When migration agents told 25-year-old Fatima Zehra that she had no scope to apply for a permanent residency in Australia, she took matters into her own hands and recently applied for a permanent residency visa 'without any agent’s help'.
Zehra arrived in Australia from Islamabad, Pakistan in 2009 on a student visa to study hairdressing and beauty therapy.
“When I first arrived, I didn’t know anyone in the country, but slowly I started making friends. A few years later after completing my degree, I was eligible for temporary residency visa (TR).
"I gathered my documents and applied for a temporary visa through a migration agent. But he had lost my IELTS certificate which led to a visa refusal,” says Zehra, who finished her Bachelors of Business Management before applying for Temporary Residency (TR) visa.
“I then got a copy of my IELTS certificate and sent it to Immigration. They reversed the refusal but it took four years while Migration Review Tribunal reviewed the decision,” said Zehra.
“I finally got my Temporary Residency visa. This visa was expiring in early 2014 and my occupation was no longer on the Skilled Occupation List. So I had to seek sponsorship which was an arduous task as people were asking $50K minimum for the sponsorship and tax and super on the top,” Zehra added.
Zehra managed to find a sponsor and applied for Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) visa.
Zehra went back home for some time and came back to find the sponsors had abandoned her "due to their issues.”
Upon her return, she found her employer had run away, the business had been sold and her visa application had been withdrawn.
She claims the case officer was not satisfied with the application and advised her employer to withdraw the application to avoid a visa refusal.
“They did so and didn’t even inform me,” says Zehra whose life was in limbo at that time.
“My world was flipped upside down, and I had no idea where and how to sort this mess.
"I started looking for other PR options. I was advised by another migration agent to move to Tasmania and apply for a student visa and then after completion apply for state sponsorship.”
Zehra took the advice and moved to Tasmania in 2016.
She received her student visa and studied for a year to fulfill the requirement of state sponsorship.
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She resumed her efforts to apply for permanent residency but faced another hurdle this time.
"My employer had run away and I had no way of contacting them. This was proving difficult for my skills assessment. At this point all the migration agents told me that I wouldn’t be able to get the skills assessment done,” says Zehra who then decided to pursue her case herself.
“I thought what could be the worst that could happen? A refusal?" she said.
Zehra received a positive skills assessment three months later. She applied for state sponsorship with 60 points and received a positive outcome.
Zehra has now applied for her Subclass 190 visa and is awaiting an outcome.
“I would advise everyone to not feel low and broken when migration agent advises you that you’re not eligible. I highly recommend that you do your research and find out your options even if there isn’t any,” Zehra advises.
What does an agent say?
Immigration lawyer Dhiresh Kohli opines that an agent should follow the Migration Agent’s Code of Conduct and should act in the best interest of the client.
"An agent should act honestly and professionally. Having this in mind, an agent might say no to a case if he feels there are no chances under Migration Act and the visa application would be invalid. Any registered, ethical and honest migration agent will not entertain vexatious and bogus applications," adds Kohli.
"Ethically, an agent should take a case only if it has solid grounds. If he or she feels otherwise, section 2.17 of Agent's Code of Conduct suggests, the client should be informed in writing," says Kohli.
