Migration agent in Malaysia for Australia? Check the MARN before you pay a sen

Tips · 2026-11-04 · 10 min read

A shocked Malaysian woman covers her mouth while staring at her phone in a teal and orange-lit Kuala Lumpur flat.

Before you pay anyone to handle an Australian or New Zealand visa, check one thing: is this person on an official register? For Australia, anyone giving immigration assistance must be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person, and a registered agent has a Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN) that you can look up in minutes. If the "ejen" in your chat cannot show you that, the answer to your question is already no.

Who may help with an Australian visa application

Home Affairs sets out three groups who can give immigration assistance: registered migration agents, legal practitioners and exempt persons. Registered agents must be listed on the Register of Migration Agents on the website of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). You can read the rules on the OMARA page about helpers who are not registered.

The third group surprises people. Exempt persons, such as a sponsor, nominator or close family member, may help with a visa application, but they must not charge a fee. So an employer who helps you complete a form is fine, while a stranger on WhatsApp who sells "help" is not an exempt person at all.

Warning signs the High Commission lists

The Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur publishes its own guidance for people in Malaysia on its visa scam safety page. Its list, together with other official Australian warnings, gives you a checklist you can run against any offer.

What you are told or asked	Why it is a problem
The first contact came through social media or an app such as WhatsApp	The High Commission lists this as a sign of a visa scam. Real agents also use messaging, so this sign matters most when it appears with the others.
A visa or a job promised in advance	No one can promise an Australian visa in advance, and an employer's job offer is not a visa.
A large upfront payment	Listed by the High Commission as a scam sign, and a common reason people lose money before any form is lodged.
The agent will not share the application in ImmiAccount	ImmiAccount is the only official website for applying for an Australian visa. It should be your account, with your details.
No MARN, or no listing on the OMARA website	A person who claims to be an agent without either is not legitimate.
A "work permit", visa label or Labour Market Impact Assessment is offered	Australia does not issue these, so anyone offering one is running a scam.
A tourist, transit, ETA or visitor route "now", with a work permit "later"	You cannot work in Australia on an ETA or a Visitor visa, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells Malaysians never to travel for work on a tourist visa.

Our post on ETA work in Australia and fruit-picking trips explains the last row in more detail, including the three year exclusion period the High Commission mentions.

How to check an agent in five steps

Ask for the agent's full name and MARN before you discuss money. A registered agent will give both without fuss.
Search for that name on the OMARA register of migration agents, and confirm that the person on the screen is the person you are dealing with.
Insist that the application is lodged in an ImmiAccount that you can log into yourself. If the agent refuses to share it, stop.
Look at every email. Messages claiming to come from the Department of Home Affairs whose address does not end in .gov.au are scams.
If you are shown a visa grant, check it yourself. Home Affairs says a grant that cannot be found in VEVO is probably fake. For a general question, the High Commission says its staff cannot help with general visa enquiries, because Home Affairs manages applications; the Home Affairs Global Service Centre is on +61 2 6196 0196, Monday to Friday, from 9:00am to 5:00pm your local time.

A real MARN does not settle everything on its own. Still ask what the fee covers and keep your own copies of every document you send. But a missing MARN settles the question the other way.

New Zealand has its own adviser rules

For New Zealand, the register to check is a different one. By law, anyone giving New Zealand immigration advice must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless exempt, and it is a criminal offence for anyone else to give it. The Authority's public register shows whether a person is currently a licensed immigration adviser; start at the Immigration Advisers Authority page for migrants.

The better news is that you are not required to use an adviser at all. Immigration New Zealand will not prioritise an application because an adviser is used. Its guide to protecting yourself from immigration scams adds three more checks:

New Zealand employers cannot charge you fees for a job or make you pay their recruitment costs, including indirectly through a third party.
INZ never asks for visa fees to be paid into a bank account.
Official INZ email addresses end with immigration.govt.nz or mbie.govt.nz, and a New Zealand visa can be checked as real with INZ's Visa Verification service.

Our guide to working in New Zealand from Malaysia with an AEWV shows where an accredited employer fits into the picture.

Sponsorship is not something you buy

Many Malaysians look for an agent because they are chasing a sponsored job. Here the rule is simple: it is illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa, including through salary deductions, and it can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment. An "ejen" who sells a sponsorship place, a job slot or a promised tawaran kerja is selling something that should not be bought. The Australian High Commission also warns that Australian visas are not for sale and can only be obtained through official channels.

A job site is a different thing from an agent, and you should expect it to say so. JobsAbroad Malaysia lists vacancies where the employer is prepared to sponsor, tells applicants never to pay for a job offer, and states that it does not give immigration, legal or financial advice. Applying to a vacancy does not mean an interview, a job offer, sponsorship or a visa will follow; employers and governments decide. If you want to see what a sponsored vacancy looks like, our guide to the Skills in Demand (482) visa for Malaysians is a good start, and a listing such as a Senior Cook / Chef role in Dubbo shows how an employer's own role description reads.

The cost side is also worth knowing before anyone quotes you a "package". Our post on visa fees for Australia in ringgit splits what a worker pays from what the employer must cover.

If you have already paid someone

Act the same day. The Royal Malaysia Police tells online scam victims to call the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) on 997, which operates from 8 am to 8 pm every day, and to call the bank's hotline after 8 pm. Note the date, amount and receiving account of each transfer first. Our post on what to do in the first 24 hours after paying a scam walks through the order of calls.

The High Commission also asks people to report suspected visa or work scams anonymously to Australia's Border Watch at www.homeaffairs.gov.au/report. One more reason to move quickly: people who take part in visa fraud through a scam agent risk visa refusal or cancellation and a ban from Australia for up to 10 years. Telling the truth early is better than hoping the problem goes away.

For help to see the whole picture, NaijaAbroad's guide on checking two registers before you pay a consultant shows how the same checks work for another country's applicants, and JobsAbroad Indonesia's post on what to check before signing with an agent covers the contract side.

Common mistakes Malaysians make with agents

Trusting the agent's own paperwork. A document that looks like a visa grant is not a grant until you find it yourself in VEVO.
Letting the agent hold the account. If the application sits in the agent's ImmiAccount and you cannot see it, you cannot prove what was lodged.
Treating a job offer as a visa. A tawaran kerja is the start of the process, not a permit to travel, and an ETA is not a work visa.
Paying a "sponsorship fee". Paying an employer to sponsor you is illegal, and the risk lands on you as the applicant.
Skipping the register because the agent is a friend of a friend. A recommendation is not a MARN.

While the visa side is checked properly, you can still prepare the part you control. An English CV that lists your trade certificates, such as your SKM, is what applicants send with a vacancy, and you can put one together yourself with Build AI CV. Our note on workplace rights and warning signs once you are in Australia picks up where this guide stops.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check a migration agent for Australia from Malaysia?

Ask for the agent's Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN), then look the person up on the Register of Migration Agents on the OMARA website. Someone who claims to be an agent but has no MARN or OMARA listing is not legitimate, however professional the chat looks.

Can a relative or my employer help me with the visa form?

An exempt person, such as a sponsor, nominator or close family member, may help with a visa application. The rule is that an exempt person must not charge a fee, so a "helper" who asks you to pay is a reason to stop and check the register.

Do I need an agent to apply for a New Zealand visa?

No. Immigration New Zealand says you are not required to use an adviser, and it will not prioritise an application because one is used. If you do pay for advice, the person must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless they are exempt.

Is it safe if the agent promises you the visa?

No. Home Affairs is clear that no one can promise an Australian visa, and anyone promising a visa, permanent residency or citizenship is misleading you. A promised outcome is one of the signs the High Commission lists for visa scams.

Can I pay an employer or agent to get sponsorship?

No. It is illegal for a person to pay an employer to sponsor them for a visa, including through salary deductions, and it can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment. A real sponsoring employer carries its own sponsorship costs.

Key takeaways

For Australia, only a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person may give immigration assistance; check the MARN on the OMARA register.
For New Zealand, check the Immigration Advisers Authority register, and remember you do not have to use an adviser.
Walk away from a promised visa, a large upfront payment, or an agent who will not share your ImmiAccount.
Never pay an employer or middleman for sponsorship or a job offer.
If you have paid, call 997 first, then report to Border Watch.

#migration agent #marn #omara #visa scam #ejen visa #malaysia