Migration agents have been caught submitting misleading visa applications, misusing client money and lodging protection claims with no prospect of success in a crackdown by Australia’s migration regulator.
The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) sanctioned 17 agents or former agents in the six months to the end of June, including six whose registrations were cancelled, seven suspended, three cautioned, and one former agent barred from re-registration.
The action marks a more aggressive approach by the federal government after years of criticism over the handling of misconduct complaints and a damning Commonwealth auditor-general report that identified a host of failures in supervising the migration agents who facilitate the arrival of vulnerable people into the country.
The cases, detailed in the authority’s latest half-yearly report, reveal a range of misconduct across an industry of 5581 registered migration agents, including agents who provided false or misleading information to the Department of Home Affairs and the regulator, failed to protect client money and records, and undermined migration law.
In one case, an agent was deregistered for five years after the authority found he had failed to declare immigration assistance provided to clients, supplied false or misleading information to the regulator and was not a fit and proper person to provide migration advice.
The new data release comes as the regulator last week cancelled the...
White House border czar Tom Homan fired back on Sunday's "State of the Union" after Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") of targeting parents at sch...