Voon Ng: registration barred by OMARA on 6 Jul 2017

What the Authority decided

Decision Date: 6 July 2017

Agent Name: Ng, Voon Mei

Former Registration Number (MARN): 1281783

Decision: Barring

Decision Summary

On 6 July 2017, the Authority decided to bar Ms Voon Mei NG (former MARN 1281783) from being registered for a period of five years. Following the Authority’s investigation into three complaints in relation to the Former Agent’s conduct while she was registered, the Authority was satisfied that a barring decision was appropriate. The Authority was satisfied that the former agent demonstrated a lack of knowledge and understanding of migration law and procedure and of her obligations as a migration agent, and has engaged in conduct that has resulted in adverse visa outcomes and financial loss for her clients. Further, the Former Agent has failed to cooperate with the Authority’s investigation and in doing so has demonstrated contempt for the Authority’s consumer protection function an indifference to, and disregard of, Australian law. She has also attempted to avoid responsibility for her conduct and hinder the Authority’s investigation. The Authority was satisfied that the Former Agent’s conduct posed a risk to vulnerable consumers, had the potential to tarnish the reputation of the migration advice profession and was inconsistent with registration as a migration agent. The Authority also found that the Former Agent breached the following clauses 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 2.19, 2.21, 2.23, 3.2A, 5.2, 5.3 and 9.1 of the Code of Conduct. An abridged version of the decision can be accessed below. Personal details have been removed in the interests of protecting the privacy of persons involved.

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

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.