It is commonly said that the giving of immigration assistance by a person who is not an RMA makes that person liable for imprisonment, with exceptions. That is not an accurate statement. Unregistered assistance itself does not lead to imprisonment. What can lead to imprisonment is something else, as we explain.
To simplify the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) in this regard, it creates 2 offences relating to the giving of immigration assistance by someone who is not a registered migration agent (RMA).
One of the offences is found in s 280, which does not lead to imprisonment and reads as follows:
Section 280 Restrictions on giving of immigration assistance
(1) Subject to this section, a person who is not a registered migration agent must not give immigration assistance.
Penalty: 60 penalty units.
...
Section 280 goes to exempt persons such as a parliamentarian, a close family member and others.
The giving of immigration in itself cannot lead to imprisonment. What can lead to imprisonment is discussed below.