The State of Australian Migration Agents in 2026

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New agent registrations collapsed 85% after 2018 — and just hit a decade high

Every MARN encodes the year its holder first registered, which makes the register a time series of the profession's intake. The numbers tell a dramatic story: 410 new agents registered in 2017 and 417 in 2018 — then just 107 in 2019 and 62 in 2020, an approximately 85% collapse in two years. The timing matches the lift in entry requirements (the move from the Graduate Certificate to the Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice plus the Capstone assessment, phased in from 2018) followed by COVID-19 border closures gutting demand. Recovery was slow — 124 new registrations in 2021, 266 in 2022, 312 in 2023, 327 in 2024 — before 2025 delivered 457 new agents, the strongest intake in a decade. For applicants, the practical consequence of that 2019–2021 trough is a missing generation of mid-career agents: the profession skews either very experienced or very new.

The median registered agent has 10 years on the register

Across all 5,489 current registrations, the median agent has been registered for 10 years and the average is 11.1 years. Some 847 agents — about 15% of the register — have held registration for 20 years or more, 1,726 (31%) for 15+ years, and 2,851 (52%) for a decade or more. At the other end, 1,518 agents (28%) have been registered for under five years, most of them part of the 2022–2026 recovery cohort. Experience on the register is not the same thing as case quality, but it is a useful first filter — and it is verifiable by anyone, because the registration year is baked into the agent's MARN.

Victoria, not New South Wales, has the most migration agents

Counter to what most people would guess, Victoria hosts the largest agent population: 1,244 agents with a listed Victorian address, ahead of New South Wales on 1,087, Queensland on 490, Western Australia on 390 and South Australia on 199. The ACT (64), Tasmania (24) and the Northern Territory (18) round out the onshore numbers. Melbourne is the single biggest agent city with around 310 listed agents in the CBD alone, ahead of Sydney's roughly 255; Parramatta is the largest non-CBD hub. A further large group of registered agents — more than a third of the register — list no Australian state at all, most of them practising from overseas, which reflects how thoroughly digital Australian migration practice has become: the Department of Home Affairs operates entirely online, so an agent's physical location rarely limits who they can act for.

Half the profession has no website

Of 5,489 registered agents, only 2,762 — almost exactly half — have a working website associated with their registration. The rest practise on referrals, community word of mouth, and repeat clients. For applicants this matters in two ways. First, the absence of a website says little about quality: some of the most experienced agents on the register have the thinnest digital presence. Second, it explains why finding and comparing agents has historically been so hard — half the market is effectively invisible to a Google search, which is the gap directories and comparison platforms exist to close.

What agents actually work on

Among the roughly 1,800 agents whose published practice information allowed classification, student and graduate visa work is the most commonly cited practice area (about 1,000 agents), followed by skilled and points-tested migration (~740), employer-sponsored work (~560), family and parent visas (~525), and partner visas (~450). Around 310 publicise refusal, appeal and tribunal work, and roughly 100 cite humanitarian and protection cases. The pattern mirrors visa demand itself, but the long tail matters: complex areas like refusals and humanitarian work are concentrated in a small minority of practitioners, which is why applicants in those situations benefit most from finding a genuine specialist rather than the nearest agent.

Languages: the profession under-represents its client base

Among agents who publish the languages they work in, Spanish leads, followed by Mandarin, Vietnamese, Portuguese, French, Russian, Arabic, Italian and Cantonese. But the more striking finding is how few agents advertise any language capability at all — only a few hundred of 5,489 — despite the overwhelmingly multilingual client base of Australia's migration program. For applicants who would prefer advice in their first language, this is a real but solvable search problem; for agents, publishing language capability is one of the simplest unexploited marketing advantages in the profession.

How this analysis was done

Migratio maintains a continuously updated copy of the public register of migration agents published by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), covering every currently registered agent. Registration years are derived from the MARN itself (the first two digits encode the initial registration year). Practice areas and languages were extracted from each agent's own published practice information and are indicative rather than exhaustive — an agent without a published specialisation may still handle that work. Counts were taken in June 2026 and will shift as registrations lapse and new agents join. This analysis may be cited freely with a link to this page; for media enquiries or the underlying aggregates, contact Migratio.

How many registered migration agents are there in Australia in 2026?

There are 5,489 currently registered migration agents on the OMARA register as of June 2026. Victoria has the largest state cohort (1,244), followed by New South Wales (1,087) and Queensland (490). More than a third of registered agents list no Australian state, most practising from overseas.

Why did new migration agent registrations collapse after 2018?

Entry requirements were significantly lifted from 2018 — prospective agents now complete the Graduate Diploma in Australian Migration Law and Practice and a Capstone assessment, replacing the shorter Graduate Certificate pathway. New registrations fell from 417 in 2018 to 107 in 2019 and 62 in 2020, with COVID-19 border closures compounding the drop. Intake only returned to pre-change levels in 2025, with 457 new registrations.

How experienced is the average Australian migration agent?

The median currently registered agent has held registration for 10 years (the mean is 11.1 years). About 15% of agents have been registered 20+ years, and just over half have a decade or more on the register. You can estimate any agent's registration year yourself: the first two digits of their MARN encode it.

Can a migration agent in another state or overseas handle my case?

Yes. Australian migration practice is fully digital — the Department of Home Affairs accepts lodgements and correspondence online — so a registered agent can act for you regardless of where they or you are located. What matters is current MARA registration (verifiable on the OMARA register) and relevant experience with your visa type.