What must a migration agent tell a client after lodging an application?

Section 39 of the Code of Conduct is the provision that governs what a client is told once a matter has been lodged. It sits under the heading “Duty to keep clients informed about progress of immigration matters”, and it is drafted as three cumulative duties owed to the client. The full provision reads:

“A migration agent must: (a) advise a client in writing when any application, submission or representation that the agent makes for the client is lodged with a government official; and (b) give a copy of the application, submission or representation to the client; and (c) promptly advise the client of any material developments that occur in relation to the application, submission or representation.”

Two features of the drafting frame everything below. First, the trigger in limb (a) is the agent's own act of lodging — the duty attaches to the lodgement, not to the client's request or the government official's reply. Second, limb (c) has no closing date: it runs for as long as developments occur in relation to the lodged matter.

1. Advise the client in writing when the lodgement happens

“(a) advise a client in writing when any application, submission or representation that the agent makes for the client is lodged with a government official; and”

The medium is specified in the provision itself. The client must be advised in writing; an oral update in a phone call does not meet limb (a). The subject matter is equally specific: it is any application, submission or representation that the agent makes for the client, and it is the lodgement of that document with a government official that triggers the duty. A short submission, a representation made on the client's behalf, and a full visa application are all caught by the same words.

2. Give the client a copy of what was lodged

“(b) give a copy of the application, submission or representation to the client; and”

Limb (b) is a separate duty from limb (a). Advising the client that a lodgement occurred is not the same as giving the client a copy of the application, submission or representation itself, and the provision names the same three categories in both limbs. The obligation is to give a copy — the provision sets no medium for it, so paper or electronic delivery both fit the words, but it does fix the object of the duty. A summary, a description, or a copy available only on request is not the copy limb (b) describes.

3. Promptly advise material developments

“(c) promptly advise the client of any material developments that occur in relation to the application, submission or representation.”

Limb (c) is the continuing duty. It attaches to developments that are material and that occur in relation to the lodged matter, and the standard it sets is promptness — measured from the development, not from the next scheduled client update. The provision fixes no number of days.

Unlike limbs (a) and (b), limb (c) is not expressed as a writing requirement. Where a development is conveyed to the client orally, section 55 separately requires a record of that communication:

“A migration agent must make a contemporaneous written record of oral communications between the agent and a client in relation to immigration assistance, including: (a) oral instructions the client gives the agent; and (b) oral advice the agent gives the client.”

4. The lodgement advice belongs in the client file

The written advice under limb (a) is a written communication between the agent and the client, so it is caught by the client file requirements in section 56. Paragraph 56(2)(c) requires the file to include:

“(c) copies of all written communications (including electronic communications) between: (i) the agent and the client; and (ii) the agent and any other person or organisation, to the extent that the communications relate to the client;”

Subparagraph (i) captures the section 39(a) lodgement advice. Subparagraph (ii) reaches written correspondence with the government official handling the matter, to the extent that it relates to the client. The file also has a retention period and is not merely internal:

“A migration agent who has a duty under subsection (1) in relation to a client file must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the client file is kept for a period of 7 years after the last action on the file for the relevant client.”

“A migration agent must give the Authority access to a client file that is in the possession of the agent, or a member of the agent’s business, if the Authority, in writing, requests access to the client file for the purposes of the Authority carrying out its functions under paragraphs 316(1)(a) to (d) of the Act.”

What this requires in practice

• A written lodgement notice issued when the lodgement occurs, dated, rather than reconstructed later from the matter record.
• A copy of the application, submission or representation provided to the client for every lodgement the agent makes — including short submissions and representations.
• A defined internal trigger for material developments, so the client is advised promptly instead of at the next scheduled update.
• A file that holds the lodgement advice, the copy provided, and the record of every client update — written communications under section 56(2)(c), records of oral communications under section 55.
• Retention of the whole file for 7 years after the last action, in a form that can be given to the Authority on written request.

Practice takeaway. Section 39 is three duties, not one: tell the client in writing when the lodgement happens, give the client a copy of what was lodged, and keep the client promptly informed of material developments afterwards. The written record of all three belongs in the client file, which must be kept for seven years after the last action on it and produced to the Authority on request.