Fact Sheet 63 – Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme

This scheme gives free, professional migration advice and application assistance to eligible, needy immigration clients. It ceases once the visa applied for has been finally determined as granted, or refused following merits review.

Why?

Some clients of the department will need help with visa applications and other immigration issues. The Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS), provides professional assistance, free of charge, to the most vulnerable visa applicants, to help with the completion and submission of visa applications, liaison with the department, and advice on complex immigration matters. It also provides migration advice to prospective visa applicants and sponsors.

Who is IAAAS for?

Persons eligible for Application Assistance include all protection visa applicants in detention, and the most disadvantaged protection visa applicants and other visa applicants in the community. Advice sessions are designed for disadvantaged visa applicants, prospective visa applicants or sponsors in the community.

What counts as disadvantage?

Where a client is in the community, providers will need to examine their circumstances before they can provide advice and assistance to them under IAAAS.

A 'Disadvantaged Person' is one who is in financial hardship and disadvantaged due to:

• non-English speaking background, youth or other cultural issues such as gender barriers preventing assistance
• illiteracy in main language of country of origin
• remote location (outside any Australian Capital City, except areas with known Registered Migration Agents)
• physical or psychological disability, including from past torture or trauma
  or
• physical or psychological harm resulting from family violence.

Who provides the advice or assistance?

There are 22 IAAAS providers around Australia, who are Registered Migration Agents or officers of legal aid commissions. People in the community may choose among providers listed for their area. For those who wish to lodge a protection visa application in detention, a provider is allocated and a detainee may accept or refuse the IAAAS service.

A list of community IAAAS service providers for 2011–14 is available below.
See: IAAAS service providers 2011–14

Is the assistance or advice independent?

IAAAS providers are not employed by the department and offer independent, professional immigration assistance and advice.

Do I have to use IAAAS?

No. Clients may lodge visa applications without assistance and do not need to accept an offer to use IAAAS services. If clients want to seek immigration assistance from someone who is not an IAAAS provider, they may arrange assistance at their own cost. IAAAS is separate from free general legal aid funded by any government, and from any 'pro-bono' or free service that may be offered by some migration agents, including IAAAS providers.

A little bit of advice or a lot of assistance?

'Application Assistance', full or partial, is where an IAAAS provider takes significant carriage of an application, at departmental or review levels, in detention or in the community, for the benefit of the client, including interpreting and translating. 'Advice' is where providers simply provide advice in person, by telephone, in groups or individually.

When does IAAAS stop?

Eligibility for IAAAS funded assistance ceases whenever a client has been found, both by the department and by the relevant review tribunal as appropriate, not to meet the criteria for the grant of the visa for which they have applied in Australia. IAAAS is not available to persons seeking judicial review, or to those requesting Ministerial intervention.

IAAAS in 2010–11

In 2010-2011 the cost of providing IAAAS community and detention onshore services was some $3.049 million, comprising:

• 348 protection visa application services in immigration detention
• 12 040 community immigration advice and application assistance services
• 29 Community Assistance Support (CAS) services.

In addition, during 2010–11 IAAAS delivered 6,523 services to Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAs).

Further information is available on the department's website.
See: www.immi.gov.au

The department also operates a national general enquiries line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm (recorded information is available outside these hours).

Fact Sheet 63. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Last reviewed August 2011.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2010.