Author's Profile

Imelda Argel established her own practice in 1994 primarily focusing on immigration, conveyancing and commercial contracts and wills and probate. She migrated to Australia with her 9 year old son in 1988. Like the challenges encountered by many new migrants she humbly accepted a paralegal position at the law firm, Baker & McKenzie (Sydney), despite 15 years of corporate legal experience in a prestigious law firm and in top corporations in Manila. Before she opened her practice she worked during the day and studied at night in order to gain admission as a Solicitor of New South Wales and to obtain her Masters of Law from University of Sydney. 

Her practice is credited with having obtained the most number of working visas for overseas Filipino registered nurses in Sydney in year 2000 to 2008, a remarkable 90% success rate of visa grants for various categories and nationalities since 1996, 95% rate of success for appeals with the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT). 

Imelda served as one of the very few EVALUATORS to evaluate Continuing Professional Development (CPD), who was appointed by Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) in recognition of her very high standards of ethics, competence and integrity. 

One of Imelda’s achievements is the recognition of the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) Licensure Board Examinations in the assessment of qualifications under NOOSR’s the Philippine Country Education Profile (CEP). 

Imelda submitted her recommendation to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration of the Federal Parliament in August 2005. This has resulted in the Bachelor degree obtained in the Philippines being comparable to the educational level of Bachelor degree in Australia, regardless of weighted averaged, where the degree was obtained in the Philippines, provided the visa applicant passed the PRC examinations. 

Another unique demonstration of her skills is the establishment in record time, of a partnerships between NSW TAFE South Western Sydney Institute with five Philippine education institutions in 2007. This alliance allowed students of various nationalities to enrol in TAFE NSW courses which were offered in the Philippines. Students of TAFE NSW in the Philippines were able to obtain Australian qualifications at a fraction of the overseas student tuition fees in Australia. 

More information about her is available at www.iargel.com.au. Her migration agent registration no. was  9682957. Imelda Argel retired from her legal and migration practice in  December 2013.

Imelda Argel can be contacted at mziargel@gmail.com .