Can agents swings things Sender: George Lombard

Hi Alan,

A strong undercurrent of self-interest in this thread :-) I guess I'm not immune: I'd just add that there are two aspects which are important ways in which agents contribute.

First, the efficiency of an established dialogue with case officers, managers, Central Office etc which I'm sure smooths the process without necessarily speeding it up; this is after all a queue and I'm sure you'll remember that as the ASPC worked through the April 2004 bubble and pre- July caseload it was in strict date order of receipt.

Second, the avoidance of disaster, needless delay and misunderstandings. I'm sure it takes longer for people doing it themselves, leaving aside the higher rate of rejection, because they're not aware of the processing culture and expected standards of documentation.

Just a word of warning. Not every agent is going to speed things up or value-add, I've got a case at the moment where another agent, who doesn't contribute here, so totally misunderstood the dependency requirements that a dependent mother got stranded offshore. Very luckily, a case officer made a decision to refuse the mother separately and misapplied the law, and we were able to get the decision revoked this week by the region manager. But if choosing an agent it's important to look for MARA registration, MIA membership, a relatively long period of practice, strong referrals, and technical precision as much as a smooth presentation.

Cheers,

George Lombard

www.austimmigration.com.au

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