Immigration Lawyers Sydney

Immigration Lawyers Sydney are lawyers who act for a client on a partner visa, an onshore protection visa, a visa refusal or a visa cancellation, from the first consultation to the decision of the Department of Home Affairs or the Administrative Review Tribunal. My Migration Lawyers acts as Immigration Lawyers Sydney from Level 1, 60 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000, and conducts every consultation by Zoom, so a client in Blacktown, Hurstville or Newcastle is seen in the same way as a client who works in the Sydney central business district.

This article is about the work. It sets out why a Sydney client engages Immigration Lawyers Sydney, what happens at the first consultation, how the firm prepares a partner visa for a Sydney couple, how it prepares a Subclass 866 protection visa for a person already living in Sydney, how it answers Department correspondence, and what it does when a refusal notice or a cancellation notice arrives. Each section describes tasks, not law. The law appears only as the reason a task exists.

For the underlying law, the firm's service pages on partner visas, protection visas, visa refusals and visa cancellations are the starting point. The firm's article on choosing a migration lawyer in Sydney deals with the selection decision itself.

Why do Sydney clients engage Immigration Lawyers Sydney?

Sydney clients engage Immigration Lawyers Sydney because a visa position has become time-critical, legally complicated, or both. The city's population of temporary visa holders is large and varied, and the matters that reach the firm follow recognisable patterns, none of which is a statistic and all of which are described here as general situations.

The first pattern is the student whose visa is close to expiry. Sydney hosts universities, colleges and vocational providers across the city, from the Inner West to Parramatta to Chatswood, and a student who has formed a de facto relationship with an Australian, or who cannot safely return to the home country, needs Immigration Lawyers Sydney to decide whether a Subclass 820 partner visa application or a Subclass 866 protection visa application is the correct course, and to lodge it before the student visa ceases so that Schedule 3 or a Bridging Visa E does not enter the picture.

The second pattern is the visitor. A person who has come to Sydney on a visitor visa to see family in Bankstown, Auburn or Liverpool, and who then marries or forms a relationship, or who receives news from home that makes return dangerous, holds a visa that often carries condition 8503. Immigration Lawyers Sydney check for that condition first, because a no further stay condition must be waived under section 41(2A) before any onshore application can be made. The firm's articles on moving from a tourist visa to a partner visa and from a tourist visa to a Subclass 866 protection visa explain both pathways.

The third pattern is the worker. Working holiday makers in hospitality on the Northern Beaches, regional workers in Wollongong and the Illawarra, and workers in Newcastle and the Hunter come to Immigration Lawyers Sydney when a relationship has become permanent, when a sponsor's own history raises regulation 1.20J, or when the Department has written about a condition breach and a section 116 cancellation is in prospect.

The fourth pattern is the couple separated by distance. A sponsor in Penrith or Hurstville with a partner in Manila, Hanoi, Kathmandu or Bogotá needs a Subclass 309 or Subclass 300 application, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney run that matter with the sponsor and the applicant attending the same Zoom consultation from two countries. The fifth pattern is the person holding a notice: a section 65 refusal, a section 57 natural justice letter or a notice of intention to consider cancellation, each with a deadline that is short and strictly applied. Those clients engage Immigration Lawyers Sydney on the day the notice arrives, and the firm treats them that way.

What happens at the first consultation with Immigration Lawyers Sydney?

The first consultation with Immigration Lawyers Sydney is a structured assessment of the client's visa status, immigration history and facts against the criterion that will decide the matter, and it ends with a written letter of advice and a document checklist. It is conducted by Zoom whether the client is in Chatswood or in Cairo, and the firm's office at Martin Place is used by appointment only.

Before the consultation, My Migration Lawyers asks the client for passport details and any Department correspondence. Immigration Lawyers Sydney run the Visa Entitlement Verification Online check themselves, so that the visa subclass, the expiry date and every condition are confirmed from the Department's record rather than from memory. A client who believes the visa expires next month and discovers at the consultation that it expired last week is in a different legal position, and the firm needs to know which position it is dealing with before advice is given.

During the consultation, the lawyer takes the immigration history in full: every visa held, every application made in any country, every refusal, every cancellation, every earlier statement to the Department, and any criminal history. Public interest criterion 4020 and public interest criterion 4001 mean that an omission from that history can decide the matter, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney ask the questions directly. The lawyer then takes the facts of the matter itself. On a partner matter that is the history of the relationship. On a protection matter it is what happened to the applicant and what the applicant fears. On a refusal or cancellation it is the decision record or the notice, read line by line with the client.

After the consultation, Immigration Lawyers Sydney send the letter of advice. It states the application or response the firm recommends, the criteria in issue, the evidence required, the risks that remain, and the fixed fee for the matter as it will appear in the costs agreement. The document checklist lists what the client must gather and what the firm will obtain. Documents move through a secure client portal, not by email. A client who has already lodged an application or who is represented elsewhere goes through the same consultation, and the firm's guide to engaging an immigration lawyer after lodgement explains how a matter is taken over midway.

How do Immigration Lawyers Sydney prepare a partner visa for a Sydney couple?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney prepare a partner visa for a Sydney couple by fixing the timing of the application around the applicant's visa and the twelve month requirement, planning the evidence against the four aspects of the relationship, reviewing the couple's statements and Form 888 statements, drafting any Schedule 3 or sponsorship submission, and lodging the Subclass 820 and Subclass 801 combined application through ImmiAccount. The permanent Subclass 801 stage is assessed two years from the date of the Subclass 820 application, and the firm manages that stage as part of the same matter.

Timing is where the Sydney fact matters. Regulation 2.03A requires a de facto couple to have been in the relationship for twelve months at the time of application, unless the relationship is registered under a prescribed State or Territory law or there are compelling and compassionate circumstances. The New South Wales Relationships Register, established under the Relationships Register Act 2010 (NSW), is a prescribed law. A Sydney de facto couple who register their relationship are not required to satisfy the twelve months. Immigration Lawyers Sydney raise registration at the first consultation, explain what New South Wales requires for registration, and sequence the partner visa application after the certificate issues. The firm's guide to the de facto partner visa explains the requirement and both exceptions.

Evidence is planned against regulation 1.15A for a married couple and regulation 1.09A for a de facto couple: the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social aspects and the nature of the commitment. Sydney couples often rent in the Inner West or live with parents in Blacktown or Bankstown while saving for a deposit, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney work with the evidence that arrangement actually produces, such as a lease in both names, transfers between the couple, shared bills and mail, rather than the joint mortgage a checklist imagines. The Form 888 statements from friends, colleagues and family are reviewed so that each witness describes what that witness has personally seen, and the firm's guide to Form 888 statements explains who should provide one.

Where the applicant has no substantive visa at the time of application, Schedule 3 criteria 3001, 3003 and 3004 apply unless there are compelling reasons not to apply them, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney draft the Schedule 3 waiver submission on the couple's actual circumstances. Where the sponsor has sponsored before, regulation 1.20J is checked and a compelling circumstances submission is drafted if needed. Where the sponsor has a conviction, Division 1.4B is assessed. Where the relationship ends because of family violence after lodgement, Division 1.5 is explained and the evidence pathway is chosen.

The statements are the couple's own. Immigration Lawyers Sydney do not write them. The firm reviews each statement against the application form, the sponsorship form, the documents and the other statement, corrects dates and places, removes anything the evidence does not support, and returns the statements for the couple to confirm. On lodgement the firm confirms the Bridging Visa A, advises on the Bridging Visa B needed for travel, arranges health and police checks, and lodges Form 1022 whenever a circumstance changes. The firm's article on choosing a partner visa lawyer in Sydney covers what a couple should look for.

How do Immigration Lawyers Sydney prepare a Subclass 866 protection visa for an applicant already in Sydney?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney prepare a Subclass 866 protection visa by taking the applicant's account over several sessions, identifying whether the account engages the refugee criterion in section 36(2)(a) or the complementary protection criterion in section 36(2)(aa), assisting the applicant to record the account in a statement of claims in the applicant's own words, assembling the identity, personal and country evidence, lodging the Form 866 and preparing the applicant for the Department interview. The applicant is already in Sydney, usually on a student, visitor or other temporary visa, or on no visa at all.

The account comes first and the law comes second. Immigration Lawyers Sydney do not begin by asking which Convention ground applies. They begin by asking what happened, to whom, when, where and why, and what the applicant believes will happen on return. Only once the account is complete does the lawyer test it against section 5H and section 5J: whether the fear is well-founded, whether the harm amounts to persecution, and whether the reason for it is race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Where the Convention nexus is absent or uncertain, the lawyer tests the account against section 36(2A): arbitrary deprivation of life, the death penalty, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment, or degrading treatment or punishment. The applicant decides which claims are advanced.

The statement of claims is the applicant's evidence and is treated as such. Section 5AAA makes it the applicant's responsibility to specify the claim and to provide evidence for it, and section 423A allows the Tribunal to disregard a claim that could have been raised before the delegate and was not, absent a reasonable explanation. Immigration Lawyers Sydney therefore make sure the statement is complete before lodgement. The firm works with interpreters where needed, checks every date and name against the identity documents required under section 91W, and addresses the relocation and effective protection questions and the third country protection question in section 36(3) with country information chosen for the applicant's actual region, religion, ethnicity or profile. The firm's guides for international students applying for a Subclass 866 protection visa and on the Form 866 application cover two common Sydney starting points.

Status is managed alongside the claim. An applicant who holds a valid visa when the Form 866 is lodged is granted a Bridging Visa A. An applicant whose visa has already ceased applies for a Bridging Visa E, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney lodge that application at the same time so that the applicant is lawful while the protection visa is decided. Section 48A is checked to confirm the applicant has not previously been refused a protection visa in Australia. Character is assessed against public interest criterion 4001 and section 501, and any conviction is disclosed and explained rather than discovered.

The interview is prepared for, not merely attended. Not every applicant is interviewed, but where the delegate lists one, Immigration Lawyers Sydney take the applicant back through the statement of claims, explain how the delegate is likely to test credibility, practise the difference between answering the question asked and answering the question expected, and explain what to do when a question or an interpretation is not understood. The lawyer attends, keeps a full note and files any post-interview submission that the questions call for. The firm's guide to protection visa interview questions and its article on choosing a protection visa lawyer in Sydney describe what the applicant should expect.

How do Immigration Lawyers Sydney answer a section 56 request or a section 57 letter?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney answer a section 56 request or a section 57 letter by identifying the concern behind the letter, gathering the evidence that meets that concern, taking the client's instructions on every particular raised, and filing a response with legal submissions before the deadline, which is short and strictly applied. My Migration Lawyers is appointed as authorised recipient on each matter it runs, so Department letters arrive at the firm and are diarised the day they arrive.

A section 56 request invites further information. In a partner matter it commonly asks for updated relationship evidence, a missing police certificate or an explanation of an inconsistency between the applicant's Form 80 and the sponsorship form. In a protection matter it may ask for identity documents under section 91W or for clarification of a date in the statement of claims. Immigration Lawyers Sydney read the request for what it reveals about the delegate's thinking and answer the underlying concern, not only the words of the request. The firm's guide to Form 80 explains why inconsistencies in that form generate so many section 56 requests.

A section 57 letter is a warning. It tells the applicant that the Department holds adverse information that the applicant did not supply, that the delegate intends to rely on it in refusing the visa, and that the applicant may comment. In Sydney partner matters that information is often a statement from a former partner, a discrepancy found in an earlier visitor or student visa application that engages public interest criterion 4020, or a report that the couple do not live together. In protection matters it is often country information or a document authenticity finding under section 91WA. Immigration Lawyers Sydney obtain the particulars, test the reliability of the source, take the client's detailed instructions, gather contrary evidence, and draft a response that meets each particular squarely. A section 57 response is legal drafting and is treated as the most important document in the matter after the application itself.

Correspondence to the Department is managed with the same care. Immigration Lawyers Sydney lodge Form 1022 whenever a circumstance changes: a move from Auburn to Liverpool, a new passport, a new child, a change of employer that affects a condition, or a change in the relationship. The firm's guide to Form 1022 and changes in circumstances sets out what must be notified and when. A change that is not notified can later appear in a section 57 letter as adverse information, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney prevent that by notifying promptly.

What do Immigration Lawyers Sydney do after a section 65 refusal notice?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney read the section 65 notice and the decision record on the day they arrive, confirm whether the decision is reviewable by the Administrative Review Tribunal and by when, lodge the review application before the short and strictly applied deadline, and then prepare the matter for a fresh hearing on the merits. For a Sydney client the Tribunal lists the matter through its Sydney registry, and the hearing may proceed by video, so the applicant attends from wherever the applicant is.

The decision record is dissected. Immigration Lawyers Sydney list every finding the delegate made against the applicant and classify each as a finding of fact, a finding on credibility or a conclusion of law. A partner visa refusal on genuineness is met with evidence of the relationship as it now stands and with an explanation for each gap the delegate identified. A refusal for want of compelling reasons under Schedule 3 is met with a fuller account of the circumstances and evidence of hardship. A protection refusal on credibility is met by addressing each inconsistency the delegate relied on and by producing corroboration the delegate did not have. A protection refusal on relocation or effective protection is met with country information directed to the applicant's actual profile.

The Tribunal hearing is a fresh hearing, and Immigration Lawyers Sydney prepare it as one. The firm files written submissions and a bundle of new evidence, prepares the applicant and any witnesses for questioning by the Tribunal member, and appears at the hearing. In a partner matter the sponsor and Form 888 witnesses may give oral evidence. In a protection matter the applicant will be questioned in detail on the statement of claims, and the lawyer prepares the applicant for that questioning while remaining alert to section 423A on any claim not put to the delegate. The firm's guide to the protection visa Tribunal hearing describes the day itself.

Status during review is watched as closely as the merits. A Sydney applicant who held a Bridging Visa A during processing needs the review application lodged in time for that bridging visa to continue, and the conditions on it decide whether the applicant may keep working in the meantime. Immigration Lawyers Sydney advise on work and on travel, which requires a Bridging Visa B and is rarely straightforward during review. Where review is unavailable or would not succeed on the facts, the firm advises in writing on what can and cannot be applied for from within Australia after a refusal, and on the consequences of departing.

How do Immigration Lawyers Sydney respond to a notice of intention to consider cancellation?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney respond to a notice of intention to consider cancellation by identifying whether the Department is acting under section 109, section 116 or section 501, obtaining the exact information the Department relies on, taking the client's account of it, and filing a response within the response deadline that addresses both the ground and every consideration the decision maker must weigh. The response deadline is short and strictly applied, and a client who receives such a notice should engage Immigration Lawyers Sydney on that day.

Each power calls for a different response. Section 109 is engaged where the Department believes the visa holder gave incorrect information or a bogus document in the application or on an incoming passenger card, and the response addresses whether the information was in fact incorrect and, if so, the prescribed circumstances the Minister must take into account before deciding to cancel. Section 116 covers the general grounds, including that a condition of the visa has been breached, that the facts that permitted the grant no longer exist, or that the holder is or may be a risk to the community, and the response addresses whether the ground is made out and, where the power is discretionary, why it should not be exercised. Section 501 is the character power, and a response under section 501 is directed to the primary and other considerations in the ministerial direction made under section 499.

Sydney clients who receive these notices are often students alleged to have breached a condition of enrolment or work, visitor visa holders alleged to have worked, or partner visa holders whose relationship has ended and whose former partner has written to the Department. Immigration Lawyers Sydney take the client's account, obtain the documents that show what actually happened, such as enrolment records, payslips, medical evidence or correspondence, and present that account against the considerations in the notice: the reason for the breach or the error, the length of time in Australia, family in Sydney, hardship to Australian citizen children or a partner, and the consequences of cancellation. The account is the client's own. The firm puts it in order and in the form the delegate must consider.

If the visa is cancelled, Immigration Lawyers Sydney act at once on revocation or review. A cancellation under section 109 or section 116 made while the holder is in Australia is generally reviewable at the Administrative Review Tribunal within a short and strictly applied deadline. A cancellation under section 501 may be the subject of a revocation request or of review, depending on who made the decision and under which limb of section 501. Cancellation also ends the client's lawful status, and a Bridging Visa E application is usually required at the same time so that the client remains lawful while the cancellation is contested. The firm's article on urgent immigration lawyer advice explains why the first day after a cancellation matters more than any later one.

Which parts of Sydney and New South Wales do Immigration Lawyers Sydney serve?

Immigration Lawyers Sydney serve the whole of Sydney and the whole of New South Wales, because migration law is federal, the application is lodged online and every consultation at My Migration Lawyers is conducted by Zoom. The firm's office at Level 1, 60 Martin Place is available by appointment, but no client is required to travel to it, and a client in Penrith is served in exactly the same way as a client who works two streets from the office.

The firm acts for clients across Parramatta, Bankstown, Liverpool, Blacktown, Auburn, Chatswood, Hurstville and Penrith, across the Inner West and the Northern Beaches, and beyond the metropolitan area in Wollongong and the Illawarra and in Newcastle and the Hunter. It also acts for clients elsewhere in New South Wales and in every other state and territory, and for applicants overseas whose sponsor lives in Sydney. Immigration Lawyers Sydney are not a different service for different suburbs. The same lawyer, the same letter of advice, the same fixed fee costs agreement and the same client portal apply wherever the client lives.

What differs between a Sydney matter and a matter elsewhere is only the State law that occasionally intersects with the federal criteria. For a Sydney de facto couple, that is the New South Wales Relationships Register, which is a prescribed law for the purposes of the twelve month exception in regulation 2.03A. A couple in Wollongong or Newcastle register under the same New South Wales law. Immigration Lawyers Sydney know which State register applies to which client and advise accordingly, and a couple who are unsure whether registration will help them can raise it at the first consultation.

How My Migration Lawyers acts as Immigration Lawyers Sydney

My Migration Lawyers acts as Immigration Lawyers Sydney for clients across Sydney and New South Wales, on partner visas, onshore protection visas, visa refusals and visa cancellations. The firm is led by Weiwei Zhang, Principal Lawyer, who conducts the assessment, signs the letter of advice and drafts the submissions on each matter the firm accepts.

The firm acts in many matters of exactly this type: Subclass 820 and 801 applications by applicants living in Sydney; Subclass 309, 100 and 300 applications by applicants overseas with a Sydney sponsor; Subclass 866 protection visa applications by students, visitors and other temporary visa holders already in Sydney; responses to section 56 requests and section 57 natural justice letters; review at the Administrative Review Tribunal after a section 65 refusal; and responses to notices of intention to consider cancellation under section 109, section 116 and section 501. Matters complicated by Schedule 3, condition 8503, regulation 1.20J, public interest criterion 4020, an unlawful applicant needing a Bridging Visa E or a previous refusal are the firm's ordinary work, and the firm is equipped to run them.

On every matter the firm conducts the consultation by Zoom, runs the Visa Entitlement Verification Online check and obtains the immigration history itself, sends a written letter of advice and a document checklist, sets a fixed fee in a costs agreement, exchanges documents through a secure client portal, acts as authorised recipient for Department correspondence and treats every deadline as the first priority. The client's statements remain the client's evidence throughout. The firm reviews them, corrects them and presents them in the form the law requires, and the client decides which claims are advanced.

A person in Sydney or anywhere in New South Wales who wants Immigration Lawyers Sydney to assess a partner visa, a protection visa, a refusal or a cancellation can request a consultation with My Migration Lawyers through the firm's online form.