On 21 June 2017, the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2017 was introduced into the House of Representatives. One of the purposes of the bill is to remove the requirement that lawyers who provide migration advice have to be registered as migration agents. In fact the effect of the legislation (if passed) will be that lawyers will not be permitted to be separately registered.
There are some other changes relating to the registration of agents as well. The text of the bill and the explanatory statement can be found on the parliamentary website.
This change will affect me, but not the services I provide. I currently have a practising certificate from the NSW Bar Association and am also registered as a migration agent (0101077).
