CPD requirements for RMAs

Every registered migration agent who applies for repeat registration must show they have completed the required CPD.

You must complete your CPD activities in the 12 months immediately before you submit your re-registration application — not in a fixed calendar or financial year.

• You can lodge your re-registration application up to 8 weeks before your registration expires. Activities completed more than 12 months before the date you actually lodge will fall outside the window.
• Points cannot be carried forward. If you select more than 10 points, all of them are applied to the current application.
• Points used for one application cannot be reused for a later one.

Practical tip: work backwards from the date you intend to lodge (for most agents, about 8 weeks before expiry) and make sure every activity you rely on falls within the 12 months before that date.

A mandatory activity can also count towards your Category A total if it is a Category A activity. Because at least 5 of your 10 points must be Category A, no more than 5 Category B points can count towards the 10.

On the OMARA website, mandatory activities are identified by their activity number prefix — M1A (ethics, Category A), M2A (Code of Conduct, Category A), M1B and M2B (the Category B equivalents) — and their title must name the mandatory topic.

LIN 26/001 also introduced an optional topic on the protection of workplace rights.

An activity undertaken through online learning is worth a maximum of 6 points in any continuous period of 24 hours. Any online points above 6 in that period are not counted towards your application.

Example: a 3-hour online workshop at 9am and a 4-hour online workshop at 1pm the same day total 7 hours — but only 6 points count. A face-to-face workshop is not affected by this limit. The limit runs on any 24-hour period, so an evening session followed by a morning session the next day can also be caught.

Private study (written materials or self-paced e-learning without a facilitator) is Category B, must include an assessment, and must be completed within 12 months of the date you enrolled. Points are awarded at 1 per 1.5 hours only when you pass the assessment.

A CPD activity must relate to one or more of these topics:

• the Migration Act 1958;
• the Migration Agents Regulations 2026;
• other legislation relating to migration procedure;
• portfolio policies and procedures;
• the application of any of the above to your practice;
• a topic of a legal or business nature relevant to your practice as an RMA;
• the protection of workplace rights;
• the ethical standards for migration agents, or the Code of Conduct.

Self-directed reading without an assessment from an approved provider, general business training unrelated to migration practice, and activities from providers who are not approved do not count.

To claim CPD points you must remain in attendance for the entire duration of the activity session. Providers must accurately identify participants, record attendance and ensure participants stay for the full duration — so expect identity checks, cameras on for online workshops, roll calls and participation checks.

How Manthan applies this: attendance & participation policy.

You can only claim CPD delivered by a CPD provider approved by OMARA. Before you enrol:

• Check the provider is on OMARA's list of approved CPD providers.
• Find the session on OMARA's upcoming CPD sessions page. Approved providers must advertise their sessions there, and the activity number (e.g. WK…, M1A…, M2A…) tells you its category and whether it is mandatory.
• After the activity, the provider must notify OMARA of your completion within 14 days. Check your record in the OMARA Portal and follow up with the provider if a completion is missing.
• Keep your certificates. Manthan certificates show the provider, the activity title, the category, the points, the date and your MARN.

If you apply for repeat registration between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027, you may rely on CPD activities that commenced or were completed on or before 30 June 2026 under the previous rules, namely:

• 1 point in either ethical standards or the Code of Conduct (rather than both);
• up to 5 points of private study with assessment — including private study enrolled before 1 July 2026 even if more than 12 months passed between enrolment and completion;
• more than 6 points from online activities completed within a 24-hour period (OMARA indicates up to 10).

Activities from 1 July 2026 onwards must meet the new rules.

For exceptional circumstances beyond your control, OMARA may give you up to 3 months of extra time to complete your CPD. You must ask as part of your re-registration application and provide supporting evidence. OMARA generally does not accept heavy workload, financial hardship, overseas travel, the unavailability of a preferred CPD activity, or computer or internet problems.

If your CPD is incomplete and there is no evidence of exceptional circumstances, OMARA may refuse your re-registration application. You cannot lawfully provide immigration assistance while unregistered.