Frequently Asked Questions

1)   What is permanent residence in Australia?
2)   How can I become a permanent resident of Australia?
3)   How can I find out if I am eligible to become a permanent resident of Australia?
4)   What can I expect to receive in response to my free online assessment submission?
5)   How do I know that I qualify?
6)   Why do I need the services of a lawyer?
7)   Why lawyers and not migration agents?
8)   How do I know your law firm is legitimate?
9)   Aside from the legal fees, are there any other fees I must pay?
10) Where do I submit my application?
11) How long does the application process take?
12) Will I have to attend an interview?
13) Do I need to have my qualifications assessed before applying for a visa?


1. What is permanent residence in Australia? Permanent residence means you are allowed to live in Australia indefinitely, with unlimited right to work, engage in business, own property, study and do most of the things a citizen can do. There are some restrictions on access to social security, particularly in the first two years. Permanent residence can be lost by spending too long outside the country.

2. How can I become a permanent resident of Australia? The only way you can become a permanent resident of Australia is to be granted a permanent visa by the Australian government, either inside or outside the country. For full details of the requirements for the many different categories of permanent visas, see our immigration page.

3. How can I find out if I am eligible to become a permanent resident of Australia? If you are interested in migrating to Australia, please fill out the Free Assessment which will be assessed by Accurate Immigration Service's appointed Australian immigration lawyers in accordance with the selection criteria established by the Australian government, at no charge to you, within 48 hours from the time your questionnaire is received.

4. What can I expect to receive in response to my free online assessment submission? A lawyer will personally assess your eligibility for immigration to Australia and, if it is determined that you may qualify for immigration you will receive a detailed response together with a quotation for the fees. This response takes the form of a thorough assessment, and includes details of any other requirements that you will have to satisfy, such as English language, health or character checks. Due to the very large numbers of people looking for immigration solutions around the world, it is only possible for responses to be sent to people whom our lawyers assess as potentially qualified for migration to Australia. People who are assessed as not qualified will not receive a response. Please note that all information is kept in the strictest confidence and, for your protection, is not stored on any of our servers.

5. How do I know that I qualify? Our lawyers enjoy a near 100% success rate with clients who retain them via the internet because they do not accept cases that are borderline or with no hope of success. If you have been positively assessed, it is because our lawyers believe that stand a very good chance of being approved for migration to Australia with their assistance. The firm thrives on successful immigration cases and referrals from satisfied clients and, to further back this up, they offer a 100% money-back guarantee subject to the correctness of the information you have given to them. The details of this offer will be given as part of the assessment.

6. Why do I need the services of a lawyer and why can't I apply for migration to Australia on my own? You can apply for migration to Australia on your own. There is absolutely no legal requirement that you get help from a lawyer or anyone else. You can also lodge your tax declaration without help, do your accounts without help, represent yourself in Court, and do lots of other things on your own without getting help from a professional. But why would you? In some countries, things have to be done through facilitators or middle-men because the bureaucracy is corrupt or hopelessly inefficient. The Australian bureaucracy is neither of these things, but immigration law is extremely complex and changes frequently. In some instances, failure to provide the correct documents within a given timeframe can result in an application be refused which would otherwise have been successful. Also, if your application cannot be approved under one category an experienced lawyer may be able to direct you towards another possibility. Our lawyers assist you to provide exactly the information expected by the Australian authorities and ensure that the application forms are correctly filled out. They draft the written legal submissions which accompany the application package and draw the authorities' attention to the relevant law and policies on which your case is based. As well, they advise you of the procedures involved in satisfying other requirements such as health and police clearances, English language tests, etc. Where telephone interviews are required, as is the case with most business migration applications, our lawyers are able to arrange three-way connections so that they can sit in on the interview and assist to clarify any issues that may arise.

7. Why lawyers and not migration agents? Australian law requires anyone giving paid assistance in immigration cases to be a "registered migration agent". Of course, our lawyers are duly registered and will provide confirmation of this with their assessment. However, becoming a "registered migration agent" is not as difficult as it sounds. No formal qualifications are required, and the applicant only has to attend a course of a few days duration followed by an exam. There are several thousand such agents in Australia, some very good, some not so good. On the other hand, there are only about forty accredited specialist immigration lawyers in the country. To become an accredited specialist you have to be a fully-qualified lawyer to start with, with at least five years of practice of which three years must be predominately in immigration work. Then you sit for a rigorous series of examinations before being accredited. Accredited specialists must undertake twice the usual amount of continuing legal education each year to keep their practising certificates up to date. Accurate Immigration appoints only qualified lawyers who have been accredited as specialists in Australian immigration law by the Law Society of New South Wales or the Law Institute of Victoria. Confirmation of accreditation will be provided with your assessment.

8. How do I know your law firm is legitimate? Accurate Immigration Services is not a law firm. It appoints lawyers for the specific country to which you wish to immigrate, in this case Australia. Should you need verification of authenticity you are most welcome to request this directly from us by clicking this link.

9. Aside from the legal fees, are there any other fees I must pay? Almost all visa applications for Australia are subject to an application fee payable to the Australian government, payable in advance and non-refundable. In some cases, further fees may be payable if the application is approved, including a charge for English language tuition for any adult family members who do not have a minimum knowledge of the language. There are also local fees which you may have to pay for obtaining documents, translations, medicals, police clearances, etc. Our lawyers will advise you of the statutory fees payable in respect of your application when they do your assessment. However, it must be understood that the Australian government reserves the right to change its fees without notice.

10. Where do I submit my application? The Australian government has been implementing a practice of removing visa processing from Australian Embassies around the world and concentrating it in special offices set up in regional cities in Australia. For example, all skilled migration is now handled by an office in Adelaide, while business migration applications are processed in Perth. Our lawyers will attend to lodgement of the application once it has been finalised and signed by you.

11. How long does the application process take? Unfortunately, we can't always answer this question. A large number of variables are involved, including "capping" of the number of visas in a given category to meet annual quotas set by the Australian government. All we can promise to do is to minimise delays by ensuring that the correct documents and information are provided to the authorities on time.

12. Will I have to attend an interview? Interviews are common for business migration applications and are usually conducted by telephone. Our lawyers are able to take part via a three-way connection. Some spouse and other family visa applicants may be called for interview at an Australian Embassy overseas, in which case it will usually not be possible for our lawyer to attend.

13. Do I need to have my qualifications assessed before applying for a visa? In the skilled migration categories it is necessary to obtain a formal assessment by a "relevant assessing authority" before you can lodge the visa application. This applies even if your qualifications were obtained at an Australian institution. Our lawyers can assist with the preparation of applications for assessment and will advise you of the requirements.