You’ve arrived in Australia on a temporary visa and now that you’ve had
a look around, you’d like to stay and become part of this community. What’s the
next step? How difficult will it be to get permanent residency? What forms are
needed? What will you do if your application is refused? It sounds like you
could use some help, and at ABC Legal Immigration
Lawyers are available to set you on the right path.
Most native-born Australians wouldn’t try to navigate their way around our
immigration system without some advice from somewhere. How amazing is it then,
that people unfamiliar with our legal system, and whose very futures depend on
their next move being the correct one, would take a chance at doing it themselves?
The laws and processes change regularly, and to keep up with all of it is just
too difficult for the average person.
Enter ABC Legal and their
team of Sydney Immigration Lawyers. Hamid Mirza leads this group of professional,
highly trained, legally qualified people who specialise in immigration issues
and the legal processes that surround them. Hamid’s people are highly regarded
in the industry and their knowledge of current legislation and related issues
is essential for anyone trying to change their immigration status.
“All those forms! And the documents – attach this, need a copy of that. It was
all too much for me. I’m glad a friend told me about Hamid and his team. They
helped us and now we are happily settled here.”
There are all kinds of people under all kinds of different circumstances who
seek entry to and permanent residency of Australia. From professionals and
skilled workers wanting to pursue work opportunities here, to tourists on a
working holiday or students staying here to complete university right through
to refugees, all have different needs and a story to support their application.
Hamid is able to sift quickly through your information and provide you with a
course of action that supports the legal framework around immigration.
The other absolute plus in your favour when you engage Hamid to help you is
that, along with his legal qualifications and experience, he is also a
Registered Migration Agent. This means is that should your application for a
visa be refused, for example, Hamid, as both a barrister-at-law and a
Registered Migration Agent can represent you at the Migration Review Tribunal
or in Federal Court. The alternative is that your Migration Agent would have to
brief a barrister to provide this representation.
“I was happy to have Hamid with me all the way through the appeal process. He
knew my case and my background, and I didn’t have to tell my story all over
again to someone else.”
The decision to migrate to another country is not one that most people take
lightly, unless they are in a refugee situation. It involves discussions with
family members who are not migrating at this time, separation from everything
that is familiar, and heading into the unknown to a certain extent. Having a
skilled legal representative on your side goes a long way to help your
settlement in a new country go smoothly.
Good
tax lawyers are hard to come by, but for anyone who needs their services,
knowing that they have the best in the industry to represent them is a welcome
stress reliever, in what can be a traumatic and anxiety-inducing process. With
taxation laws as complex as they are, it is not difficult to make a genuine
mistake or a poor decision that has repercussions down the line, resulting in
the need to appear in court.
Any infringement of the law that has resulted in some action being required
through the legal process needs the involvement of an expert in that particular
legal area. The sheer size of our legal system now requires specialisation, and
most lawyers choose several areas of interest to them, and pursue the knowledge
and practice of these areas to better serve their clients.
Instead of spreading themselves very thin over the entire spectrum of
Australian law, ABC Legal have taxation
lawyers Sydney who are specialists in tax law and who can review large
amounts of information quickly and provide timely advice. It also helps the
client if the lawyer also has personal skills to place them at ease and
communicate the position to them in uncomplicated terms free of jargon.
“Hamid is not only astute in terms of his technical knowledge of the law, he
has very high emotional intelligence and it’s his people skills and his
willingness to relate and engage that sets him apart from other advisors.”
Areas of taxation law that are referred to ABC Legal include income tax,
taxation of trusts, employment tax issues, international tax and tax audits,
litigation and dispute resolution. In any one of these areas are pieces of
legislation, regulations, rules and previous judgments that require
interpretation by a tax lawyer in relation to the specific matter being
reviewed and advised on for a client.
People rely on these expert opinions to make decisions that will have a
substantial effect on their financial stability and resources, and look for a
tax lawyer with a sound reputation for guidance and representation in court if
necessary. One of the key benefits of approaching Hamid for advice on tax law
is that he is also a qualified accountant, and the blend of these two theatres
of knowledge can be an advantage in these situations.
“Hamid demonstrated a real interest in understanding how our business works and
unlike previous legal professionals we have used, he achieved real progress in
the matters we were involved with and provided us with practical legal advice
which we were able to apply the very next day.”
No-one wants to run foul of the taxation laws, and in many cases it is a simple
misunderstanding of the application of the law that gets people into situations
where they need legal assistance. By consulting an expert legal professional
specialising in taxation matters, most issues can be clarified quickly, and if
representation is required, the client can feel assured that they are in the
best of hands.
Every year millions of people move between countries, most as
tourists and voluntary travellers, but many as refugees, forced to leave their
own countries through war, famine, persecution or economic necessity. There are
also some who are fleeing justice as a result of some criminal act they have
committed, and are fearful of their past being discovered by the country they
are trying to enter. On the other side of the coin, there are countries whose borders
are open, many who have a structured immigration process to control the number
and mix of new entrants, and a few that simply will not accept anyone entering
their country from abroad.
With all these variables affecting the movement of people between countries, it
is little wonder that a whole industry has evolved around the process of
immigration to Australia. It would also be fair to say that most native-born
Australians have little knowledge of the laws surrounding legal entry into
Australia, nor the actual application process that must be followed to gain
that entry.
For people wanting to gain entry, there is a complex series of steps that must
be followed, the first of which is to understand under what category they
should apply. If the applicant wants to work in Australia there are seven
different types of workers that can apply for visas. There is a Family Stream
category that seeks to reunite people living in Australia with close family
members still overseas. Visitors have six visa options to choose from, and of
course there are student visas with subclass options.
Within all of these different categories are specific requirements, some of
which may be common to some or all areas, while some are specific to the
particular visa being applied for. Getting it wrong at any part of the process
will delay the application or worse still, find the person being refused entry.
While some people rely on a relative or friend living in Australia to help them
through the process, the reality is that if these people have not been through
the process themselves, they will have little knowledge of what is required.
With so much at stake people applying for visas, especially those whose
applications are not straightforward, are seeking professional assistance from
an immigration lawyer in Sydney who is
experienced with the processes and knowledgeable about the immigration laws.
Having someone with this level of skills and knowledge can ensure that when the
application forms are lodged they are correct and should not be returned for
amendments, or rejected through some technicality.
Trying to work through the process without help might seem to be a money-saving
solution, but it could be false economy if the application is rejected. It is
much better to pay for professional assistance than to have the visa delayed or
refused.
One
of the expectations that came with the introduction of the GST (goods and
services tax) in 2000 was a simpler taxation system, but twelve years down the
track, little seems to have changed. In fact, almost 70% of tax returns lodged
by PAYG (pay as you go) taxpayers are lodged through either tax agents or
accountants due to the difficulty of completing the documentation.
There are a number
of ways that taxpayers can find themselves on a collision course with the
taxation authorities. They may have acted on poor advice from a supposed
professional, neglected to lodge returns regularly over a number of years or
were caught out doing something illegal or fraudulent. The reasons don’t
matter, but what is important is finding the right professional people to assist
them when they need it the most.
ABC Legal is staffed by experts in the field of tax law who will meet
with you, review the information presented to them and give you an honest and
upfront appraisal of what they believe to be the situation. Once having
accepted you as a client, they will take the time to discuss the best way to
proceed, and make sure the client understands what is involved and the likely
result of any decision that is taken from this time forward.
With an
acknowledged reputation as having on staff the best taxation lawyers Sydney, ABC Legal offers
a lifeline to an individual or a business struggling with a tax law issue that
could culminate in legal proceedings. Harmid Mirza is a barrister and a
qualified accountant who uses his skill and knowledge in both areas to assist
his business clients.
“Hamid demonstrated
a real interest in understanding how our business works and unlike previous
legal professionals we have used, he achieved real progress in the matters we
were involved with and provided us with practical legal advice which we were
able to apply the very next day.”
Because of his
accounting background, many clients ask their accountant to discuss their
issues and seek advice from Hamid direct. There are several ways that ABC
Legal can make Hamid
and their other professional staff available to clients. Depending on the
complexity of the issue and the time frames involved, written advice can be
provided where the client is unable to meet face-to-face. They can also provide
advocacy and legal representation where required in all courts and
jurisdictions.
Hamid also provides
a mobile service and will travel to meet with clients if necessary. Now based
in Sydney, Hamid makes himself available where there is a need.
“Hamid grasps the
commercial objectives driving projects quicker than other lawyers. He listens
well, asks probing questions and his advice is always practical, to the point
and on the mark.”
With a talented
group of support staff and researchers also attached to ABC Legal, questions of
tax related case law are quickly found and relevant information gathered from
case judgments and the responses by the taxation authorities to recent court
decisions. Their view of public rulings and determinations is readily
available, but it requires the sharp legal minds at ABC Legal to dissect the
information and apply it to their current client cases.
There is no tax law
issue too difficult or complex for the people at ABC Legal. They welcome a
challenge and love to apply their legal knowledge to assist clients achieve an
outcome that is fair and equitable.
For the thousands of people who
grapple every year with the mountains of paper that is our immigration system,
fighting your way through the process is not a journey you need to take alone.
There is professional help available and this could be the difference between
settling permanently in Australia and having to look at other alternatives.
The whole
immigration process is very complex, and the paperwork needed to satisfy the
requirements differs depending on the type of visa being applied for. There are
many different types of visas, each requiring something different in the way of
documentation. For example, in the “worker” category, there are employer
sponsored workers, professional and other skilled migrants, business people,
specialist entry, doctors and nurses, Pacific seasonal workers and several
others.
This is just one
category, and there are several others, all with their own sub-categories, and
all with different hurdles to jump. Many people are able to work their way
through the system themselves, but this becomes more difficult if there are
language or cultural barriers. Rather than trying to find someone in the
general community who can help them understand the application, people in this
situation should contact an immigration lawyer in Sydney.
“We tried asking
the pastor at our church to help with our application. Our English is ok but
not good enough to read the forms and know what we were signing. He wanted to
help, but he didn’t know much about these laws. He said we should find an
expert.”
ABC Legal has
migration experts available to assist people to navigate their way through the
process. Hamid Mirza, as well as being a Registered Migration Agent, is also a
barrister, so not only does he have the professional qualifications to manage
migration matters, but he can also represent his clients in court proceedings.
Other staff members are experienced in different aspects of the application
process and can provide assistance to correctly complete forms and give advice
about the types of documents required.
“The people at ABC Legal
took us into the office and showed us how to fill in the
forms. They also explained what papers we needed and why we had to have them.”
A character
assessment is part of the process for applying for Australian citizenship, and
this can sometimes be difficult for applicants. In cases where a statutory
declaration may be required, the experienced staff will explain the purpose of
this document, and assist the applicants arrange for its completion. Sometimes
a penal clearance certificate or police certificate is also required from an overseas
government, and having a legally trained migration advisor working on behalf of
the applicant will greatly assist to get this document quickly.
The migration laws
change from time to time in response to a range of issues. Professional
migration advisors are aware of these changes and can give their clients up to
date information so that their applications are not held up as a result. For
example, changes to the Skilled Occupation List will be effective on 1 July
2012 which will change some occupations that are currently in demand.
“As an employer
sponsoring a skilled migrant, I need to know what the government changes are so
that I can look after the needs of my business. I get that up to date
assistance from ABC Legal.”
Without the help of
trained and experienced migration advisors, the whole process of applying for
citizenship is just overwhelming for many people. Engaging a professional gives
them a point of contact to ask questions, get assistance and remove the anxiety
and stress from what should be an exciting experience.
