MARA-Registered Migration Agents in Dubai

MARA is the Australian Government's regulator for migration agents. Cosmos works with MARA-registered agents whose names appear on the Office of the MARA's public register at mara.gov.au — and MARA verification is available on the official register.

What "MARA-registered" actually means

The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority is the Australian Government body that licenses migration agents under the Migration Act 1958. Each registered agent receives a MARN — a Migration Agent Registration Number — that attaches to the individual practitioner, not to a firm. The agent must complete continuing professional development annually, hold professional indemnity insurance, and abide by the MARA Code of Conduct. Breaches of the Code can result in suspension or cancellation.

For Australian immigration matters, only MARA-registered agents and Australian legal practitioners with a current restricted practising certificate are lawfully permitted to provide immigration assistance for compensation. Working with anyone else is a federal offence in Australia. The protection runs in your favour: a regulated practitioner is accountable to MARA, and you have a defined complaints pathway if something goes wrong.

How to verify your agent in two clicks

1. Open mara.gov.au and click the Register of Migration Agents link.
2. Search by the named agent's full legal name (not the firm name).
3. Confirm: active MARN status, no current suspension, registration class, office address on file.

If the search returns nothing, returns a different name, or shows a status other than active — stop the engagement before paying anything else. Screenshot the result and the date. Verify any consultant on the regulator's public register at any stage.

Australia visas handled by MARA agents at Cosmos

• Skilled Independent (subclass 189) — points-tested, no sponsor required.
• Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) — state or territory nomination required.
• Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491) — provisional visa with PR pathway via 191.
• Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) — employer-sponsored, with TSS-to-186 progression.
• Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) — direct entry, temporary residence transition, and labour agreement streams.
• Partner visas (subclass 820/801 onshore, 309/100 offshore).
• Business Innovation and Investment (subclass 188/888).
• Student visas with PR pathway — 500-to-485-to-189/190 pathways planned upfront.

The triple-licence difference at Cosmos

Most Dubai consultancies hold (or claim) one regulator badge. Cosmos works with practitioners licensed by three:

• MARA for Australia (this page).
• CICC for Canada — the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, the successor to ICCRC since November 2021.
• IAA for the UK — the Immigration Advice Authority, which replaced OISC on 16 January 2025.

That matters when your case has options across two or three countries: your file moves between licensed practitioners under one engagement, with one point of contact, instead of restarting with a different firm for each country.

Honest-no policy

About one in five free profile reviews at Cosmos ends with us declining to take fees, because the profile isn't ready for Australia under the current settings. The MARA Code of Conduct requires honest written advice; we take that seriously. If your points score is borderline, if the SOL/MLTSSL listing is risky, or if your work-experience documentation has gaps, we'll say so before any retainer changes hands.

Cosmos credentials at a glance

• Working with MARA-registered Australian migration agents (verifiable on mara.gov.au).
• Also working with CICC-registered Canadian consultants and IAA-authorised UK advisers.
• 10,569 consultations since 2014.
• 4.9 Google rating across 1,200+ reviews.
• Offices in Dubai (Al Fajer Complex, Oud Metha), Abu Dhabi (Salam Street), and Hyderabad (Babukhan Mall).