Consultation Terms

These terms apply when you book and pay for an initial consultation with Shoreline Migration Pty Limited (ACN 700 192 829, ABN 64 700 192 829). In these terms, "we", "us" and "our" mean that company, and "you" means the person who books the consultation.

They do not govern your use of this website, which is dealt with in our Website Terms of Use. They do not govern us acting for you on a matter. That is done under a separate written service agreement.

Your consultation is conducted by M Hamza, Director of Shoreline Migration and a registered migration agent. Our registration number (MARN) is shown on this page, in your booking confirmation and in your invoice.

A consultation is a discussion of your circumstances and of the options that appear to be open to you. In 30 minutes we can usually work through your immigration history, identify the pathways worth considering, tell you what stands in the way of each, and set out what would need to be done next.

At a consultation we give you advice. We do not prepare or lodge anything. Under the Code of Conduct we cannot act on a matter for you until a written service agreement is signed, so a consultation is where you find out whether there is a matter worth engaging us for.

An initial consultation is the first consultation about a particular immigration matter, and only the first. That is not our rule; it is how the Code defines it. If a consultation runs over more than one day, only the first day is part of it. A second discussion about the same matter is not an initial consultation and we will need a signed service agreement before it happens. We tell you this at the outset so that the second conversation is not held up while paperwork is prepared.

It is not a full assessment of your eligibility. A full assessment takes documents, time and often enquiries with third parties, and it is part of the work done under a service agreement.

It is not a guarantee, a prediction or a promise about any application, assessment or decision, or about how long any of them will take. A visa is decided by the Department of Home Affairs and, on review, by the Administrative Review Tribunal. Much of what a matter turns on is decided elsewhere again: by skills assessing authorities, State and Territory nominating bodies, panel physicians and the health assessment service the Department uses, English language test providers, police and character checking agencies, professional registration boards, and education providers. None of it is ours to decide, and we will not suggest otherwise.

It is not the place to work through a criminal record or a character issue. If your history includes a conviction, a charge, a visa cancellation or a departure ban, tell us when you book. Those matters need documents and time, they are dealt with under a service agreement, and advice given about them off the cuff in 30 minutes is worth less than no advice at all.

It is not a review of a lodged application unless you tell us that is what you want and send us the file beforehand. Advising on a matter already on foot needs more than 30 minutes, and we will tell you if it does.

This is the most important paragraph in these terms.

The advice you receive is based entirely on what you tell us and on any documents you send us beforehand. We do not verify what you tell us during the consultation, and we cannot in the time available.

If something you tell us is incomplete, out of date or wrong, the advice will be wrong with it. Immigration history matters a great deal in this area of law, and the things people leave out, such as a refusal years ago, a cancelled visa, a period without a valid visa, a charge that did not proceed, or an application someone else made on their behalf, are very often the things that decide the outcome.

So tell us everything, including the parts you would rather not. Nothing you say is disclosed to anyone without your written consent, and there is no version of this where the information is better kept from us than from the Department.

The Consumer Guide. Before we give you any advice we will send you 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 what to do if something goes wrong. We are required to give it to you, and we would ask you to read it.

The intake form. We will also send you a short intake form. Completing it beforehand is not compulsory, but the consultation will be worth considerably more to you if you do, because the time will go on your position rather than on collecting facts.

The consultation fee is $220 incl. GST.

You will receive an itemised invoice before you are charged, and a receipt once you have paid. Both are required of us and both are sent by email.

The fee is payable when you book, and the booking is confirmed once payment is received. Until the consultation has taken place your payment is held in our client account and is not our money. That is how the Code requires a consultation fee to be handled, and it is the reason a refund is straightforward if the appointment does not go ahead.

If we cannot offer you an appointment, or if we decline the consultation for any reason, the fee is refunded in full.

• A 30-minute consultation, online or by telephone. In person by arrangement.
• Advice on the options that appear open to you on the information available. That advice is given to you in the meeting, and we come to the meeting prepared to give it.

The Consumer Guide is given to you with your booking confirmation, before the consultation, and again with any service agreement.

Nothing is sent to you in writing after the consultation. The advice is given in the meeting.

Why the difference matters. Written advice is immigration assistance. Under the Code we may give advice at an initial consultation without a service agreement, but the moment we agree to put advice in writing we are giving immigration assistance of a kind that requires a service agreement to be in force before it is written. That is the law, not our preference, and an agent who writes the advice first has it the wrong way round.

So we do not send written advice off the back of a consultation, however easy it would be. We keep a full written record of what was advised on our own file, because the Code requires that of us in any event.

If you want the advice in writing

Many people do, and it is often money well spent, particularly where a decision is expensive, where more than one pathway is genuinely open, or where you want something to think about rather than remember.

We can provide a written advice under a short advice-only service agreement: a fixed fee, a defined scope, no obligation to go further. Ask at the consultation and we will quote it. If you then proceed with the matter itself, that is a further agreement, and we will tell you what it covers before you sign anything.

We cannot prepare, complete or lodge an application, an expression of interest, a nomination, a sponsorship or a review application. We cannot deal with the Department on your behalf. We cannot be recorded as your agent.

We also cannot put our advice in writing for you. See section 8.

All of that requires a signed service agreement, and we are not permitted to do any of it before then.

One more thing we will not do, at a consultation or afterwards: act on what a departmental officer has said on the telephone. Oral statements from the Department are not decisions, are not binding, and are regularly wrong. We work from the legislation, the instruments and the written record, and where something turns on the Department's position we get it in writing.

We will send you a written service agreement setting out the work, the fees, the likely disbursements, when payments fall due, and the refund policy. No work begins and no further money is taken until it is signed.

We may tell you that we do not think an application should be lodged. Where we believe an application would have little or no prospect of succeeding, the Code does not merely permit us to say so. It prohibits us from lodging it, unless you have been advised of that view and have told us in writing that you still want it lodged.

We may also tell you that we are not the right practice for your matter, or that it carries a deadline we cannot safely meet alongside our existing commitments, and where appropriate we will tell you who should handle it instead.

We would rather say any of that at a consultation than take your money and find out later. Saying it is part of what you are paying for.

You can move your appointment to another date or time at no charge, subject to availability. Give us as much notice as you can. If you need to move it within 24 hours of the start time, contact us and we will find another time where we reasonably can.

You can cancel up to 24 hours before the appointment. Your fee is refunded, less an administration fee of $20 including GST for the cost of taking the booking and returning the payment. The administration fee is itemised on your invoice and receipt.

If you cancel within 24 hours of the appointment, or do not attend, the fee is normally retained. Evening and weekend appointments are limited, and a late cancellation is a slot that cannot be filled. If something outside your control stops you attending, tell us: we will offer you a new time or, where it is fair to do so, refund the fee less the administration fee.

If we cancel or reschedule, you choose between a new appointment and a full refund, with no administration fee.

Refunds are paid promptly and, in any case, no later than 14 days after they become payable. That is a requirement of the Code, not a target.

The appointment runs for 30 minutes from its scheduled start. If you are late, we will use the time that remains. If we are late, you get the full 30 minutes or a new appointment, as you prefer.

A family member or friend can book the appointment, sit with you, or interpret for you.

Where another person is to deal with us on your behalf, by speaking for you, giving us instructions or receiving information about your matter, the Code requires us to take reasonable steps to verify who they are, and to be satisfied that you have agreed in writing to them acting for you. The same applies to anyone dealing with us for a sponsor or a nominating employer.

That requirement is not lifted at an initial consultation, even though the requirement to verify your own identity is. Tell us when you book if someone will be speaking for you, and we will send you a short authority to sign so that nothing is held up on the day.

What you tell us is confidential. Under the Code of Conduct we must not disclose personal information relating to a client or former client, or to their affairs, to a third person without that client's written consent, unless a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory requires it. That duty applies from the consultation onwards, and it applies whether or not you go on to engage us.

We do not record consultations. If either of us wants a recording made, we will both agree in writing first, and a recording made without that agreement has no place in this practice.

You are welcome to take notes.

We are required to take reasonable steps to verify a client's identity before giving immigration assistance. That requirement is lifted for advice given at an initial consultation, so you do not need to bring identity documents to one. We will ask for them if you engage us.

The lifting applies to verifying you. It does not extend to anyone dealing with us on your behalf. See section 14.

Please do not send identity documents by email or by messaging app. When we need them we will send you a secure upload link.

If you would be better served in another language, tell us when you book and we will arrange an appropriately qualified interpreter. We are required to do so if you ask. Any interpreter cost is quoted to you before the appointment and is payable by you.

A family member or friend can interpret if you prefer, on the understanding that professional interpreting is more reliable, and that in a migration matter precision matters.

If we have an interest that conflicts, or could conflict, with acting properly for you, we must tell you in writing before giving you any assistance, and you must tell us in writing that you still want us to act. Where a conflict is an actual one that would compromise our objectivity or your confidentiality, we cannot act at all, even with your consent.

We receive no commission, referral fee or other benefit from any education provider, education agent, employer, lender, insurer or other third party in connection with your matter. If that ever changed, you would be told in writing before we acted, with the amount.

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or guarantee you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified.

Tell us. Our complaints process is set out on our complaints page, and we would rather hear it from you than not hear it. A complaint about the professional conduct of a registered migration agent may also be made to the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority.

Raising a concern does not change how we deal with you.

These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales.