Registration as a Migration Agent

Please be aware that that it is a Migration Agents Registration Authority requirement that intending Migration Agents must be Australian citizens or permanent residents. Applicants are encouraged to contact the Office of the MARA for further information on eligibility to register as a migration agent (www.mara.gov.au).

There are other requirements that need to be met in order for the MARA to consider and approve an application for registration as a migration agent. Please refer to the Office of the MARA for full details and a copy of their registration package.

In terms of using this course for registration purposes we are expected to adhere to particular government regulations. The Graduate Certificate in Australian Migration Law and Practice is the course required for registration, however students must also have passed the prescribed common assessment items.

In a MARA prescribed examination notice dated 31 May 2006 the new examination prescribed under s 289A(c) of the Migration Act 1958 for registration as a migration agent is described as “the common assessment items for registration” which form part of the Graduate Certificate in Australian Migration Law and Practice at the Australian National University, Griffiths University, Murdoch University and Victoria University.

As a result each unit of study in the Graduate Certificate in Australian Migration Law and Practice will contain items of common assessment approved by a national Assessment and Moderation Committee. The assessment items will be embedded in examinations in each unit and are marked according to common marking standards.

Students graduating after 1 January 2010 will be recognised as having passed the prescribed examination when they have passed each unit and therefore being awarded the degree but also will have to achieve a minimum score of 50% on common assessment items during an invigilated exam. These common assessment items will be a 30% assessment item and a 15% assessment item in LAW402 and LAW404 and two 30% assessment items in LAW403.

Students who fail the common assessment items will have the opportunity of sitting for a supplementary examination.