Who can legally charge you for help with a subclass 600 application in Australia in 2026?

Only three kinds of people can be appointed to give you immigration assistance on a Visitor visa (subclass 600) application: a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person. That list comes from the Department of Home Affairs page Tourist stream (apply outside Australia) (Visitor visa (subclass 600)), and it is the whole list — the page names no fourth category. Everything below unpacks what sits inside those three labels, what falls outside them, and which form each appointment requires.

Who is allowed to give you immigration assistance?

The Department's wording is short, so it is worth reading closely. It says only some people can help you with your application, and that anyone you appoint to give you immigration assistance must be one of the three listed types. The obligation sits on the appointment: if the person you appoint is not a registered migration agent, not a legal practitioner and not an exempt person, they fall outside anything this page authorises for that role.

Each category is described on its own Home Affairs page, and the differences matter when you are deciding who to trust:

Registered migration agent — the Department keeps a dedicated page on using a migration agent, reached directly from the 600 guidance.
Legal practitioner — a separate page covers using a legal practitioner, alongside the migration agent route.
Exempt person — a distinct category with its own page, which is why "not an agent" does not automatically mean "not permitted."

The Department also keeps an overview page, Who can help you with your application, which is the umbrella for all three.

What is the difference between giving help and receiving your mail?

This is the distinction most applicants trip over, because the 600 page deliberately separates the two. The restriction on who may help applies to immigration assistance. A completely different rule applies to receiving documents: you can appoint anyone at all to receive documents on your behalf relating to your visa matter. No qualification is required for that role.

Role	Who the Tourist stream page allows	What you lodge
Provides immigration assistance	Registered migration agent, legal practitioner, or exempt person	Form 956 — Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person
Receives correspondence about your visa matter	Anyone you choose	Form 956A — Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient

So a relative in Australia can be your authorised recipient without holding any registration. What they cannot do, on the strength of that role alone, is act as your immigration assistance provider. The practical consequence for anyone being asked to pay: the title of the form the person asks you to sign tells you which job they are claiming to do.

How do you appoint someone, and does appointing them cost anything?

The appointment is made by form, not by verbal agreement, and both forms are uploaded rather than mailed.

Decide which job the person will do — immigration assistance, receiving correspondence, or both.
Complete the matching form or forms.
Upload your written notification or your completed forms to ImmiAccount.

The Tourist stream page lists these forms under "Tell us you are getting help" in Step 3: Gather your documents, and repeats them in its after you apply section. Nothing on that page states a government charge for lodging Form 956 or Form 956A itself. What your representative charges you is a private arrangement that the visa page does not set, does not cap and does not describe — worth agreeing in writing before you sign anything, precisely because the page is silent on it.

Treat the summaries here as general orientation to a published government page rather than advice about your own circumstances; where your situation turns on facts not covered here, the Department's pages, read directly, are what apply.

How do you check that someone is entitled to be paid for this?

The honest answer is that the visitor visa page does not set out a verification procedure. It routes you onward. That gives you a workable sequence anyway: read the category page that matches what the person claims to be, then check them against whatever register, roll or record that category page points you to. Starting with the category page matters more than starting with a search engine, because the three routes have different entry criteria.

A useful test is to ask which exemption or credential the person relies on. Someone who answers that question vaguely, or who cannot say which of the three categories they fall into, has not given you anything you can verify. Someone who tells you plainly — and whose answer matches the Department's description of that category — has.

Can you withdraw an appointment later?

Yes, and the same forms do the job. If you no longer want someone to receive your correspondence, you complete Form 956A, which covers both appointment and withdrawal of an authorised recipient. If you no longer want someone to provide immigration assistance, you complete Form 956. You upload your written notification or forms to ImmiAccount, exactly as you did when appointing them.

This applies after you lodge too. The Department's step-by-step page raises the point again in the "after you apply" section, which is reassuring: changing your mind mid-process is an anticipated situation, not a problem you have to explain away.

Does appointing help change what you have to prove?

No. Appointing someone changes who may deal with the Department on your matter, not what the application must establish. You still need accurate information, identity documents — the pages of your current passport showing your photo, personal details and passport issue and expiry dates — and genuine visitor evidence, such as proof you have enough money for your stay and to leave Australia, any invitation letter from a relative or friend in Australia, your plans while in Australia, and proof of reasons to return home, like an employer's letter or evidence of study, family, property or other major assets.

Two warnings on that page are aimed at applicants specifically, not representatives. The Department may decide your application without requesting further information from you, so a thin file submitted early can be decided as it stands. And where you cannot prove your identity or have not provided true information, separate consequences apply — another reason to read what goes out under your name rather than delegating that judgement entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my friend or relative be paid to prepare and lodge my 600 application?

The Department's subclass 600 page requires anyone appointed to give immigration assistance to be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person; that page says nothing about payment for preparing or lodging an application, and it does not define preparing or lodging as immigration assistance. Anyone may be appointed to receive correspondence, so a friend can help with mail without any registration — that role does not extend to preparing the application for payment.

Do I need both Form 956 and Form 956A?

Use each form for the job being done. Form 956 appoints a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person to give immigration assistance; Form 956A appoints or withdraws an authorised recipient who receives your correspondence. If one person is doing both jobs, both forms are relevant, and both are uploaded to ImmiAccount.

Is there a fee for appointing someone?

The Tourist stream page says nothing about a government charge for lodging Form 956 or Form 956A. What your representative charges is a private matter outside that page's scope, which is why agreeing it in writing before you appoint anyone is sensible. The only government charge described on the page is the visa application charge itself, and no amount for it is set out in the section covering paid help.

What should I do if the person helping me turns out not to be registered?

Withdraw the appointment using the same form you used to make it — Form 956 for immigration assistance, Form 956A for receiving correspondence — and upload it to ImmiAccount. The 600 page provides no way to appoint someone outside the three permitted categories for assistance, so there is nothing to regularise. From there you can continue on your own or appoint someone who does qualify.

Does using a registered migration agent or lawyer improve my chances of a grant?

Nothing on the Department's page suggests that. The page sets out who may be appointed to assist; it does not link representation to outcomes, and it warns that the Department may decide an application without requesting further information. Decisions turn on the evidence you provide, including identity, character and genuine visitor material.

Can I appoint help after I have already lodged the application?

The step-by-step page returns to Form 956 and Form 956A in its "after you apply" section, asking you to notify the Department if you no longer want someone involved. The same forms therefore continue to operate once lodged, and changes to your representatives should be notified through ImmiAccount rather than left informal.