Introduction to Migration Law

This report provides an introduction to migration law in Australia, focusing on the concepts of lawful non-citizen and unlawful non-citizen. It also discusses the professional and ethical obligations of a migration agent towards their clients. The report includes a sample interview and a critique of the migration agent's performance.

LAWS503 introduction
to migration law

INTRODUCTION
Immigration is the movement of the people internationally to the country destination of
which the people are neither the domestic nor they have any citizenship in order to settle as the
permanent resident. The law on migration regulates as to who has the right to enter and also
remain in the country Australia. It is the commonwealth law so it is applicable in whole of
Australia (St Guillaume and Finlay, 2018). This report is divided into two parts of which first
deals with the file note which is to be prepared after watching the sample interview and second
part provides the critique of migration agent's performance.
PART 1
1. Records the key details provided by the client in the interview in a suitable file note format.
The client is Spanish man whose name is Franklin Printes. He is born on 13th December
1991. he has currently came to Australia for work purpose on March 16, 2019. Initially, he had
the sub class 462 visa which expired on 15th March 2020 so he further extended the visa for 12
months which now have expired on 16th March 2021. The marital status of client is single but he
is in a relationship with an Australian Girl from last one month.
The client works in the Queensland Government at a high profile post and is entrusted
with the work to handle the important project. This project is helping him to extend its skills.
Now the client has tried to apply for the visa in the category of specialised sub class 400
on 12th March 2021 but its application got rejected.
2. Highlights any issues raised in the interview that relate only to the client’s legal status in
Australia
As the client is not the citizen of Australia and is a Spanish man. He is a non citizen. So
when he was having its valid visa, he was the lawful non citizen but now that his licence has
expired, he is the unlawful non citizen. The main issue which is raised in the interview relates to
that fact that the client has a job in Queensland and his visa got expired so he is now unlawful
non citizen. So he is not allowed to continue its job due to this issue and wants to renew its visa.
In past, he applied online for the renewal of visa but its application got rejected. So he
has contacted the migration agent to do the needful and renew the visa.

3. Summarises and correctly cites the relevant section/s of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) that
establish and define the concepts of "lawful non-citizen" and "unlawful non-citizen"
According to Section 13 of the Migration Act, any person who is not the citizen in the
migration zone and holds the visa is the lawful non citizen. And any allowed inhabitant of the
protected zone who is in protected area in order to perform traditional activity is also the lawful
non citizen (Fitzpatrick, 2019).
According to Section 14 of Migration Act, any person who is not the citizen in migration
zone and is not the lawful non citizen is regarded as the unlawful non citizen. For the removal of
doubt, any non citizen in migration zone, who was the illegal entrant as per the meaning of
Migration Act before 1st September 1994 is also unlawful non citizen (Morrison‐Dayan, 2019).
As per section 15 of the Migration Act, any person whose visa was cancelled and is in
migration zone on the date of cancellation shall be unlawful non citizen (Tan and Hugo, 2017).
So in respect of current case scenario, as per the interview, the client is the unlawful non citizen
as he is not holding the valid visa as its visa got expired and is not renewed till date.
4. Identify any follow up information and/or documentation that your supervisor will need to ask
the client to provide.
As per the interview, the client is requested to provide its current job profile so that the
visa application can be submitted with the purpose which is to continue the job in Queensland.
As the client is unlawful non citizen as per current legal status as its licence got cancelled so the
supervisor has asked the client to provide job details and previous visa details so that the
application can be submitted with immediate effect.
5. Case which provides distinction between the lawful and unlawful non citizen.
The name of the case is Plaintiff M12 of 2013 by his litigation guardian sister Brigid
Marie Arthur v. Minister for Immigration and Border protection and Commonwealth of Australia
[2014] HCA 25. (McMichael, Farbotko and McNamara, 2018)
Case number- M150/ 2013
Date of judgement- 20th June 2014

PART 2
1. What professional and ethical obligations does an agent have towards their client?
There are many ethical and professional obligations of migration agent toward its client.
As a migration agent, I have the following responsibilities which includes the following-
 To advise the client which is best in its interest so that its aim is fulfilled in a lawful
manner.
 To maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the client during and after the immigration
assistance and must not disclose any information to third party.
 To ensure the document security as as a migration agent, I must retain confidentially and
securely the documents of the client to which he is entitled for the duration of
immigration assistance.
 To ensure that the cost offered to client for immigration assistance is fair and reasonable
in circumstances of case (Segrave, 2018).
2. Did the agent meet those obligations?
While I was providing assistance to the client in respect of visa, I tried to meet with all
my obligations which were professionally and ethically required. I tried to advise the client
which is in its best interest and tried to offer him with advises which suits best to him. As my
ethical responsibility, I tried to to maintain the document security and kept the documents of
client safe. It is important to have confidentiality maintained regarding the information and
details of client, so tried to keep it private by not sharing the details with person who is not
authorised and only discussed the matter with my migration team. As a whole, I can say that I
tried to meet professional and ethical obligations when dealing with the client.
3. Did the agent conduct the interview in a professional manner appropriate to the needs of the
client?
As per the interview, it can said that it was conducted in the professional manner. The
migration agent asked all the relevant information from client and asked for the details which are
consistent with the purpose of the interview. As the client requires to renew its visa with
immediate effect, the agent asked for the personal details of client so that these details can
provide assistance in filing the application. For instance, the information regarding the marital
status or relationship asked by agent can help in filing the application with the purpose of family.

4. Did the agent use an appropriate interviewing technique?
When the interview was conducted, the migration agent tried its level best to use the best
technique for interviewing. The agent conducted the interview with correct sequence by first
asking the issue of client then going to personal details in order to advise appropriate solution
and then assured the client that proper service shall be provided to the client. The agent also
ensured to give the follow-up regarding the different options available for client to renew the
visa so that the best can be picked up for client. Moreover, the agent was also ready with its
notes so that it does not miss any point.
5. What would you have done differently?
While I was conducting interview, there are few things which I would have done
differently in order to have appropriate interview. While I must first introduce myself to the
client so that it can know about me. Then instead of beginning from the issue, I should have
asked about the personal details of client first and then ask about the issue of client so that a
positive environment can be created where the client can share all its issues without hesitation.
This will help in providing appropriate service to the client.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that migration law of Australia provides who can
enter and settle in the country. There are two types of non citizens, lawful who have valid visa
and the unlawful non citizen who are not lawful as they do not carry any valid visa. The present
report have analysed the sample interview where the issue of client was relating to renewal of
visa as he has the high profile job in Queensland government. The client has seek the assistance
to renew its visa so that it can continue to work lawfully. Further, at last, the performance of
migration agent is evaluated and the agent have tried to meet all the professional and ethical
obligation of conducting the interview.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Fitzpatrick, D. ed., 2019. Oceans of consolation: Personal accounts of Irish migration to
Australia. Cornell University Press.
McMichael, C., Farbotko, C. and McNamara, K.E., 2018. Climate-migration responses in the
Pacific region. In The Oxford handbook of migration crises.
Morrison‐Dayan, R., 2019. A viable care migration programme for Australia's ageing
population: Recruiting migrant personal care workers for Australian aged
care. Australian Journal of Social Issues. 54(4). pp.371-385.
Segrave, M., 2018. Temporary migration and family violence. Intimate partner violence, risk
and security: Securing women’s lives in a global world, p.126.
St Guillaume, L. and Finlay, E., 2018. Disabled mobility and the production of impairment: The
case of Australia's migration policy framework. Asia Pacific Viewpoint. 59(1). pp.119-
131.
Tan, G. and Hugo, G., 2017. The transnational migration strategies of Chinese and Indian
students in Australia. Population, Space and Place. 23(6). p.e2038.