taken by video and reviewed by the client before signing. The lawyer is appointed on Form 956, and the Department's correspondence comes to the lawyer in Australia, who advises the client on it wherever the client is. Time zones are managed by appointment. Interpreters are arranged where needed.

Offshore clients need to know two things about an Australian lawyer's obligations. The first is that the lawyer's duties to the Australian court and to the administration of justice apply regardless of where the client is. The lawyer cannot lodge a document the lawyer knows to be false, cannot present a relationship or a qualification that does not exist, and cannot help conceal something that must be disclosed. Those duties protect the client, because a visa obtained with false information is exposed to cancellation for years and Public Interest Criterion 4020 allows the Department to refuse a later application on the strength of an earlier false document. The second is that Australian costs disclosure law applies to the engagement regardless of where the client is. An offshore client is entitled to the same written costs disclosure, the same costs agreement and the same right to dispute a bill as a client in Sydney.

Australian migration lawyers also act for applicants who are onshore but whose case has an offshore dimension. A partner visa applicant in Australia whose sponsor is temporarily overseas. A protection visa applicant whose evidence is in another country. A person in Australia on a bridging visa whose only lawful path is to apply for a substantive visa from outside Australia. In each case the lawyer's ability to act across borders is part of the service.

How much does a migration lawyer cost in Australia?

A migration lawyer in Australia costs what the firm's written costs agreement says, because there is no scale or fixed tariff for migration work and legal profession legislation requires every lawyer to disclose their fees in writing before or as soon as practicable after taking instructions. What a person pays depends on the visa type, the complexity of their circumstances and the fee model the firm uses. Two rules hold across the profession and protect the client from the most common problems.

The first rule is written costs disclosure. In every state and territory, a lawyer must tell the client in writing how the fees will be calculated, what the estimated total is, what is included and what is excluded, and how the client can dispute a bill. A lawyer who fails to do this may be unable to enforce the costs agreement. A person who is quoted a fee verbally and never receives a written costs agreement should ask for one before paying anything, and should treat the absence of one as a reason to look elsewhere.

The second rule is that government charges are separate from legal fees. The visa application charge is set by the Department of Home Affairs and paid to the Department at lodgement. Tribunal application fees are paid to the Administrative Review Tribunal. Health examinations, police clearances from every country the applicant has lived in, translations and document certification are paid to the providers of those services. None of these is a legal fee, no lawyer receives any part of them, and a costs agreement should say clearly which of them the client will pay in addition to the lawyer's fee. The Department publishes its current charges, and they change, usually on 1 July each year.

Within those rules, Australian migration lawyers structure fees in three main ways. A fixed fee for a defined scope of work gives the client certainty: the total is known at the outset and does not change if the work takes longer than expected. Staged fees divide the matter into parts, typically advice and eligibility, preparation and lodgement, responses to Department requests, and review if the visa is refused, with a separate fee for each stage payable only if that stage is reached. Hourly fees against an estimate suit a matter whose scope cannot be predicted. Each model is legitimate. The client should understand which one applies and what it covers.

The questions to ask before signing are the same under every model. What exactly is included. Whether the fee covers responses to Department requests and preparation for an interview. Whether it covers both stages of a two-stage visa. What happens if the application is refused. Whether disbursements are included or additional. What the payment terms are. A firm that answers all of these clearly in writing is doing what the law requires.

A person comparing quotes should be careful about what they are comparing. A low quote for a complex matter usually means a narrow scope, a short statement, or a fee that will grow through additions the client did not anticipate. A quote that covers the whole matter from advice to decision, with the Department's requests and the interview included, is doing more work, and the difference in price reflects that. The comparison that matters is scope against scope, in writing.

Is it worth using a migration lawyer?

Whether it is worth using a migration lawyer depends on whether anything in the applicant's circumstances turns the visa application from a documentation exercise into a legal one, and for most applicants with any complication in their history the answer is yes, because the cost of a refusal is measured in lost review rights, statutory bars and years, not in the fee. For an applicant with a simple, well documented case and no history, the honest answer is that a lawyer is optional.

The applicant who does not need a lawyer looks like this. Their eligibility is clear on the face of the criteria. Their documents exist and are easy to obtain. They hold a substantive visa with no condition 8503. They have never had a visa refused or cancelled anywhere. They have never given the Department information that is inconsistent with what they now need to say. Their sponsor, if there is one, has no history that engages the sponsorship limitations. For that applicant the application is a matter of care and completeness, and a lawyer's review of the bundle before lodgement is useful but not essential.

The applicant who needs a lawyer has one or more of the following. A previous refusal or cancellation, in Australia or anywhere else, which engages section 48 and brings the earlier decision onto the Department's file. No substantive visa, so that Schedule 3 applies to a partner visa application. A no further stay condition on the current visa. A relationship the Department may question, whether because of its length, its distance, its cultural form or its history. A sponsor who has sponsored before. A criminal record, on either side. A protection claim, which is decided on the applicant's own account and where the statement is the case. An earlier application prepared by someone else that contained errors. A deadline that has already started running. Each of these engages a legal test, a waiver or a credibility question, and each has a body of policy and case law that determines how it is applied. An applicant who does not know the test cannot build the argument.

The reason the calculation tips towards a lawyer is what a refusal does. A refusal is not a neutral event that leaves the applicant where they started. It starts a short and strictly applied period in which to apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal. It engages section 48 for an onshore applicant, limiting the visas they can apply for while they remain in Australia. For a protection visa it engages section 48A, which bars a second application altogether. And it creates a record that every later application must explain. An applicant who lodges a weak application without advice and is refused has changed their legal position for the worse, and the lawyer they then engage for the Tribunal is working with the record the applicant created alone.

There is a second calculation that is less often made. A lawyer's first task is to tell the applicant whether the application can succeed at all. A responsible Australian migration lawyer who takes the applicant's full history and concludes that the criteria cannot be met says so, and does not take a fee for an application that will fail. That advice, given before any application charge is paid, is frequently the most valuable thing the lawyer provides.

Who is the best migration lawyer in Australia?

There is no best migration lawyer in Australia, because there is no ranking, no league table and no regulator that grades lawyers, and any page that claims to name one is either advertising or guessing. The question people are actually asking is how to judge a migration lawyer before engaging them, and that question has a real answer.

Four tests do most of the work. The first is concentration. A lawyer whose practice is migration law, and within it the type of matter the applicant has, will know the current law, the Department's current practice and the Tribunal's current approach in a way a generalist cannot. The applicant should ask what proportion of the lawyer's work is migration law and what types of matters make it up.

The second is who does the work. A firm's name and a senior lawyer's profile do not mean that the senior lawyer prepares the application. The applicant should ask who will take instructions, who will draft the statements and submissions, who will respond to the Department, who will appear at any hearing, and who will answer questions during processing. A clear answer is the right answer.

The third is candour. A lawyer who says only encouraging things is not advising. Every migration matter has a weak point, and a lawyer who identifies it at the first meeting, explains how the Department will see it and sets out what can be done about it is doing the job. A lawyer who tells an applicant their prospects are excellent before taking their full history is telling them something the lawyer cannot know.

The fourth is the written costs agreement. It is required by law, it is the client's protection, and its quality is a fair proxy for the firm's. A costs agreement that states the scope precisely, distinguishes legal fees from government charges, and explains what happens if the matter goes further than expected reflects a firm that runs its files properly.

Reviews and ratings are weak evidence. They measure how a client felt about the service, which is real information, but they say nothing about whether the application was well prepared, whether the advice was correct, or whether a refusal was avoidable. They are easy to manufacture and easy to suppress. Specialist accreditation, where a lawyer holds it, is stronger evidence, because it is assessed by the profession, but many excellent migration lawyers do not hold it. Awards and directory listings frequently reflect payment or nomination rather than assessment. The register check, the four tests above and the lawyer's answers at the first consultation are worth more than all of them together.

What are the warning signs when choosing a migration lawyer?

The warning signs when choosing a migration lawyer are a name that cannot be found on the practising certificate register, a promise of a guaranteed outcome, advice to conceal or alter facts, a demand for payment without a written costs agreement, and pressure to sign immediately, and any one of them should end the conversation. Migration applicants are among the most frequently exploited consumers of legal services in Australia, and the warning signs are consistent.

The person cannot be verified. A website that names no lawyer, or names a lawyer who does not appear on the register of the state or territory where they claim to practise, is the first and most serious sign. A person who describes themselves as a migration agent but does not appear on the Authority's register is committing an offence if they charge for assistance.

The outcome is guaranteed. No lawyer and no agent can guarantee a visa. The decision belongs to a delegate of the Minister and, on review, to the Tribunal. A representative who promises a grant is making a promise they have no power to keep, and is telling the applicant something about their own honesty.

The facts are to be adjusted. Advice to leave out a previous refusal, a former relationship, a period of unlawful stay or a conviction. Advice to describe events differently from how they happened. An offer to supply documents the applicant does not have, or to arrange evidence of a relationship, a qualification, a religious conversion or a political activity that did not occur. Each of these is an offer to commit an offence and to expose the applicant to refusal under Public Interest Criterion 4020, to cancellation years later, and in protection matters to a section 48A bar on ever applying again. A lawyer's duty to the court prohibits all of it.

The money is wrong. A request for cash. A request for payment to a personal account. Payment demanded before any costs agreement has been provided. A fee that is quoted verbally and changes when the invoice arrives. Legal profession legislation requires written costs disclosure, and a lawyer who does not provide it is either not a lawyer or not complying with the law that governs them.

The scope is vague. A refusal to put in writing what the fee covers, what it excludes, and what happens if the Department asks for more or the visa is refused. A legitimate lawyer provides this without being asked.

The pressure is on. Insistence on signing at the first meeting. Statements that the applicant will lose their chance if they do not engage today. Discouragement from seeking a second opinion. A legitimate lawyer explains the deadlines that actually exist and lets the applicant decide.

The claims are grand. Superlatives about the firm, success rates, claims of special relationships with the Department, or of influence over processing. The Department decides on evidence and law, and no representative has influence over it beyond the quality of what they lodge.

Any one of these is enough. An applicant who encounters one should check the register, and if the person is on it, consider a complaint to the legal services commissioner or the Authority. If the person is not on it, the applicant should walk away and should not pay.

What do Australian migration lawyers do on a visa matter?

Australian migration lawyers advise on eligibility and on the bars that can defeat an application before it is made, prepare and lodge the application with the evidence and statements the criteria require, deal with every request the Department makes, and act on review before the Administrative Review Tribunal if the visa is refused. The work follows the same shape across visa types, and the value is concentrated at the beginning and at the end.

At the beginning, the lawyer takes the applicant's full history and identifies which visa, if any, is available, which criteria will be difficult, and which legislative bars stand in the way. Section 48 of the Migration Act limits onshore applications after a refusal or cancellation. Schedule 3 of the Regulations imposes additional criteria on an onshore partner visa applicant without a substantive visa. Conditions 8503, 8534 and 8535 block most onshore applications unless waived. Regulation 1.20J limits partner sponsorships. Section 48A bars a second protection visa application. An applicant who lodges without knowing which of these applies can lose the application charge and, in some cases, the right to remain in Australia.

In the middle, the lawyer builds the application to the legal test rather than to the form. For a partner visa, that means evidence organised under the four matters in regulations 1.15A and 1.09A, statements from both partners that are consistent with each other and with every document, and Form 888 witnesses who have actually met the couple together. For a protection visa, it means a statement of claims taken from the applicant's own account over as many sessions as it needs, organised against sections 5H, 5J and 36(2)(aa), and addressing relocation, state protection and behaviour modification before the Department raises them. In every case the statements are the client's own evidence, reviewed and corrected by the client, and the lawyer presents them in the form the law requires.

Once lodged, the lawyer manages the Department. Requests under section 56 for further information and invitations under section 57 to comment on adverse information carry response periods, and an inadequate response can decide the case. An appointed lawyer receives every letter, advises on what the delegate is actually asking, and prepares the response. Where the Department interviews the applicant, the lawyer prepares them and, in protection matters, attends.

At the end, if the visa is refused, the lawyer secures the review right within the short and strictly applied period the law allows, reads the decision record to identify what actually decided the case, builds the Tribunal case with the further evidence and submissions the refusal calls for, prepares the applicant and any witnesses for the hearing, and appears. My Migration Lawyers acts in visa refusals before the Administrative Review Tribunal from the first reading of the decision through to the hearing.

Across all of it, the lawyer carries duties that shape how the work is done. A duty of confidentiality and legal professional privilege over what the client says. A duty to act in the client's interests. A duty to the court and to the administration of justice that prohibits presenting a false claim or helping a client mislead the Department. For an honest client, those duties are a protection, because the lawyer's name on the application tells the delegate that a person bound by them prepared it.

What should you ask an Australian migration lawyer before engaging them?

Before engaging an Australian migration lawyer, a person should ask what proportion of the lawyer's practice is migration law, who will personally do the work on the file, what the lawyer sees as the weak points in the case, what exactly the fee covers and excludes, and what happens if the Department asks for more or the visa is refused. The answers to those five questions tell the person more than any website, review or award.

On practice concentration, the useful question is specific. Not "do you do migration law" but "what share of your work is migration law, and how much of that is matters like mine". A lawyer who does partner visas every week and protection visas every month answers differently from one who does a visa matter a few times a year, and the difference matters because the law and the Department's practice change constantly.

On who does the work, the question is who will take the instructions, draft the statements and submissions, respond to the Department, attend any interview and appear at any hearing, and who will answer the client's questions while the matter is on foot. A consultation with a senior lawyer does not mean that lawyer will prepare the application. A clear answer that names the person is a good sign. An evasive one is not.

On weak points, the person should ask the lawyer to identify them at the first consultation. Every migration matter has at least one: a previous refusal, a short relationship, a period apart, a sponsor's history, an inconsistency in an earlier application, a country information report that does not help. A lawyer who names the weak points and explains what can be done about them is advising. A lawyer who says the case is straightforward before taking the full history is not.

On fees, the questions are what is included, what is excluded, whether responses to Department requests and interview preparation are covered, whether both stages of a two-stage visa are covered, whether disbursements such as translations and police clearances are included, what the payment terms are, and whether the fee is fixed, staged or hourly. The answers should arrive in a written costs agreement, because the law requires them to.

On refusal, the question is what the lawyer's role would be if the visa is refused and what that would cost. A lawyer who has thought about the review stage before lodging is building the application with the possibility in view, which is exactly how it should be built.

Two further questions are worth asking where they apply. Whether the lawyer works through interpreters and how the interpreter is chosen. And whether the lawyer will act for both parties, such as an applicant and a sponsor, and what happens if their interests diverge.

What should you bring to a first consultation with a migration lawyer?

To a first consultation with a migration lawyer, a person should bring their passport, their complete visa history in Australia including every earlier application and what it said, any letters from the Department or the Tribunal, the basic facts of the relationship, employment or claim on which the visa depends, and an honest account of anything they think might be a problem. The consultation is where the lawyer decides whether the person can meet the criteria and what the application will need. The more complete the picture, the more precise the advice.

On identity and status, the essentials are the passport, the current visa grant notice or a record of the visa held, and its conditions and expiry. The lawyer will check for any no further stay condition and for whether section 48 or Schedule 3 applies. Where the person is unlawful, or is offshore, the lawyer needs to know.

On history, the essentials are every visa held or applied for in Australia, who prepared each application, and what it said about the person's circumstances, family, occupation and reasons for travel. Earlier applications are the most common source of inconsistency in later ones, and a lawyer who knows what the Department has already been told can prepare the explanation before it is needed. The person should also disclose any visa refused or cancelled in any country, and any application for protection anywhere.

On the matter itself, the person should be ready to describe the facts on which the visa depends. For a partner visa, how and when the couple met, when the relationship became exclusive, when they began living together, whether they are married and where, whether either has a former spouse or partner or children, and any periods apart. For a protection claim, a first honest account of why the person cannot return. For a refusal, the decision record in full. The person does not need to have gathered the evidence bundle. They need to be able to answer the questions.

On the difficult things, the person should bring them all. A previous relationship that overlapped with this one. A period of unlawful stay. A conviction, here or overseas. An earlier application that contained a mistake. A sponsor who has sponsored before. A family member refused a visa on similar facts. None of these ends the matter, and every one of them is easier to deal with when the lawyer knows at the outset than when the Department raises it later. What is said to a lawyer in a consultation is confidential and protected by legal professional privilege, and the lawyer will advise on what must be disclosed and how before anything is said to the Department.

On practicalities, the lawyer will need to know whether the person requires an interpreter, whether there are family members who should be included in the application, and where the person and any sponsor are located, so that consultations and document exchange can be arranged.

What should an Australian migration lawyer's costs agreement contain?

An Australian migration lawyer's costs agreement should state the scope of the work, the basis on which fees are calculated, the estimated or fixed total, what is excluded, which government and third party charges the client pays separately, the payment terms, and the client's rights to dispute a bill, because legal profession legislation in every state and territory requires costs disclosure covering those matters. The document is the client's protection and it is also a fair test of the firm. A firm whose costs agreement is precise usually runs its files precisely.

The scope clause is the most important part and the one most often left vague. It should say which visa or review the fee covers, whether it covers advice on eligibility before lodgement, preparation of statements and submissions, lodgement, responses to Department requests under sections 56 and 57, preparation for and attendance at any interview, and, for a two-stage visa, whether it covers the permanent stage. It should say whether the sponsor's side of a partner application is included. It should say what happens if the visa is refused: whether Tribunal review is a separate engagement and, if so, what it would cost. A scope clause that says only "partner visa application" leaves every one of those questions open.

The fee clause should say whether the fee is fixed, staged or hourly. A fixed fee should state the amount and the scope it covers. A staged fee should list the stages and the amount for each, and should say that a stage is payable only if it is reached. An hourly fee should state the rates of each person who may work on the matter and give an estimate of the total, with a statement of what could cause the estimate to be exceeded.

The disbursements clause should distinguish the lawyer's fee from everything else. The visa application charge is paid to the Department and is set by the Department. Tribunal application fees are paid to the Tribunal. Health examinations, police clearances from every country the applicant has lived in, translations, certification and courier costs are paid to the providers. The costs agreement should say which of these the client pays directly and which, if any, the firm pays and recovers, and should never fold a government charge into the legal fee so that the two cannot be told apart.

The payment clause should state when each amount falls due and how it is to be paid. A firm that asks for payment in cash, to a personal account or before the costs agreement has been provided is not complying with the law.

The disputes clause is required by legal profession legislation and should tell the client that they may request an itemised bill, may have the bill assessed, and may complain to the legal services commissioner. Its presence is a sign that the document was prepared by a lawyer. Its absence is a sign that it was not.

A client who receives a costs agreement that covers all of this, before paying anything, is dealing with a firm that is doing what the law requires. A client who receives a one-page quote with a total and a bank account number is not, and should ask for the full document before proceeding.

How does an Australian migration lawyer work with a client by video?

An Australian migration lawyer works with a client by video in the same way as in person: taking instructions and the client's account in scheduled consultations, exchanging documents electronically, preparing statements that the client reviews and signs, and dealing with the Department on the client's behalf under a Form 956 appointment. Migration law is Commonwealth law decided by a Commonwealth department and a Commonwealth tribunal, and nothing in the process requires the lawyer and the client to be in the same room or the same city.

The first consultation is by video. The lawyer takes the history, identifies the visa options and the bars, explains the weak points and the fee, and the client receives the written costs disclosure and costs agreement afterwards. For a protection claim, or a partner matter with a complicated history, the account is taken over several video sessions, with an interpreter on the call where needed.

Documents move electronically. The client uploads or emails identity documents, evidence and correspondence. Where the Department requires certified copies, the lawyer advises on how to obtain them locally. Statements are drafted by the lawyer from the client's account, sent to the client to read, in translation where needed, corrected by the client, and signed. The lawyer lodges the application through the Department's online systems and receives the Department's correspondence directly.

Department interviews are conducted by the Department, in person or by telephone or video at the Department's election, and the lawyer prepares the client beforehand and attends where the matter calls for it. Tribunal hearings are frequently conducted by video, and the lawyer appears in the same way.

For most clients this arrangement is not a compromise. It removes travel, allows a client in one state to engage the lawyer best suited to their matter in another, and allows an applicant overseas and a sponsor in Australia to be served by the same lawyer at the same time. The protections do not change. The lawyer is on the register, the costs agreement is in writing, the communications are privileged, and the Department deals with the lawyer as the appointed representative.

What a client should expect from a lawyer working by video is the same as from any lawyer: scheduled appointments kept, questions answered by email within a stated time, documents acknowledged when received, and the client told what is happening at each stage. A firm that consults by video and then cannot be reached is not a video practice. It is an unresponsive one.

How My Migration Lawyers acts as an Australian migration lawyer

My Migration Lawyers is an Australian immigration law firm whose practice is partner visas, protection visas and the refusals of both. The firm is led by its Principal Lawyer, Weiwei Zhang, an Australian legal practitioner. The firm acts for clients across Australia and overseas by video consultation, with interpreters where needed, and is appointed on Form 956 on every matter so that the Department deals with the firm directly.

The firm does the work this article describes. It checks eligibility and the statutory bars before any application is prepared, and tells the client at the first consultation whether the criteria can be met and where the weak points are. It prepares partner visa applications across the Subclass 820 and 801, Subclass 309 and 100 and Subclass 300 visas, including Schedule 3 waiver cases, sponsorship limitation cases and family violence cases. It prepares protection visa applications for people already in Australia, including complementary protection claims and claims based on religion or sexuality, taking the applicant's account over as many sessions as it needs and attending the Department interview. It acts in the review of partner visa refusals and protection visa refusals before the Administrative Review Tribunal.

The firm deals with complex matters as a matter of course. Many of the clients it acts for come to it because something in their circumstances would defeat an application prepared without advice: a previous refusal, a legislative bar, a sponsor's history, an inconsistency in an earlier application, a relationship the Department may question, or an earlier application prepared by someone else that must now be repaired. The firm acts in many matters of exactly these kinds and is equipped to handle them.

Further information about the firm is on the About My Migration Lawyers page and the profile of Weiwei Zhang, Principal Lawyer. A person who would like advice on a partner visa, a protection visa or a refusal of either can request a consultation with an Australian migration lawyer.