Record Keeping And Management - How Long Do Documents Have To Be Kept?

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Check List Using The Regulations As A Template eg - Spouse Visa

Get Enough Sleep

Visa Application And Associated Costs

Preserving Records

Record Keeping And Management - How Long Do Documents Have To Be Kept?

Initial Requirements Regarding Accepting A Retainer

Failure Of Proper File Management Can Lead To Suspension As A Migration Agent

Interpreters

Confidentiality & Notifying The Client Of Complaint Procedure

Give Your Client A Copy Of Everything

Give Your Client The Bad News Immediately

Take Care While On Holidays

Clients & English

Check Special Requirements For Offshore Visas With The Embassy's Or Consulate's Website

Don't Accept Immigration's Assertion That Decisions Have Been Made Properly

Have No Fear Of Appeals

Never Advise Your Client To Make Life Changing Decisions Prior To The Grant Of A Visa & Trust Your Instincts

Before You Set The Fee With Your Client And Before You File A Visa Application

Oral Instructions

What Can Go Wrong If You Don't Record Your Mail Properly

Application Fee For A Visa

Communications

Checklists

Prepare Your Client For The Oath

Client Dress

Policy VS Law

Ideas For Chronologies For Client Files

Immigration Goes Into Hibernation On 30 June Each Year

Australia Closes Down Between Christmas & New Year

Have An Industrial Strength Office Set Up At The Office And At Home

What Is A Permanent Residence Visa?

Note Taking

Translating Documents

General Issues

Practice Together Or Practice In Groups

Time Limits

A Proper Email Account And Email Management

Undercharging And Undercutting On Fees

Tourist Visas

Positioning And Pathways And Fees (Putting All One's Eggs In One Basket)

Email & Fax Communication & Errors With Credit Cards Emerge As Troubling Issues

Preparing A Client For Merit Review Hearings Or Interviews With DIBP

Accountants And Migration Law

Passport

Berenguel - Sometimes Time Of Application Criteria Can Be Met At Time Of Decision

Bare Faced Liars & The Fraudsters

Everyone's Doing It

Bridging Visas

Visas Remain Current Until Midnight

Immigration Closes At 4pm

Looking After Secondary Visa Holders In A Visa Cancellation Process

Applying As A Secondary Visa Applicant Onshore When The Primary Visa Applicant Is Offshore

Being Illegal

Essential Prerequisites For A Ministerial Discretion Application

Last Lunge Applications

State And Territory Sponsorship

Addresses

Believing The Client

Follow Up

Make Peace With The Tax Office

No Obligation On Immigration To Chase Up Information Or Documents From Migration Agents Or Lawyers Representing A Client

Errors In Visa Applications

Spouse Visas - Unexplained Large Deposits of Money

Managing No. 8503 On Tourist Visas

Medical Consent

Statutory Declarations

Merit Review

Tax Deductibility of Migration Advice

LEGENDcom

Dates On Documents And Names On Documents

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Take A Statement

Case Management Software

Work Rights

Student

Check All Past Visa Applications

Revealing Convictions

Visa Holders Being On Their Best Behaviour

Email Communication With Immigration - Delete All Strings

No Without Prejudice Conversations With Immigration

Accounts Managements

What Is A Secondary Visa?

Identify Australian Citizens Who Support An Applicant

Communications

Schedule 1 Criteria

Second Thing To Do On Starting A File - Download The Relevant Part Of The Law

First Thing To Do When Starting Any File - Identify Any 'Rights Destroying' Deadlines

Lodging Paper Applications

Social Media & Smart Phones

References

Disputes About Parentage And Children

Helping People Pass The English Tests

Managing Emails

What Is The Pomodoro Technique?

Immigration Telephones Client

When Is A Visa Application Made In Australia

Apply For A Visa In Australia

No Visa Application Is An Island

The Hammock Principle

 

There is some clarification of exactly what documents and notes have to be kept on file[8]:

6.1           A registered migration agent must maintain proper records that can be made available for inspection on request by the Authority, including files containing:

(a)    a copy of each client’s application; and

(b)    copies of each written communication between:

(i)    the client and the agent; and

(ii)    the agent and any relevant statutory authority; and

(iii)    the agent and the Department regarding the client; and

(c)    file notes of every substantive or material oral communication between:

(i)    the client and the agent; and

(ii)    the agent and an official of any relevant statutory authority; and

                        (iii)    the agent and the Department regarding the client.

 

The Code also places these obligations on an agent:

6.1A      A registered migration agent must keep the records mentioned in clause 6.1 for a period of 7 years after the date of the last action on the file for the client.

 

6.2      A registered migration agent must keep all documents to which a client is entitled securely and in a way that will ensure confidentiality while the agent is giving services to the client and until the earlier of:

(a)      7 years after the date of the last action on the file for the client; or

(b)      when the documents are given to the client or dealt with in accordance with the client’s written instructions.

 

The Migration Agents Amendment Regulations 2005 (No 1) clarified to some extent what documents should be returned to the client. The new Cl 6.2A says:

6.2A            For clause 6.2, the documents to which a client is entitled include (but are not limited to) documents that are:

(a) provided by, or on behalf of, the client; and

(b) paid for by, or on behalf of, the client;

such as passports, birth certificates, qualifications, photographs and other personal documents.

 

The writer’s opinion is that paper copies have to be kept of all relevant emails.

Indeed the Code of Conduct states:

6.4                   A registered migration agent must act on the basis that the agent’s electronic communications are part of the agent’s records and documents.

Also, files should not be kept in a way that other clients can see the names on files. Keep files out of sight.  Technically speaking that fact that a person is a client is a confidential fact.

 

Barbara Davidson