OMARA Code Of Conduct: RMA Responsibilities and Liabilities

Immigration Lawyer Mark Northam presents a comprehensive analysis of the new OMARA Code of Conduct and how RMAs can comply and avoid issues. The new Code includes extensive new responsibilities and liabilities for RMAs which we will go through in detail and discuss strategies for compliance, including:

• How an RMA’s conduct otherwise than in his/her capacity as an RMA can lead to sanctions
• Duty relating to correcting false or misleading statements made by clients (including those made in the past)
• Duty to treat all persons with appropriate respect
• Duty not to make false or misleading statements
• Duty not to threaten to act contrary to the new Code
• Duties to comply with, and not undermine, the Migration Law and whether this means ensuring clients comply with provisions such as ss 245AR, 245AS, 245AT, etc
• Duty not to evade a requirement of the migration law and whether this means that what is currently a lawful way of evading a requirement will become unlawful, such as applying for an intermediary visa in order to avoid (or ‘evade’) Schedule 3 requirements for a subsequent visa application
• Duty not to withhold relevant information for the purpose of causing delay
• Duties in relation to merits review processes
• Duty not to give futile immigration assistance and how it compares to the previous duty relating to vexatious applications
• Duty to disclose to the department the existence of false or misleading documents or information in certain circumstances
• Duties relating to the provision of false or misleading documents and statements and their sources
• Circumstances where an RMA ought to suspect that a statement is false or misleading
• Duties relating to work or services performed by persons other than RMAs
• Duties relating to MARNs, including social media
• Duty of notifying MARA of third parties unauthorisedly using RMA’s MARN
• Duties not to make false or misleading statements in promoting business
• Duty to take all reasonable steps to verify the identity of the client
• Duty not to deal with a client through an agent or other intermediary representing the client
• Possible consequences of agreement having to include a client’s address
• Whether a service agreement is required for the first and subsequent consultations
• Fees: former “reasonable in the circumstances” vs new “fair and reasonable”
• Circumstances where RMA can charge more than what was agreed upon
• Duty not to receive amounts from clients before entering into service agreements
• Duty to provide refunds

Mark Northam is Principal Solicitor at Northam Lawyers and is admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and admitted to the High Court of Australia.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Macquarie University, Graduate Diploma in Law from The College of Law, Graduate Certificate in Australia Immigration Law and Practice from Victoria University, Professional Certificate of New Zealand Immigration Law, and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Taxation) from the University of Houston. He is a NSW Justice of the Peace.

Mark is a member of the Law Society of NSW, Law Council of Australia (Federal Litigation and Dispute Resolution Section), City of Sydney Law Society, Australian Lawyers Alliance, Migration Institute of Australia and the Migration Alliance. Mark has published a wide variety of articles on immigration regulations including articles published by LexisNexis and others.

In addition to teaching at Migration Law Training, Mark is co-host of The Migration Show, a podcast for immigration professionals.