Why a Solicitor ?

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.

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.

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 the following link: http://laws.lawsociety.com.au/specialists/directory/imm/1435.html