Roles and responsibilities of the provisional licence holder
Clause 13a
A provisional licence holder must:
- act in accordance with the supervision agreement as approved by the Registrar of Immigration Advisers
This clause means that provisional licence holders must comply with all aspects of the supervision agreement.
Other responsibilities of provisional licence holders within the Code:
- clause 8(a)- work within their competence
- clause 8(c) - advise all clients that they hold a provisional licence, that they are formally supervised and that they must seek advice from their supervisor whenever necessary
- clause 11 - provide to the Registrar a copy of their signed and dated supervision agreement for approval
- clause 19(c) - include within their written agreement with clients:
- that their licence requires them to work under the direct supervision of a full licence holder, and that they must seek advice from the supervisor whenever necessary
- the name and licence number of their supervisor
- a record that they will disclose the client’s personal information to their supervisor who is obliged to keep that information confidential (by virtue of clause 12(d))
What happens if a supervision agreement is terminated?
Clause 13 (b) to (d):
A provisional licence holder must:
- inform the Registrar of Immigration Advisers when any notice is given that the supervision agreement is to be terminated
- not give immigration advice for any period of time in which they do not have in place a supervision agreement approved by the Registrar of Immigration Advisers
- provide any new supervision agreement to the Registrar of Immigration Advisers for approval.
If notice is given by either the supervisor or the provisional licence holder that the supervision agreement is to be terminated, the provisional licence holder must inform the Registrar.
Note
A provisional licence holder may not provide any immigration advice for any period in which they do not have a supervision agreement in place.
When a provisional licence holder finds a new supervisor and enters into a supervision agreement with them, this must be provided to the Registrar for approval before the provisional licence holder may recommence providing immigration advice.
What has changed compared to the 2010 Code?
2010 Code – did not have any specific requirements relating to supervision
2014 Code – has specific requirements relating to supervision that require a provisional licence holder and their supervisor to have a supervision agreement in place that is approved by the Registrar of Immigration Advisers. There are also specific roles and responsibilities outlined for supervisors and provisional licence holders.