Khilendra Timsina: registration barred by OMARA on 2 Jun 2020

What the Authority decided

On 02 June 2020, the Authority decided to bar the former migration agent Mr Khilendra Raj Timsina (MARN: 1281118) from being registered for a period of five (5) years. This follows the Authority’s investigation into one (1) complaint in relation to the Former Agent’s conduct while registered. The Authority was satisfied that the Former Agent demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law and adverse behaviour which extended to unlawful conduct involving fraud. Namely, the Former Agent submitted fraudulent documentation to satisfy Expression of Interest applications for State Sponsored and Skilled Visas for his clients.

The Former Agent provided inconsistent responses and claims to the allegations. His responses to the Authority’s notice pursuant to section 311D of the Act did not support his earlier statements made in response to the notice pursuant to section 308 of the Act and in fact they were contradictory. The Former Agent’s submission to the section 311D notice was not supported by evidence and was contradicted by evidence from both the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) and the complainant.

The Former Agent failed to show any remorse, or to accept responsibility for his conduct and the consequences for his former clients in his failure to deliver the professional service for which he had been paid and retained. Further the Former Agent has apportioned blame for his conduct onto third parties – such as his former clients, the Department and the Authority.

The Authority was also satisfied that the Former Agent while registered breached clauses 2.1, 2.4, 2.9, 2.23 and 5.2 of the Code of Conduct for Registered Migration Agents. An abridged 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.

The Former Agent has lodged an appeal with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the barring decision.

On 6 June 2023 the Tribunal ordered that Mr Timsina be barred for a period of 3 years beginning from 02 June 2020. Mr Timsina breached clauses 2.1, 2.4, 2.9 and 2.23 of the Migration Agents Code of Conduct, contained in Schedule 2 to the Migration Agents Regulations 1998(cth) as in force prior to 1 March 2022. The period of the barring of Mr Timsina is finished.

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.