Confirm the visa and its application channel
Open the relevant subclass and stream on the Department of Home Affairs website yourself. Check what the visa permits, where the application is made, its current charge and whether your passport is eligible. For example, the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) uses the official Australian ETA app, while many other applications are lodged in ImmiAccount. A site that looks official may sell an unnecessary service or direct you to the wrong visa.
Use the official fee estimator for the visa charge and read any separately stated app or service fee. Do not rely on a social-media advert, a screenshot of an old fee, or a promise that a payment to an intermediary will move your application ahead.
Official visa finder · Current visa fee estimator · ETA and eVisitor channels →
A MARN is a detail to verify, not proof by itself
If a person says they are a registered migration agent, ask for their name and Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN). Search the official Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority register yourself. Compare the result with the person and business you are dealing with; a number copied from a real agent's profile does not prove the person contacting you is that agent. Contact the agent using details you independently verify if something does not match.
Home Affairs also lists Australian legal practitioners and certain exempt people among those who may provide immigration assistance. A lawyer will not necessarily appear as a registered migration agent. Check the claimed role against the official “Who can help” guidance rather than treating a missing MARN alone as conclusive.
Search the official OMARA register · Who can help with an application
Review the answers, receipts and messages
Home Affairs warns that scam agents may take money without lodging, provide false statements, withhold application details or hide a decision. Before submission, read the answers and attached documents in your own name. Check names, passport number, travel purpose and history, and correct anything untrue. You remain responsible for the information submitted even when someone helps.
For an ImmiAccount application, keep your application reference, official acknowledgement and access to the account or the application through the authorised process. Follow Home Affairs messages in the official channel. If a helper says a visa was granted, ask for the written decision and verify a current visa's details and conditions in VEVO. A booking, biometrics appointment or receipt is not a grant.
Home Affairs scam warning · Manage an application in ImmiAccount · Check current visa details in VEVO
Guarantees and visitor-work offers need scrutiny
Be wary of someone promising a guaranteed grant, a paid fast track, or a job on a visitor visa. Home Affairs decides visa applications. A Visitor visa does not generally permit working for an Australian business; your exact grant conditions control what you may do. An agent who asks you to sign a false employment, bank or relationship record risks your application and future travel.
Check the visa page and your written grant instead of accepting a verbal description of what you can do in Australia. If the real purpose is work, use the official work visa options before applying. Keep copies of any advice, invoice, receipt and agreement.
Official warning about false promises and documents · Check work visa options →
Stop further payment and use a verified channel
Save the website address, messages, invoices, receipts and the person's claimed registration details. Check your application independently through Home Affairs. If you gave away an ImmiAccount password, secure the account and use its multi-factor authentication guidance. If you paid or shared bank details, contact the bank or card provider promptly.
Home Affairs directs suspected migration fraud and unlawful agent activity to Border Watch; its reporting page also points to Scamwatch. If the person or group is outside Australia, consider local police or consumer protection authorities where you live. These reporting channels cannot promise recovery, but they let the relevant bodies investigate. Do not post a passport scan or full application letter publicly while seeking help.
Home Affairs reporting guidance · Report a scam to Scamwatch · Secure ImmiAccount with MFA
Keep the checks on your own device
The downloadable list includes official links and places to verify the visa, adviser, application and grant. It does not ask you to upload personal documents to this site.