Immigration lawyer or migration agent in Brisbane: which do you need?

Most visa matters don’t need a lawyer. If you’re preparing an application, responding to a request from the Department, or appealing a refusal at the Administrative Review Tribunal, a registered migration agent can do all of that.

You need a lawyer when your matter goes to court. Judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, an appeal to the Federal Court, or criminal charges affecting your visa. A registered migration agent can’t appear for you in any of those.

That’s the short answer. The rest of this page explains where the line actually falls, because “immigration lawyer” and “migration agent” get used interchangeably in conversation and they’re not the same thing.

An immigration lawyer is an admitted Australian legal practitioner who holds a current practising certificate and works in migration law.

Since 22 March 2021, an Australian legal practitioner can provide immigration assistance without holding separate registration as a migration agent. Before that date, lawyers doing migration work generally had to be registered agents as well. The change means the two professions are now genuinely distinct rather than overlapping.

A lawyer can do everything a registered migration agent can do, and can also act for you in court.

On 22 March 2021, lawyers holding unrestricted practising certificates were removed from the Register of Migration Agents (OMARA). So if you search the register for a lawyer and cannot find them, that is expected. Check their practising certificate instead.

In Queensland, you can check whether someone is an admitted practitioner through the Queensland Law Society. Anyone using the title “lawyer”, “solicitor” or “legal practitioner” is representing that they’re entitled to practise law, and that representation is regulated.

A registered migration agent is registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority and provides immigration assistance under the Migration Act 1958.

Registration requires the Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice, a pass in the Capstone assessment, professional indemnity insurance, and annual continuing professional development. Agents are bound by the Migration Agents Code of Conduct and their registration sits on a public register at mara.gov.au.

An agent can advise you on which visa fits, prepare and lodge the application, correspond with the Department on your behalf, respond to natural justice letters, prepare waiver submissions, and represent you at the Administrative Review Tribunal.

An agent cannot appear in court.

Bullseye Consultant is a registered migration agency. We’re not a law firm. Our registered migration agents are Amanpreet Bhangoo (MARN 1573884), Neha Kaushal (MARN 2518964), Sumit Goyal (MARN 2519003) and Dimpee Bhardwaj (MARN 2518821).

Look at how much of that table is identical. For the overwhelming majority of visa work, the choice between an agent and a lawyer isn’t a choice about capability.

This is the distinction most people get wrong, so it’s worth being precise.

The Administrative Review Tribunal reviews the merits of a decision. It can look at your case afresh, consider new evidence, and substitute a different decision. It replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. A registered migration agent can represent you there. Three of the matters on our case studies page were ART reviews.

Judicial review asks a different question. A court doesn’t reconsider whether you should get the visa. It asks whether the decision was made lawfully, whether there was a jurisdictional error, a denial of procedural fairness, or a misapplication of the law. That’s a legal argument in a courtroom, and it requires an admitted legal practitioner.

The practical consequence is about sequence. Most matters that end up in court started somewhere else. A refusal goes to the Tribunal first. Only if the Tribunal affirms the refusal does judicial review become relevant, and there’s a strict deadline for that step.

So the question usually isn’t “agent or lawyer” at the start. It’s “who handles this stage, and what happens if it goes further”.

For most people the answer is: not yet, and possibly never. These are the situations where a lawyer is the right person rather than a registered migration agent:

• Judicial review of a migration decision. An application to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2) must be filed within 35 days of the decision. The Court can extend that time if it is in the interests of justice, but you should not plan on it (FCFCOA).
• Appeals from that court to the Federal Court or the High Court.
• Criminal charges that could affect your visa, including where a conviction could trigger the character test.
• Challenging the lawfulness of immigration detention.
• Other court work linked to your visa, such as family law parenting orders where a child's migration depends on consent, or an employment dispute with a sponsoring employer.

If none of those apply, a registered migration agent can usually handle the matter from the first consultation to the Tribunal.

We are registered migration agents, not lawyers, and we don’t pretend otherwise. Where a matter needs a lawyer, we’ll tell you, and we’ll tell you as early as we can see it coming rather than when a deadline is already running.

In practice that means we explain which parts of your matter a registered migration agent can handle and which would need an admitted legal practitioner. If a Tribunal decision goes against you and judicial review is a realistic option, we say so promptly, because the 35 day court deadline starts from the decision. With your consent we can give the lawyer you choose your file and chronology, so they are not starting from scratch.

Lawyers are generally more expensive than registered migration agents, though the range on both sides is wide and comparing headline rates is close to meaningless.

Court work also carries costs that application work does not: court filing fees, and the risk that if a judicial review application fails you can be ordered to pay the Minister’s legal costs. Ask any lawyer to explain that risk in writing before you start.

What’s worth comparing is the scope of the work. A fixed fee for preparing a partner visa application and an hourly rate for a court matter aren’t the same product.

Our consultation fees are published on our fees page, starting at $80 for a 30 minute telephone appointment. Professional fees for the work itself are quoted in a written costs agreement before anything starts, which the Code of Conduct requires.

Whoever you engage, ask for the fee in writing, ask what’s included, and ask what happens if the application is refused.

For a registered migration agent, it takes two minutes:

1. Ask for their Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN). Every registered agent has one.
2. Search the Register of Migration Agents on the OMARA website by name or MARN.
3. Check the registration is current and the name matches the person you are dealing with.
4. Check the business name shown against the business you are paying.
5. Ask who will actually handle your file. Some businesses advertise a registered agent while unregistered staff do the work.

Our own MARNs are on our team page: Amanpreet Bhangoo 1573884, Neha Kaushal 2518964, Sumit Goyal 2519003 and Dimpee Bhardwaj 2518821.

For a lawyer: check with the Queensland Law Society, or the equivalent regulator in the state where they practise. Confirm they hold a current practising certificate.

For anyone calling themselves an “immigration consultant”: that title means nothing in Australia. It isn’t regulated and it doesn’t indicate qualification, registration or insurance. In Australia, only registered migration agents and admitted legal practitioners can lawfully give immigration assistance for a fee.

If someone can’t produce either a MARN or a practising certificate, stop there.

Worth saying, because most pages on this topic won’t.

If you’re applying for a visitor or student visa, you’ve never been refused anything, you have no health or character issues and your documents are in order, you can likely lodge it yourself through ImmiAccount. The system is built for that.

Where professional help earns its cost is when something complicates the picture. A previous refusal. A cancellation. A gap with no substantive visa. A health condition that might trigger the significant cost threshold. A criminal record. A genuine relationship that’s hard to evidence.

In those situations, how the case is put frequently matters more than the underlying facts.

“Best” depends on the matter. A partner visa with a clean history, a Schedule 3 waiver after years without a visa and a judicial review application are different jobs. A few questions sort out most of it:

• Are you registered with OMARA, or do you hold a current practising certificate? Can I see the number?
• Who will do the work on my file, and are they registered or admitted?
• Have you handled matters like mine, and what are the risks you can see?
• Is the fee fixed or an estimate, what does it include, and what happens if the application is refused?
• If this goes beyond the Tribunal, will I need a lawyer, and when?

Be wary of anyone who promises a result. No agent or lawyer can guarantee a visa, and the Code of Conduct does not allow registered agents to say they can. For more on the differences, read the difference between a migration lawyer and a migration agent and registered migration agent or immigration lawyer.

We’re at Buranda House, 2/154 Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba, about ten minutes from the Brisbane CBD. Appointments are available in person, by Zoom, or by telephone, and we work with clients across Queensland and Australia-wide.

Call (07) 3519 7009 or book a consultation. There is more on what a registered agent does day to day on our immigration agent Brisbane page, and a fuller comparison at migration lawyer versus migration agent.

If it turns out your matter needs a lawyer, we’ll tell you that in the consultation rather than after you’ve paid for something else.