Immigration agents in Brisbane: what we do and when you need one

A registered immigration agent is someone approved by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority to give immigration assistance under the Migration Act 1958. In plain terms, we advise you on which visa fits your situation, prepare and lodge the application, deal with the Department of Home Affairs for you, and represent you at the Administrative Review Tribunal if a decision goes against you.

We can’t appear for you in the Federal Circuit and Family Court. That takes a lawyer. More on exactly where that line sits further down.

Bullseye Consultant is a registered migration agency in Woolloongabba, a few minutes from the Brisbane CBD. Our agents hold current OMARA registration and we work with clients across Queensland and the rest of Australia.

Plenty of people don’t, and any agent who tells you otherwise is selling something.

If you’re applying for a visitor visa, you’ve never been refused anything, you have no health or character issues and your documents are straightforward, you can probably lodge it yourself through ImmiAccount. Home Affairs built the system for exactly that. Save your money.

The picture changes when something in your history complicates things. A previous refusal. A cancellation. A period where you held no substantive visa. A health condition that might trigger the significant cost threshold. A criminal record, even a minor one from years ago. A relationship that’s completely genuine but hard to evidence because you’ve spent long stretches in different countries.

On those files, how the case is put matters as much as the underlying facts themselves.

The pattern we see most often is someone who lodged a reasonably simple application themselves, received a section 57 natural justice letter, panicked, and answered it badly. By the time they call us, the response has already gone in and the decision is being made on it.

A section 57 letter means Home Affairs holds information that counts against you, and is giving you a chance to comment before deciding. Regulation 2.15 of the Migration Regulations 1994 prescribes 28 days in most cases, though the letter itself sets the period and it can be much shorter if you’re in immigration detention. What you write in that window frequently decides the application. There’s no second attempt.

Other situations where the way a case is argued matters more than the paperwork:

• Section 48 bar. If you’re onshore and you’ve had a visa refused or cancelled since your last substantive visa, section 48 blocks most further applications from within Australia. There are exceptions. Knowing which ones apply to you, and structuring the application around them, is the whole job.
• Schedule 3 criteria. Onshore applicants without a substantive visa usually have to meet Schedule 3 unless compelling reasons justify waiving it. What counts as compelling is narrower than most people expect, and it has to be evidenced properly rather than asserted.
• Condition 8503, no further stay. If your visa carries 8503 you generally can’t apply for most other visas while you’re in Australia. A waiver requires compelling and compassionate circumstances that developed after the visa was granted and were outside your control. The timing point trips people up constantly.
• Health and character waivers. Both involve balancing exercises where the submission does the work. A decision maker is weighing factors, and unrepresented applicants often don’t know which factors carry weight.
• ART appeals. A registered migration agent can run a review at the Administrative Review Tribunal. Deadlines are short, usually 21 days from notification, and they generally can’t be extended.

Anyone in Australia who gives immigration assistance for a fee has to be either a registered migration agent or an admitted Australian legal practitioner. There’s no third category, whatever job title someone uses on their website.

Registration means:

• You’ve completed the Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice and passed the Capstone assessment
• You hold current professional indemnity insurance
• You complete continuing professional development every year
• You’re bound by the Migration Agents Code of Conduct
• Your registration and any disciplinary history sit on a public register anyone can search
• Clients can complain to the OMARA about your conduct

That last point matters more than people realise. If you engage someone unregistered and it goes wrong, there’s no regulator to take it to and no insurance behind them.

Do this before you pay anyone, including us.

1. Go to the OMARA website at mara.gov.au and open the Register of Migration Agents.
2. Search by the agent’s name, their MARN, or the business name.
3. Check the registration is current, not lapsed or suspended.
4. Check the name on the register matches the person you’re actually dealing with. Some businesses advertise a registered agent’s name while the work is done by unregistered staff.
5. Look at the disciplinary history section.

Our registered migration agents are Amanpreet Bhangoo (MARN 1573884), Neha Kaushal (MARN 2518964), Sumit Goyal (MARN 2519003) and Dimpee Bhardwaj (MARN 2518821). All four are searchable on that register right now.

If someone can’t give you a MARN, or gets evasive when you ask, that’s the end of the conversation.

“Immigration consultant” has no legal meaning in Australia. Anyone can print it on a card. It doesn’t indicate registration, qualification or insurance.

“Immigration lawyer” does mean something. Since March 2021, an admitted Australian legal practitioner can give immigration assistance without holding MARA registration. Lawyers can do everything a registered agent can, and they can also act in court.

The practical difference comes down to one line:

Most visa work never gets near a court. Where a matter does need court representation, we work with admitted legal practitioners through our partnership with Visas Migration Agents & Lawyers, and you’re told upfront which parts of your matter sit with a registered agent and which need a lawyer.

There’s a fuller comparison on our migration agent versus immigration lawyer page, and a decision guide at immigration lawyer or migration agent in Brisbane.

Before you come in, send through anything you already have. Previous applications, refusal letters, visa grant notices, your passport bio page, any correspondence from Home Affairs. Reading it beforehand means we spend the appointment on your options rather than on data entry.

During the consultation, we go through your immigration history, identify which visas you’re realistically eligible for, and flag anything likely to cause trouble. If there’s a problem in your history, you’ll hear about it in that meeting rather than three months into an application.

You leave with a clear picture of your options, the likely timeframe, what evidence you’d need to gather, and an honest view of the risks. If we think you’re better off lodging it yourself, we’ll say so.

If you engage us, you get a written costs agreement setting out the fee and what’s included before any work starts. That’s a requirement of the Code of Conduct, not a courtesy.

Appointments run in person at our Woolloongabba office or by video. Most matters never require you to be in the room.

Most migration agencies won’t put this on their website. We will, because you should be able to work out what you’re committing to before you pick up the phone.

Consultations with Amanpreet Bhangoo, Principal Migration Agent (MARN 1573884)

Consultations with Neha Kaushal, Sumit Goyal and Dimpee Bhardwaj

All figures in Australian dollars. Full detail is on our migration agent fees page.

Which one should you book? If your situation is straightforward and you mainly want to confirm you’re eligible and on the right track, 30 minutes with any of our agents is usually enough. If you’ve had a refusal, you’re dealing with a section 48 bar, a schedule 3 issue or a condition 8503 waiver, book 45 minutes or an hour with Amanpreet. Complex histories take longer to work through properly, and a rushed appointment helps nobody.

Telephone appointments cost less because there’s less preparation involved. If you have documents you need us to read beforehand, book in person or by Zoom.

Professional fees for the work itself are quoted separately once we know what your matter involves. They’re set out in a written costs agreement before any work starts, which is a requirement of the Migration Agents Code of Conduct rather than a courtesy. Home Affairs application charges are separate again and are paid to the Department, not to us.

Before engaging any agent, get the fee in writing, confirm exactly what’s included, and confirm what happens if the application is refused. If you’re given a verbal quote and nothing on paper, walk away.

We’re at Buranda House, 2/154 Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba, about ten minutes from the CBD and a short walk from Buranda station. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.

The team holds current OMARA registration and handles skilled migration, partner and family visas, employer sponsorship, student visas, and complex matters including waivers, section 57 responses and ART appeals. You can read about each of them on our team page, and see how we approach difficult files in our case studies.

Call (07) 3519 7009 or book a consultation.