What to do if an agent's MARN doesn't check out

If you search a MARN and get no result, stop before paying anything further and work through these steps in order. "No result" has several possible causes, and they deserve very different responses.

The one legitimate reason for a clean MARN not to appear is recency. A registration finalised in the last week or two may not have flowed through to every copy of the register yet. Ask the agent for their registration commencement date and re-check the official register. If it appears there with that date, you're fine — the copy here just hasn't caught up.

Watch for pressure tactics paired with the failed check: urgency, requests for cash, promises of guaranteed outcomes, or a demand to hand over passports "for safe keeping". None of these are things a registered agent operating properly does. A registration failure combined with any of them is a much bigger deal than a data lag.

A "no result" search is not always a bad actor. Agents sometimes practise under a changed name — marriage, a rebrand, or a firm split — while their registration still reads under the old one. Others have moved states and the register copy you're checking hasn't caught up. A suspended agent's registration may read "suspended" rather than disappear, so read the status field, not just whether a row exists.

The way to resolve all of these is the same: ask the agent to show you their current listing, then verify it on the official register yourself. A legitimate agent has dealt with this question before and will walk you through their listing without drama. The ones who get evasive are telling you everything you need to know.

This directory is a mirror, not the source of truth. We pull the public register on a set schedule and date every page so you know how current the copy is. If a MARN checks out on the official OMARA register but not here, the explanation is timing — the registration is real, and our copy simply hasn't caught up yet.

The reverse is the case to treat seriously: if the number does not appear on the official register either, the registration is not current, and nothing on any third-party site changes that. When in doubt, always trust the official register over any copy, including ours.

The failed check is a late warning sign, but the early ones are cheaper to heed. Ask for the MARN in your first message and check it before your first call. Ask what a written services agreement will contain before you pay a deposit. Ask whether fees are staged against milestones, not against a payment schedule with no work attached. None of these questions offend a legitimate agent — they are routine due diligence, and a practice that bristles at them is telling you something.

Keep your documents and originals under your control. A legitimate agent needs copies, not your passport in their drawer. Anyone who insists on holding original identity documents "for the application" is operating outside the norms of the profession, and that alone is reason to pause.

Reporting is free and can be done without a lawyer. Gather everything first: the agent's name, the number they gave you, your correspondence, and any payment records. Then lodge a complaint with OMARA describing the unregistered conduct. Keep your own copies of everything you submit, and note the date you lodged.

If the person has taken money and vanished, that is also a potential fraud matter for the police. And if you believe a visa was lodged with false or misleading information on your behalf, get independent professional advice before anything else — the fastest way to compound a bad situation is to let someone else's misconduct create a problem attributed to you.