eCentral Business Show^©

What is the difference between a migration agent and migration lawyer?

Mon 5:34pm 30 Oct 2017
Podcast Audio


Thank you Bruce Kimball for coming on the eCentral business show and talking about the difference between a migration agent and a migration lawyer. Bruce is a registered migration agent and works with all types of migration applications. His years of working in government and organisations gives him plenty of skill to navigate the migration process.

Video script: what's the difference between a migration agent and a migration lawyer is the subject of today's easy central business show on John Nayler joined by Bruce Kimball thank you very much for coming back in to talk to us more Bruce thank you John yeah okay now yeah let's get on with it different immigration lawyer and age you're an agent so you're how do you fit into the picture where do I fit well at the moment in terms of the legislation no one can give and the only people who are allowed to give migration assistance migration agents okay it's a regulated industry and to everyone needs to be registered with the registering Authority which is migration agents now we know it is Mara there is a proposal before the Parliament at the moment where whereby lawyers are going to not need to go through that process by being a professional registered lawyer the argument is they're all knowing all same no okay and therefore are able to provide migration assistance migration agents if the bill passes migration agents will remain but I have a feeling sometimes that we're a bit of a threatened species no okay prospective clients want the confidence I guess going to a lawyer offers them as this thing from a migration agent I have number of migration lawyer colleagues and we work very closely together and I think migration law is a specialist area within this trained law structure as it is structured mmm I like to think it's specialist areas yeah and I would encourage lawyers to pursue that line no okay so where does migration lawyers fit into the current schema though because we often hear that you know the the battle for someone to stay in the country or get a visa or citizenship or whatever becomes in you know have mattered before the courts is that is it migration lawyers are they in that step-up category is that where they place themselves at the moment well it's probably difficult for me to speak for lawyers where do you see them well geography well where I see them at the moment they need to be right there need to be registered with for them to provide migration assistance oh okay the pennies finally dropped for me at the moment so at the moment if they want to be in the migration business migration law business they're gonna be register tomorrow and they're saying no we don't need to do that and I understand a lot of law firms have a little room somewhere where they have their people do the migration business as a subset of their poor faith mmm eggworks aw okay but you know I would argue the overheads of a lawyer are probably a lot higher and therefore someone was to engage the services of a migration lawyer and that would have to maybe looking at substantially higher fees and perhaps what a migration agent would charge yeah okay so there's DIY obviously tire yourself navigate the minefield so we talked about in a previous video and then obviously then they they if they're making a decision like hit the same migration lawyer migration agent then we you at the moment so fulfilling the sense of the role correct me if I'm wrong in there just a price point difference there's a price point do for me to dumb it down no you're done it dumbing it down there is a price point difference but I have to say there are matters that I don't want to deal with there are matters I'm not capable or qualified to deal with a lot of these matters can be very legally complex and I would encourage and advise clients if I'm not able feel capable or competent I would be the first person to suggest that they obtain the services of a migration lawyer no okay cuz you get probably quite a lot of inquiries across a range of migration challenges and you say you probably do something you say that's not for me a lot of protection visas for example they're refugees legally complex neither time-consuming and obviously very expensive I don't do protection visas and I've only had a couple of inquiries which I've managed to on reefer know okay okay if I matter is being if a visa application has been refused a recourse to the tribunal in terms of review more than able or capable of pursuing a tribunal review application but if the tribunal application upholds the department's decision the next level is through the courts okay at that point obviously lawyers you need to be represented yeah absolutely and I know a number of our quite experienced very experienced very capable very expensive migration lawyers okay very happy to refer okay tremendous oh I tell anyway so what you're telling is if you're looking at some sort of migration problem an agent such as yourself is a great place to start absolutely and with integrity there's the ones operating in the right sort of space in that like yourself I get a refer on if it becomes legal becomes too complex it becomes something that really becomes a a complex legal matter it's something that I would have to make my own decision that I'm not comfortable if I'm not comfortable pursuing a matter if I think it's beyond my capabilities I'm legally obliged to you I refer it to a some other Authority some other agents able and capable oh okay and that's it and that's I know that you personally so I know that's something you do anyway you don't want anything too complex or questionable on your books well I think I'd be a bit uncomfortable taking someone's money and knowing that I wasn't qualified or capable of representing them and there's something within the code of contact that there's sort of demands that anyway absolutely and the double layer protection it's a point I haven't made previously is in terms of the legislation the migration agents fairly unique in the professions in that we have a code of conduct which we are required to comply with but the an interesting point about the code is that comply with the code is actually in the migration legislation so professionally we breached the code we're actually breaching the legislation no and that's not the case with many other professions Minooka fairly unique in that area yeah so be very careful there's a lot bill addition they both have a professional liability absolutely all right well anyway seems like you morally obliged there's something you do anyway Bruce you're legally obliged they're fabulous Bruce okay how do people find you look I think the best way is to google why Bruce Campbell migration services you'll find a link to my website and through that I'm sure you can contact me plant wealth of information on supply there as well at your website Bruce thank you very much for coming in to speak to us again on those central business show thank you John okay we're all done for another episode we'll speak to you next time very much for watching another episode of the e central business show