Tammy Paddock: registration barred by OMARA on 28 Nov 2018
A former agent barred from being registered again for a period of up to five years.
It was made about 7 years ago and did not state a fixed period in its published summary. It does not tell you this person's current registration status — check the Register of Migration Agents for that.
Reported from the OMARA disciplinary decisions register, read on 11 Sep 2026. The register is the authoritative source and it changes: decisions are reviewable, and suspensions and bars expire. Check it before you act on anything here.
What the Authority decided
On 28 November 2018, the Authority decided to bar former agent Mrs Tammy Nguyen Paddock from being registered for a period of five (5) years.
Following the Authority’s investigation into one complaint in relation to the Former Agent’s conduct whilst she was registered, the Authority was satisfied that a barring decision was appropriate.
The Authority was satisfied that the Former Agent lodged an application without the knowledge or consent from her client, submitted fraudulent documentation to the Department of Home Affairs in association with the application, and charged her client excessive fees for her services.
The Former Agent was found to have breached clauses 2.1, 2.8(b), 2.9, 2.23 and 5.1 of the Code of Conduct for registered migration agents whilst still registered.
A redacted version of the Authority’s decision can be accessed below. Personal details have been removed in the interests of protecting the privacy of the persons involved.
On 20 December 2018, an appeal to review the barring decision was made to the AAT by Ms Paddock. On 27 September 2019, the AAT affirmed the Authority's decision.
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 bar means if this was your agent
A bar is made under section 311A of the Migration Act and applies to a former registered agent — someone whose registration had already ceased, so there was nothing left to cancel. The Authority may bar them from being registered again for up to five years.
If this person was acting for you, they were not a registered migration agent at the time of the decision. Check what has actually been lodged in your name.
If this was your agent: the first week
- Find out where your application actually is. If you have an ImmiAccount, log in. The clock does not stop because your representation did.
- 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.
- Get your file. Your documents are yours and the Code requires them back — originals first. How to get your file back.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
If you are named here and something does not match the published decision — including where a decision has since been set aside, varied, or has expired — tell us and we will correct or remove it. We report what the register says; when the register changes, this should change with it.
This page reports a regulator's decision and explains in general terms what that kind of decision means. It is not immigration assistance and not legal advice, and it cannot take your circumstances into account. Only a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner may advise you on your own application.
Finding someone else
Post what you need and registered migration agents and Australian legal practitioners quote you for it in writing — a fixed fee, or an hourly rate with an hours estimate, GST included, with government charges itemised separately so a cheap-looking quote cannot quietly leave one out. Applicants pay nothing. Every quote carries the individual's MARN or practising certificate details, so you can run the same check that brought you here.
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