( Initial consultation )
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Advice on your circumstances from a registered migration agent, before you decide anything.
Your immigration consultation
Meet Hamza
M Hamza, Founder and Director, Shoreline Migration, Sydney, Australia
Australian Registered Migration Agent · MARN 2619597
Graduate in Australian Migration Law and Practice
Registered under Division 3 of Part 3 of the Migration Act 1958
Immigration advice for individuals, families and employers, based on the Migration Act, the Regulations and the Code of Conduct, with the risks set out before anything is lodged.
His background, education and registration are set out in full on his profile.
View full profile( The consultation )
What an initial consultation covers
The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority describes an initial consultation as the opportunity for the agent to find out your circumstances and to advise what they would be able to do for you, including the steps and the costs. It is the one stage at which a registered migration agent may advise you before a written service agreement is in place.
01
What we do
- Go through your circumstances: your history, your objectives and who else is involved.
- Set out the pathways that may be open to you, what each requires, and the risks worth knowing about now.
- Give our view of your prospects on the facts you have given us, and say plainly where nothing is available.
- Explain what we would do first if you engage us, and what it would cost.
02
What we ask of you
- Who you are, where you are, and what you are trying to do.
- The visas you have held, and any refusal or cancellation in your history.
- Anything that could affect a visa, including any health or character matter.
- Any date you are working to. Nothing needs to be certified yet.
Description of an initial consultation from the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, Department of Home Affairs. The Migration Agents Code of Conduct governs what may be done at one.
( What you leave with )
By the end of the consultation you will know
It is an assessment of your position, not a document-checking appointment. A document checklist comes with the first stage of work under a service agreement.
- Your prospects, as we see them on the facts you have given us
- The pathways worth considering, and what each would require of you
- The risks and complications worth knowing about now
- What it would cost: our fee, the government charges and the third-party costs
- The processing times the Department publishes for that visa, and what they mean for you
- What to do next, and in what order
( When it matters most )
Three situations where the consultation matters most
Several visas could apply
A skilled applicant who could also be sponsored; a partner of a permanent resident who is also on a student visa; an employer with a candidate who fits two streams. Each option has a different cost, time and risk, and choosing the wrong one can close a better one. The consultation sets out which pathways are worth pursuing, and why.
Your circumstances have changed
A relationship ended, a job was lost, a sponsor withdrew, an occupation left the list, or the rules changed during an application. The visa you hold, the one you applied for and the one you now need may all be different. We establish what you hold today, what the change means for it, and what has to happen next.
Something in the past needs to be dealt with first
A refusal, a cancellation, a period without a visa, or information given earlier that was not right. None of these is necessarily the end of the road, but each affects how the next application must be made, and whether it should be made at all.
What we must do for you
A registered migration agent works to the Migration Agents Code of Conduct.
The Code sets professional standards and requires up-to-date knowledge of migration law and procedure. The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority publishes a Consumer Guide that sets out what an agent must do for you. These are the obligations, in the Guide’s own order. We send you the Guide with your confirmation, before any advice is given.
Be honest about your chances of getting a visa.
Give correct advice and keep you informed of the progress of your application and any changes that may affect it.
Act within the law and in your interests and protect your privacy.
Tell you about any conflict of interest before acting.
Put the services and fees in writing a written statement of the services, estimated fees and other costs, before starting work.
Keep your money separate funds paid in advance are held in a separate bank account.
Invoice the services completed so you can see what was done and what it cost.
Keep proper records of your matter.
( Available times )
Choose a time that suits you
Select a time on our booking page and tell us briefly who you are and what the consultation is about.
Book online
Book your consultation online
- 1. Click Book now. Our booking page opens in a new tab.
- 2. Select a date and time, and answer a few short questions.
- 3. Enter the one-time code we email you. If it does not arrive within a minute, check your junk or spam folder.
After you book
- Your confirmation arrives by email with the date, the time and the Microsoft Teams link.
- Within one business day we send the Consumer Guide, the invoice and a short intake questionnaire.
- Your appointment is confirmed once the payment is received.
The consultation at a glance
- Length
- 30 minutes
- Format
- Microsoft Teams or telephone
- Fee
- A$220 incl. GST
- Monday to Friday
- 6 pm to 10 pm
- Saturday and Sunday
- 9 am to 4 pm
Sydney time. By appointment only. Your appointment is confirmed once the payment is received.
Prefer to email?
Tell us what the consultation is about and the days and times that suit you, and we book the time for you.
info@shorelinemigration.com.auOr telephone +61 438 179 568.
The fee and how your money is held are set out in the Consultation Terms.
( The costs beyond our fee )
What a visa costs, and who it is paid to
Professional fees are separate from government charges and third-party costs. We identify the costs that apply to your matter before any work proceeds.
01
Visa application charge
Paid to the Department of Home Affairs when the application is lodged. Set by regulation and indexed each July; the Department publishes the current figure.
02
Skills assessment
Paid to the assessing authority for your occupation, where the visa requires one. The authority and its fee depend on the occupation.
03
Health examinations
Paid to the panel physician or clinic. Which examinations are required depends on the visa, your age and where you have lived.
04
Police certificates
From each country you have lived in for the period the visa requires, each with its own fee and waiting time.
05
English language test
Where the visa or the points require it: a fee to the test provider, and a result that is valid for a set period.
06
Translations and certification
Documents not in English are translated by an accredited translator, and some documents need to be certified. Both carry a cost.
We do not take a commission or referral fee from any third party.
If you engage us
What the service agreement sets out
- The scope of the work, in stages: advice, preparation, lodgement, what follows lodgement, and review
- Our professional fee for each stage, including GST, and when it is payable
- The government charges and third-party costs we expect, as estimates where they cannot yet be known
- What you will do, and what we will do
- How your money is held, how it is drawn, and how any refund is handled
- How to raise a concern, and how the agreement ends
Nothing starts until the agreement is signed.
( How it works )
From booking to what happens next
Choose a time
On our booking page, choose a time that suits you and answer a few short questions about who you are and what the consultation is about. No documents are needed to book. The booking page emails you a one-time code to confirm; if it does not arrive, check your junk or spam folder.
Confirmation and invoice
Your confirmation arrives with the date, the time and the Microsoft Teams link. Within one business day we send the Consumer Guide, the invoice and a short intake questionnaire.
We check that we can act
Before every consultation we check for a conflict of interest, most commonly that we already act for someone on the other side of the same matter. Where we cannot act we say so and refund the fee in full.
The consultation
Your objectives, your history, then the options: what each would require of you, the approximate costs, the published processing times, the risks worth knowing, and what we would do first.
What happens next
You decide, in your own time, whether to go further. If you engage us, a written service agreement sets out the work, the fee and what each of us will do. Nothing further is charged until it is signed.
( Under the professional rules )
The rules, in detail
At Shoreline every matter starts with an initial consultation, whatever the visa. That is our way of working rather than a rule of the Act: advice depends on the assessment behind it, and the assessment needs your history, your objectives and the law in force before any visa is named. It is also where we tell you plainly if nothing is available.
Advice, and only advice
A registered migration agent may advise you at an initial consultation without a service agreement. Preparing, drafting or lodging anything, and dealing with the Department on your behalf, need a written agreement first. Nothing is started until the scope and the fees are agreed in writing.
The Consumer Guide comes first
Before any advice is given you receive the Consumer Guide published by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority. It explains what a registered migration agent must do for you and how to raise a concern. We send it with your confirmation.
The fee is held as client money
A consultation fee must be reasonable, and until the consultation has been given it is held in a client account, separate from the practice’s own money. If a refund becomes payable, it is paid within the time the Code of Conduct sets.
Only the first consultation is an initial consultation
The initial consultation is the first consultation on a matter, on one day. Anything that continues on another day, or a new question that needs research, is ongoing work and needs a service agreement. We will say which side of that line something falls on.
About immigration assistance
Immigration assistance means using knowledge of, or experience in, migration procedure to help prepare a visa application or document, advise about a visa matter, or represent a person in proceedings. In Australia, only a registered migration agent, an Australian legal practitioner or an exempt person may lawfully provide it.
Consultations are provided under our consultation terms, which set out the fee and how your money is held. If something goes wrong, our complaints page explains what to do.