The 1 April 2026 Regulatory Reset for Migration Agents: What Every Instrument Actually Says

A Section-by-Section Analysis of the Four New Instruments Replacing the Migration Agents Regulations 1998

The Biggest Regulatory Overhaul in Nearly Three Decades

On 1 April 2026, the regulatory framework governing registered migration agents in Australia changed for the first time in nearly three decades. The Migration Agents Regulations 1998, the instruments that governed Continuing Professional Development (CPD) since 2017, and the entry qualification requirements in place since 2018 were all simultaneously replaced. Four new instruments took effect on that date, fundamentally restructuring how migration agents are registered, how they maintain their professional development, and what qualifications new entrants to the profession must hold.

The four instruments are: the Migration Agents Regulations 2026 (F2026L00118), made by the Governor-General on 19 February 2026; the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Regulations 2026 (F2026L00119), also made on 19 February 2026; LIN 26/001, the Migration Agents (CPD Activities, Approval of CPD Providers and CPD Provider Standards) Instrument 2026 (F2026L00244), made by Assistant Minister Julian Hill on 11 March 2026; and LIN 26/002, the Migration (Specified Courses and Exams for Registration as a Migration Agent) Instrument 2026 (F2026L00245), also made on 11 March 2026.

The government has described these instruments as containing "contemporary language and updated references." That framing, while technically accurate, understates several material changes that directly affect the day-to-day practice of every registered migration agent in Australia. This article examines each change against the primary legislative text.

Change 1: Ethics and Code of Conduct CPD Is Now Mandatory

What the legislation says: Section 7 of LIN 26/001 specifies two categories of mandatory CPD. The first requires a minimum of 5 points from Category A activities. The second requires a minimum of 1 point from an activity covering ethical standards for migration agents and a minimum of 1 point from an activity covering the Code of Conduct, for a total of 2 mandatory ethics and conduct points. These 2 points must be drawn from Category A or Category B activities.

What it means: Under the previous instrument (IMMI 17/047), ethics and Code of Conduct were included in the list of eligible CPD topics, but there was no requirement to actually complete them. An agent could satisfy the full 10-point requirement entirely through visa law updates, business practice sessions, or migration procedure activities without ever engaging with ethics or conduct content. That is no longer possible after 1 April. Of the 10 required points, 2 must now come specifically from activities covering ethical standards and the Code of Conduct. CPD plans must be structured around this requirement from the start of the renewal year, not retrofitted at the end.

Practical action: Review whether CPD activities already completed or booked for this year specifically cover ethical standards and the Code of Conduct as distinct topics. If not, identify approved activities that do and schedule them before the renewal application date. Note that agents holding an Australian legal practising certificate are exempt from the section 31 requirements; their CPD is governed by their legal professional association.

Change 2: The Online CPD Daily Cap Drops from 10 to 6 Points

What the legislation says: Section 6(2) of LIN 26/001 provides that an activity is worth a maximum of 6 points in any continuous 24-hour period where the activity is undertaken through online learning. The previous IMMI 17/047 instrument set this cap at 10 points.

What it means: Since the total CPD requirement remains 10 points per renewal period, an agent completing all CPD online could previously satisfy the entire requirement in a single day. That is no longer possible. Online-only approaches now require a minimum of two separate 24-hour periods: 6 points on one day and a minimum of 4 on another. This change is a deliberate quality signal. The regulator has examined how CPD was being consumed and concluded that a single concentrated online session does not represent genuine professional development. The 6-point cap forces engagement across time rather than permitting a single-session approach.

Practical action: Agents who currently complete all CPD in a single online session close to renewal must restructure their approach. Plan a minimum of two separate CPD days across the renewal year. This also provides greater flexibility to satisfy the new mandatory ethics and conduct requirements separately from general CPD points.

Change 3: Private Study Activities Must Be Completed Within 12 Months of Enrolment

What the legislation says: Schedule 1, Item 4 of LIN 26/001 specifies that private study with assessment (a Category B activity) must be completed within 12 months of the date of enrolment. There was no equivalent completion deadline in the 2017 instrument.

What it means: Private study activities, meaning self-paced online modules with an assessment component, have been a convenient CPD vehicle partly because they can sit uncompleted without any deadline. Agents could enrol in an activity during one renewal cycle and complete it in a later one. That flexibility is removed. Activities commenced or completed on or before 30 June 2026 are protected by the transitional provisions in section 11 of LIN 26/001: the old rules apply to those activities for renewals lodged between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027.

Practical action: Review any private study CPD activities currently enrolled but not completed. Identify their enrolment date and complete the assessment before the 12-month deadline. Do not allow modules to lapse; they will no longer count, and re-enrolment will be necessary.

Change 4: The Approved Education Provider List Has Been Consolidated

What the legislation says: Section 6 of LIN 26/002 specifies seven programs as prescribed courses: Graduate Diplomas at Murdoch University, Victoria University, Griffith University, Western Sydney University, UTS, and Australian Catholic University, plus the Master of Australian Migration Law and Practice at Australian Catholic University. Graduate Certificates from ANU, Griffith, Murdoch, and Victoria University remain accepted only if completed before 1 January 2018.

What it means: No new Graduate Certificate completions qualify for registration. The entry pathway is now firmly Graduate Diploma or higher. This reinforces the trajectory in place since 2018 and closes off any remaining ambiguity about whether shorter qualifications remain viable entry routes. One transitional note requires attention: Griffith University's Master of Australian Migration Law and Practice is not listed among the current prescribed courses in section 6, but section 11 of LIN 26/002 provides a transitional pathway where the course commenced before 1 April 2026 and was completed before that date or within 12 months of commencement. Current Griffith Master's students have a protected pathway to registration.

Practical action: Anyone advising prospective migration agents on their pathway to registration must verify that the program being considered is on the prescribed list in section 6 of LIN 26/002. For current Griffith Master's students, confirm whether the transitional provision in section 11 covers their expected completion date.

Change 5: English Language Requirements Have Been Restructured

What the legislation says: Section 7 of LIN 26/002 creates two pathways. Applicants who completed secondary and tertiary education in English-medium institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of South Africa, the UK, or the USA need only complete the Capstone Assessment. All other applicants must complete the Capstone Assessment plus an approved English language test.

Six tests are now accepted, with the following minimum overall scores:

 

What it means: The addition of LanguageCert Academic and MET to the accepted test list gives applicants two additional options beyond the established IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, and Cambridge tests. Importantly, IELTS Academic and MET are the only two tests where component scores can be combined across sittings; all other tests require minimum scores to be achieved in a single sitting. English language test results must fall within 3 years of the registration application date.

The TOEFL iBT transitional provision in section 12 of LIN 26/002 deserves careful attention. The new Schedule 1 minimum is an overall score of 91. However, applicants who sat the TOEFL before 1 April 2026 or within 3 months of commencement can use an older benchmark: overall 94 with per-component minimums of 20 (listening), 19 (reading), 24 (writing), and 20 (speaking), provided the test was taken within 2 years of the registration application date. Notably, the transitional TOEFL benchmark is higher, not lower, than the new Schedule 1 minimum. Applicants whose TOEFL result exceeds 91 overall and meets the new per-component minimums can apply under the new rules regardless.

Practical action: Applicants preparing a registration application that requires an English language test should cross-check their test result against both the new Schedule 1 minimums and the transitional TOEFL provision to determine which pathway works in their favour. Confirm the test date falls within 3 years of the intended application date.

Change 6: The Notice of Intention Requirements Have Been Updated

What the legislation says: Section 28 of the Migration Agents Regulations 2026 sets out the notice requirements for persons intending to apply for registration. The notice must be published on the MARA website for a minimum of 30 days and must include the applicant's full name, any other name by which they are or have been known, citizenship, mailing address, and details of any intended employer or proposed business name.

What it means: The notice requirement largely mirrors the 1998 regulations but now explicitly mandates disclosure of any alternative names the applicant has used. This is a transparency measure likely connected to identity verification concerns that have emerged in recent years. Notices published under the old regulation 4 before 1 April 2026 are protected by the transitional provision in section 61 of the Migration Agents Regulations 2026.

Practical action: New registration applicants must ensure the Notice of Intention filed with MARA includes all required fields under section 28 of the 2026 Regulations, including full disclosure of any alternative names.

Registration Fees from 1 April 2026

The Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Regulations 2026 (F2026L00119) set the following fee structure:

 

A person applies for repeat registration if they have previously been registered within the 3 years before the current application. Non-commercial charges apply where the agent provides immigration assistance solely on a non-commercial basis. The CPD provider application fee is set at $1,240 under section 8 of LIN 26/001.

The Transitional Provisions: What They Actually Allow

The transitional provisions in LIN 26/001 create a genuine buffer for agents who are mid-cycle at commencement. Under section 11, agents applying for repeat registration between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 may include CPD activities commenced or completed on or before 30 June 2026, and those activities are assessed under the old rules. This means three specific concessions apply to pre-30 June activities: more than 6 online points in a 24-hour period can still count; private study activities are not subject to the new 12-month completion deadline; and the ethics and conduct mandatory requirement can be met with 1 point (rather than the 2 points required under the new rules) from pre-30 June activities.

After 30 June 2026, all CPD activity is assessed under the new rules regardless of when the renewal application falls. Agents whose renewal date falls in the second half of 2026 have until the end of June to complete activities under the old framework and should plan accordingly.

For the Migration Agents Regulations 2026 themselves, section 62 provides that despite the repeal of the 1998 Regulations, the old CPD provisions (regulations 3AA, 6, and 6A) continue to apply to registration applications made before 1 April 2026. Section 61 similarly protects Notices of Intention published before commencement.

CPD Provider Standards: Strengthened Expectations

Schedule 2 of LIN 26/001 sets out six domains of CPD provider standards: Delivery of CPD Activities, Policies and Administration, Integrity, Marketing and Advertising, Evaluation and Continuous Improvement, and Records Management and Reporting. While the structure is broadly familiar to providers operating under the 2017 instrument, several provisions merit attention.

Standard 1.3 now explicitly requires CPD providers to commence delivering activities within six months of approval and prohibits ceasing delivery for 12 months or more. Standard 1.5 requires that all CPD activity content be directly related to the most recently issued Occupational Competency Standards for migration agents published by MARA. Standard 6.2 requires electronic notification to MARA of a participant's successful completion within 14 days. Standard 5.4 introduces a requirement for regular internal audits of compliance with the CPD provider standards. These are not optional quality measures; they are enforceable conditions of approval, and non-compliance can result in cancellation under section 55 of the Migration Agents Regulations 2026.

What This Regulatory Reset Means for the Profession

The replacement of the Migration Agents Regulations 1998 and its associated instruments represents the most significant structural change to the migration agent regulatory framework since MARA was established. While much of the 2026 Regulations carries forward the substance of the 1998 framework in updated language, the CPD and entry qualification instruments introduce material changes that affect both current practitioners and new entrants.

The mandatory ethics and conduct CPD requirement signals a clear regulatory expectation that professional standards and ethical conduct are not optional elements of professional development. The reduction of the online CPD daily cap from 10 to 6 points signals that the regulator views engagement quality, not just completion, as a measure of genuine professional development. The 12-month private study completion deadline closes a flexibility that allowed CPD obligations to be deferred indefinitely. The consolidation of entry qualifications at the Graduate Diploma level confirms that the profession is moving decisively toward higher barriers to entry.

For registered migration agents, the immediate priority is to review current CPD plans against the new requirements and take advantage of the transitional provisions before 30 June 2026. For aspiring agents, the priority is to confirm that their chosen study pathway remains on the prescribed list. For CPD providers, the priority is to ensure compliance with the strengthened provider standards and to build ethics and Code of Conduct content into their activity offerings to meet the new demand.

The legislative instruments referenced in this article are publicly available on the Federal Register of Legislation. Every registered migration agent should read them in full.

Reference: The Four Instruments at a Glance