Michael Cradock: registration cautioned by OMARA on 28 Apr 2026

What the Authority decided

On 28 April 2026, the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (the Authority) decided to caution Mr Michael Cradock (MARN 1799333) for a period of three (3) months and until certain conditions are met following an investigation into one complaint about his conduct.

The Authority was satisfied that the Agent breached his obligations at sections 13(1)(a), 13(2), and 14 of the Migration (Migration Agents Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021 (the Code).

The Authority found that the Agent:

• Engaged in unprofessionalism conduct.
• Engaged in conduct that was reasonably likely to damage the reputation of migration agents or the immigration advice industry.
• Failed to treat all persons with appropriate respect.
• Failed in his duty not to harass or coerce any person.

A decision summary can be found at the below link.

The decision summary above is reproduced from the Authority's published record of this decision, which also carries the decision document itself. Nothing has been added to it.

What a caution means if this was your agent

A caution is a formal warning under section 303 of the Migration Act 1958. The registration continues. The agent may keep working and may keep acting for you, and many agents who have been cautioned go on practising for years without further incident.

What changes for you is information, not status. Read the decision and see whether the conduct described resembles your own experience — a caution about advertising is a different thing from a caution about client money.

If this was your agent: the first week

1. Find out where your application actually is. If you have an ImmiAccount, log in. The clock does not stop because your representation did.
2. Check who the Department is writing to. A Form 956 makes an agent the authorised recipient, and correspondence sent to them is taken to have been given to you. A deadline sent to an inbox nobody reads is still a deadline.
3. Get your file. Your documents are yours and the Code requires them back — originals first. How to get your file back.
4. Work out what was paid and what was done. Ask for the itemised invoices and receipts the Code requires. Routes to recover money work better started early.
5. Complain, if there is something to complain about. A published decision does not close your own file. Where to complain, and what OMARA can and cannot do.
6. Only then, find someone else. A new agent needs the file and the dates. The first five steps are what make that first conversation useful instead of exploratory.

What this decision does not mean

It is a decision about one individual on one date. Only a person can be a registered migration agent — a company cannot — so it says nothing about anyone else at the same practice. Decisions of this kind are reviewable, and bars and suspensions expire. The register is where the current position lives.

Decision information sourced from the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence. VisaBid is not affiliated with OMARA or the Department of Home Affairs.