Man Kuo: registration barred by OMARA on 14 Sep 2018

What the Authority decided

On 14 September 2018, the Migration Agents Registration Authority (The Authority) decided to bar former agent Man Kwong Kuo from being registered for a period of five (5) years.

Following the Authority’s investigation into two complaints in relation to the Former Agent’s conduct while he was registered, the Authority was satisfied that a barring decision was appropriate. The Former Agent was found to have breached clauses 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.8, 2.21, 5.2, 5.5, and 7.4 of the Code of Conduct for registered migration agents whilst still registered. The Authority was satisfied that the Former Agent had deliberately misrepresented himself to both complainants with regards to his legal accreditation when providing immigration assistance, and was repeatedly dishonest, deceitful and reckless in his behaviour towards both clients in attempting to conceal significant failings in his practice. The Former Agent was also found to have failed to provide accurate and timely advice to his clients, to have not acted in accordance with their instructions on multiple occasions, and acted to rectify his errors without the clients’ knowledge or permission, resulting in financial loss and serious migration outcomes for the clients. Further, the Former Agent was found to have not provided one client with any Service Agreement or contract, invoices, receipts or a statement of services upon him terminating his services. 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 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.