What must be in a compliant migration agent client file?

Section 56 of the Migration Agents Code of Conduct separates two duties: creating the client file, and putting the required contents in it. Subsection (1) creates the obligation to have a file.

“(1) A migration agent for a client must ensure that a client file is created and maintained for the client.”

Subsection (2) then states what that file must include, as a list of eight items.

“(2) The client file must include the following:”

1. A copy of the client's application or other immigration matter — s 56(2)(a)

“(a) a copy of the client’s application or other immigration matter;”

The file has to contain the matter itself, not only a note that it was lodged. Where the engagement concerns a visa application, that application is item (a); where it concerns another immigration matter, the copy of that matter takes its place.

2. Copies of all service agreements, and every variation — s 56(2)(b)

“(b) copies of all service agreements between the agent and the client and any variations to the agreements;”

The item has two limbs: all agreements, and any variations to them. If the terms of the engagement changed after the agreement was signed, the copy of the variation belongs in the same file as the agreement it changes.

3. Copies of all written communications, with the client and with third parties — s 56(2)(c)

“(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;”

The parenthetical including electronic communications is explicit: email, portal messages and chat threads are written communications for this item. The second limb reaches past the agent's own client relationship. It covers communications with any other person or organisation, bounded by whether those communications relate to the client — a sponsor, an employer, a health professional, the Department or a review authority falls inside that boundary; an unrelated exchange does not.

4. Records of oral communications made under section 55 — s 56(2)(d)

“(d) all records made under section 55 in relation to the client;”

Section 55 requires a contemporaneous written record of oral communications between the agent and the client about immigration assistance.

“A migration agent must make a contemporaneous written record of oral communications between the agent and a client in relation to immigration assistance, including:”

That record covers both oral instructions the client gives the agent and oral advice the agent gives the client. Item (d) requires those records to be in the client file.

5. Records of material oral communications with third parties — s 56(2)(e)

“(e) records of material oral communications between the agent and any person or organisation other than the client, to the extent that the communications relate to the client;”

Two qualifiers narrow this item: the communications must be material, and they must relate to the client. A conversation with a spouse, a sponsor, an employer or a departmental officer about the client is within reach; a conversation unrelated to the client is not.

6. Copies of all invoices and receipts — s 56(2)(f)

“(f) copies of all invoices and receipts given by the agent relating to the client;”

The item is the copies of what the agent gave: every invoice and every receipt relating to the client. The provision asks for the copies themselves to be in the file.

7. Copies of personal documents given to the agent — s 56(2)(g)

“(g) copies of all personal documents relating to the client given to the agent by, or on behalf of, the client;”

The second limb matters here: documents may arrive from the client or from someone acting on the client's behalf, such as a family member or an employer, and they remain within item (g). Identity documents, relationship evidence, financial records and health assessments are the material this item typically captures.

8. Evidence of the safe return of originals — s 56(2)(h)

“(h) evidence of the safe return of any original documents belonging to the client and given to the agent.”

Item (h) requires evidence — proof that original documents were returned safely, kept on the file. A file that says nothing about the return of originals does not contain this item.

A single file for a family unit — s 56(3)

“(3) A migration agent may create and maintain a single file under subsection (1) for 2 or more clients who are members of the same family unit, other than a client who requests the agent to create and maintain a separate client file for the client.”

The allowance is optional, and its exception runs one way. Two or more clients who are members of the same family unit may be covered by one file. But where a client asks for a separate client file, the single-file allowance does not apply to that client.

Written, electronic, or a mix — s 56(4)

“(4) A client file may be kept in written or electronic form, or partly written and partly electronic form.”

Subsection (4) governs the form of the file, not its contents. An electronic file is still a client file for the purposes of subsection (2), and a mixed file is expressly permitted, so long as the eight items can be found in the file as it is kept.

What this means in practice

• The verb in each item is part of the requirement: (a) and (b) require copies, (d) and (e) require records, and (h) requires evidence. Each must be present in the file itself.
• Electronic communications are in scope for (c) by the provision's own words.
• The third-party limbs, (c)(ii) and (e), extend beyond the agent-client relationship, bounded by whether the communication relates to the client.
• A family-unit file under (3) is permitted, but any client in the unit can require a separate file.
• A file kept under (4) may be electronic or part electronic; that choice does not change what subsection (2) requires it to include.
• Subsection (2) states what the file must include. It does not limit a file to those eight items.

Two further provisions about client files sit alongside the contents rule. Subsection (5) requires the file to be kept for 7 years after the last action on the file for the relevant client, and subsection (9) requires the agent to give the Authority access to a client file in the agent's possession, or that of a member of the agent's business, when the Authority requests it in writing for the purposes of its functions under the Act. Both presuppose a file that exists and contains the eight items in subsection (2).

Practice takeaway. A compliant client file is not defined by the existence of a folder. Section 56(2) fixes the contents as eight items: the application or other matter, the agreements and their variations, all written communications including electronic ones, the section 55 records, material third-party oral records, invoices and receipts, personal documents given by or for the client, and evidence of safely returned originals. Section 56(3) allows one file for a family unit unless a client asks otherwise, and section 56(4) allows the file to be electronic or partly electronic. The filing arrangement and the format are flexible; the eight items are not.