No-show advice is standard: take a deposit, send reminders, confirm the day before. All sensible, and none of it addresses the two Code questions your booking process quietly answers.
The first is whether the appointment is an initial consultation, because that determines whether you can lawfully give advice without a service agreement in force. The second is what a deposit you have taken actually is, because if it relates to immigration assistance it may be money you were not entitled to receive.
Get those two right and the operational advice works. Get them wrong and an efficient booking system produces breaches faster.
Only the first consultation is an initial consultation
Section 42 of the Code of Conduct prohibits giving immigration assistance to a client unless a compliant service agreement is in force. Section 43 provides the exception: advice may be given at an initial consultation without one.
Section 43(4) then bounds it tightly. Only the first consultation between an agent and a client or potential client in relation to a particular immigration matter is an initial consultation. And where a consultation consists of a series of sessions across more than one day, sessions after the first day are not part of it.
OMARA's third guidance document addresses the question practices actually ask: can a later consultation ever be a fresh initial consultation?
The answer is mostly no. If the subsequent consultation is a continuation of the same matter, it is not an initial consultation — even if more than a year has passed. The guidance gives the example of a client told to complete a further year of study before applying, who returns to apply: that is a continuation, and assistance requires an agreement.
There are two openings. Where there has been a material change in the client's circumstances or in the legislation, such that you need to make a fresh assessment, the later session may be an initial consultation — the examples given are the repeal of the subclass that was the subject of the earlier advice, or a client who previously sought skilled migration having since married an Australian citizen. And where more than seven years have passed since the last action on the file, so the agent no longer holds records under section 56 and has no recollection, a later consultation may reasonably be an initial one.
What this means for the booking page
If your booking system offers "follow-up consultation" as a bookable product, it is offering something that generally requires a service agreement first.
Three practical adjustments:
- Distinguish the two booking types and route them differently. A first consultation about a matter goes to the intake path. Anything else checks whether an agreement is in force.
- Ask what the appointment is about at booking, in enough detail to tell whether this is a new matter or a continuation.
- Have an agreement ready to send where the answer is a continuation, so the appointment can go ahead compliantly rather than being wasted.
The guidance also confirms the useful converse: you are not prevented from entering into a service agreement even where a consultation is an initial consultation. Where you are unsure, putting an agreement in place is always available.
What a deposit actually is
Section 51 prohibits receiving amounts from a client — fees or amounts for disbursements — where they relate to giving immigration assistance and no service agreement covering it is in force.
The initial consultation is carved out of that, and section 43 attaches conditions. The fee must be reasonable. You must notify the client of your MARN. Section 49's invoice and receipt requirements apply as if the assistance were given under an agreement. And any amounts received are treated as client money — meaning sufficient funds must be available to cover refunds, and refunds must be paid promptly and no later than 14 days after they become payable.
So a consultation deposit is not a booking fee in the ordinary commercial sense. It is money you hold subject to a refund obligation with a deadline, and it needs an itemised invoice and a receipt like anything else. Our guide to what migration agents charge covers pricing the consultation itself.
A deposit for a second consultation on the same matter is a different thing entirely, because that assistance requires an agreement — and taking money for it before the agreement is in force is what section 51 prohibits.
The operational half
With the compliance questions settled, the standard levers work — and they work better in migration than most sectors, because the stakes for the client are high.
Payment at booking is the strongest single predictor of attendance, and it is available for an initial consultation. Make the refund position clear at the point of payment rather than in terms nobody reads.
Time zones cause a meaningful share of no-shows in this field. Confirm in the client's local time and in Australian time, name both zones, and never rely on a calendar invitation alone to communicate the time.
Reminders at 48 hours and 2 hours, by whichever channel the client actually uses. A client who booked by WhatsApp will read a WhatsApp reminder and may not open the email.
Tell them what to bring, briefly. A client who has gathered their passport and current visa grant has committed something and is more likely to attend — and the consultation is more useful.
Make rescheduling one click. A client who cannot easily move an appointment will simply not attend. A reschedule is a far better outcome than a no-show, and it keeps the relationship.
A rescheduling policy that is fair and works
Fairness matters here beyond principle: section 14 requires an agent to treat all persons with appropriate respect and prohibits unconscionable conduct, and a punitive policy applied to someone in a precarious position is a poor place to be.
A workable position: one free reschedule with reasonable notice; a second reschedule or a no-show forfeits the deposit; genuine emergencies are handled by exception and the exception is recorded. State it at booking, apply it consistently, and keep the discretion.
Confirming what happened
Whatever the appointment produced, the record has to exist. Section 55 requires a contemporaneous written record of oral communications with clients, covering both instructions given and advice given.
For an initial consultation that does not become an engagement, that record matters most. A person who received advice from you and did not proceed may still act on it, and a file note made the same day is the only account of what you actually said. Our guide to client onboarding covers the transition where they do proceed.
The booking test
- Does your booking flow distinguish a first consultation on a matter from a later one?
- If someone books a second consultation, does anything check whether an agreement is in force?
- Is your consultation deposit treated as client money, with an invoice and a receipt?
- Do clients get their MARN notification for an initial consultation?
- Are confirmations sent in the client's time zone and Australian time?
- Is there a file note for consultations that did not convert?
- Can a client reschedule without emailing you?
Where a system helps
Booking sits at the boundary between marketing and practice, which is why it is so often disconnected from everything else — a scheduling tool that knows nothing about matters, agreements or money.
Connecting it changes what is possible: a booking that checks whether this person already has a matter, a consultation fee that lands as client money with an invoice and receipt, a file note prompted at the end of the appointment, and a service agreement that can be sent before the second conversation rather than after it.
LodgeHQ links bookings to clients, matters and billing, so the compliance questions are answered before the appointment rather than after. Our ImmiAccount workflow guide covers the downstream process; start a free trial to see the intake path.
Verify before you rely on it
Whether a particular consultation is an initial consultation turns on the facts, and OMARA's guidance is explicit that agents must exercise professional judgment. Read the guidance and section 43 directly rather than relying on a summary.
This is general information for migration practices, not legal advice. Where you are unsure whether a consultation requires an agreement, the guidance's own suggestion is the safe one: put an agreement in place.