Twelve Australian migration practitioners attended the workshop, which covered refugee advocacy, partner visas and recent changes to Australian migration law – as part of their reregistration requirements, migration professionals are required to undertake continuing professional development every year.
The workshop was organised by one of Playfair’s Phuket-based lawyers and registered migration agents, Susannah McNeill.
Guest speakers included Counselor Immigration, Greg Wallis, the Chief Migration Officer from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok; Australian Federal Magistrate Rolf Driver who is also vice president of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges; and Greg Kelly, Co-manager of the Regional Support Office of the Bali Process based in Bangkok.
The Regional Support office of the Bali process has been established to combat the people smuggling, illegal trafficking of persons and transnational crime in the Asia Pacific Region. The MIA’s Chief Executive Officer Maurene Horder, also attended from Australia.
Petra Playfair is the Managing Partner of Playfair Visa & Migration Services. Playfair specialises in both business and family migration and has also been selected by the Australian government to provide representation to the asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia.
To give immigration advice to people seeking to migrate to Australia, legal practitioners and registered migration agents must be registered with the Australian government.
Registered migration professionals are bound by a code of conduct and are required to have an in-depth knowledge of Australian migration law and procedure, and to meet high professional and ethical standards.