TERMS AND CONDITIONS

This website themigrationstudio.com.au/ (Website) is owned and operated by Jess Celentano trading as THE MIGRATION STUDIO. (ABN 89 932 454 993)(TMS.).

These Website terms and conditions (Terms) apply to your use of the Website our affiliated social media channels and by using this Website and affiliated social media channels, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

LEGAL STATUS:

TMS. is a sole trader in Victoria, Australia.

Legal Capacity to Transact:

By accessing this Website, you represent and warrant that you are over the age of 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a legally binding contract.

Changes to these Terms

TMS. Reserves the right to amend, update, modify or change these terms at its discretion and without notice to you. You accept it is your responsibility to review the Terms as they exist from time to time and your continued use of the Website indicates your agreement and compliance with the Terms as at that time.

If you do not agree with our Terms, you should not use our site.

The Terms will not be affected by, and will take precedence over, any other Terms and Conditions on this Website.

Privacy Policy

These Terms include TMS.’ Privacy Policy.

By continuing to use this Website, you agree to the Privacy Policy and warrant that all information you provide is accurate.

Website and Social Media Material is not Legal Advice

Material published on this Website and TMS.’ social media channels is provided for general information only. Information is not intended to be comprehensive and is not intended to constitute legal advice. It should not be relied upon as such.

Immigration law is complex and subject to frequent change. While TMS. endeavours to keep content current, no warranties are given as to accuracy or completeness of the information at one time. Nor is it taken to be advice particular for your situation. You should seek independent legal advice before acting on any information published on this Website or social media channels.

Endorsements and affiliations

References to third parties on this Website or our social media do not constitute endorsement or recommendation.

The Website and social media channels may contain links from or to Websites, platforms or otherwise operated by third parties. Unless expressly stated, TMS. does not approve, authorise or endorse the content, views or otherwise expressed by third parties.

Copyright and Intellectual property

All intellectual property on this Website and associated social media channels is owned by or licensed to TMS. Your use of the Website does not grant you any rights in relation to that intellectual property.

If you believe the Website or social media channels contain intellectual property that infringes upon any copyright you hold or control, please email hiya@themigrationstudio.com.au with a notification of the alleged infringement and the material particulars.

Prohibited use

You must not use this Website or the information provided on it for any unlawful purpose. This includes but is not limited to using the Website to:

a. violate local, state, national or international laws;

b. decipher passwords or security encryption codes;

c. transmit:

i. viruses, worms or Trojan horses;

ii. junk mail, spam, pyramid schemes

d. transmit or store illegal, obscene or threatening material;

e. transmit any material or information that may be, or may reasonably be considered to be (but is not limited to):

i. obscene, harmful, harassing, abusive, threatening, profane, vulgar or racially offensive;

ii. defamatory, libellous or plagiarised;

iii. sexually explicit or pornographic;

iv. political material, solicitations or advertisements;

v. violating or infringing a copyright, trademark or any intellectual property or proprietary right;

vi. in breach of confidentiality (fiduciary or contractual) or privacy or publicity rights;

vii. a misrepresentation of facts, including falsely imputing to be a person, employee or affiliate of TMS. or sponsored, endorsed or recommended by TMS.;

viii. bring TMS. or its sole trader or related personnel or the reputation of TMS. or its sole trader or related personnel into disrepute.

f. violate the security of a computer network;

g. engage in misleading or deceptive online marketing practices;

h. engage in fraudulent or malicious actions or actions for fraudulent or malicious purposes;

i. engage in flooding techniques or mass distribution of unsolicited email, including junk mail, spam and chain letters

2. use a device, software or like instrument (whether digital or tangible) to interfere with the proper working of this Website.

3. use screen scraping, data mining or data gathering, whether by spider, robot, search/retrieval applications and/or any other data gathering device, program or means, to index, access or retrieve this Website, either in portion or full;

4. undertake or engage in an action that requires or places an excessively large load on TMS.’s infrastructure.

5. interfere with any material, information, images or advertisements (if any) that may appear on this Website.

6. reproduce, duplicate, copy or store any of the material on this Website for commercial use or any use other than personal use, which is TMS.’s intellectual property.

7. exploit material or information contained in the Website or social media channels for business or enterprise, whether for profit or otherwise, including for any business or enterprise in competition with TMS..

8. undertake any action that impacts the value of TMS.’s intellectual property rights.

9. release any material or news to the public without TMS.’s prior written consent.

Client Portal

TMS. provides access to a secure client portal operated via Migration Manager legal software. This software is ISO 27001/2022 Certified.

Use of the portal is subject to Migration Manager’s security, privacy and encryption policies. This can be found at: https://manual.mmcpd.com/m/49190/l/1070570-portal-data-security-privacy-and-cookies-policy and https://manual.mmcpd.com/m/49190/l/1064207-encryption-policy.

By using the portal, you are deemed to agree to be bound by our Terms and Migration Manager’s Terms and Conditions.

TMS. is not responsible for loss arising from failures of third-party software, including any consequential losses that may occur if information is used in a fraudulent or unauthorised manner by a person other than TMS.

If you do not agree with these Terms, you should cease using the portal immediately.

Web Questionnaire

TMS. may request completion of an online questionnaire to assist with preliminary assessment. The questionnaire is operated through Migration Manager legal software and subject to its data security policies. https://manual.mmcpd.com/m/49190/l/1070582-webleads-online-assessment-portal-data-security-privacy-and-cookies-policy and https://manual.mmcpd.com/m/49190/l/1064207-encryption-policy for review.

Completion of this questionnaire does not create a solicitor-client relationship. A solicitor-client relationship is only entered into upon both parties accepting the terms of a Costs Agreement (or other form of agreement as permitted by the Legal Profession Uniform Law).

Prices

All prices are exclusive of Australian Goods and Services Tax (as defined in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth)) unless stated otherwise.

Prices may change at any time without notice.

Payment

Payment may be made via secure online credit card processing or electronic funds transfer.

TMS. may use one or more third-party payment gateways to facilitate secure online payment transactions. Payments made through such systems are subject to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy of the relevant third party providers.

TMS. only accepts payment from Visa and Mastercard and may be unable to accept credit cards issued by banks outside of Australia.

Credit card surcharges imposed by third-party providers or banking institutions are payable by you.

Unless you expressly consent otherwise, TMS. does not have access to any personal information that you may provide through the third party gateway providers, other than information reasonably required to process your payment and provide the requested service.

Appointment fees, trust money and cancellations

Paid appointments

All consultations and strategy sessions offered by TMS. are paid appointments unless expressly stated otherwise.

Payment is required in full at the time of booking.

All consultation fees are deposited into TMS.’s trust account and held on trust until the consultation is delivered or otherwise dealt with in accordance with these terms.

Cancellations and rescheduling

You must provide at least 24 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

Where sufficient notice is provided, the appointment may be rescheduled subject to availability.

No-shows and late cancellations

If you fail to attend an appointment or cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, the consultation fee will be forfeited.

In such circumstances, TMS. will render an invoice for the consultation fee. Once invoiced, the fee is deemed earned and will be transferred from trust to office account.

Should TMS. cancel the consultation for whatever reason and the consultation cannot be rescheduled due to timing or unavailability, the consultation fee will be refunded.

Nature of the consultation fee

The consultation fee is a non-refundable booking fee and is not a penalty.

The fee represents professional legal time reserved exclusively for you, including opportunity cost and preparation undertaken in advance.

Fee reasonableness

All consultation fees are reasonable, proportionate, and consistent with market rates for professional legal services.

Credit toward ongoing services

Where expressly stated and only where the appointment is attended, the consultation fee may be credited toward future professional fees.

No credit applies to no-shows or late cancellations.

Priority

This section prevails over any inconsistent provisions relating to consultations, refunds or cancellations.

Free consultations

Free initial consultations

TMS. may offer a free initial consultation of up to 15 minutes where expressly stated in legacy marketing materials. The initial consultation is designed as a discovery call that is preliminary only – it does not constitute comprehensive legal advice or strategy.

Free consultations are limited to one per person.

A client may be required to book a paid consultation for further discussion, where matters are complex, involve prior history, where a free consultation has already been used or in otherwise reasonable and appropriate cases.

Fees and durations are advised at the time of booking.

If you cancel your free consultation with less than 24 hours’ notice, you forfeit your free consultation.

Consultation format

Consultations are conducted via Microsoft Teams, Zoom or by telephone unless otherwise agreed.

Cancellation by TMS.

If TMS. cancels a paid consultation, any fee paid will be refunded or applied to a rescheduled appointment.

Refunds and remedies

Unless expressly stated, payments are non-refundable.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TMS. expressly limits their liability for breach of any non-excludable condition, warranty or guarantee implied by virtue of any legislation to the following:

· in the case of goods –

o the replacement of the goods; or

o the supply of equivalent goods; or

o the repair of goods or the payment of the cost of the repair of the goods; or

o the payment of the cost of replacing the goods or acquiring equivalent goods

· in the case of services –

o the supply of the services again; or

o the payment of the cost of the services being supplied again.

Liability for non-excludable guarantees is limited to resupply of services or the cost of resupply, at TMS.’s discretion.

User Content

“User Content” is defined as any and all content submitted, posted or otherwise added to this Website or TMS.’s social media channels and includes but is not limited to ratings, feedback, reviews and comments.

By submitting or adding User Content, you:

· warrant that you are the owner of your User Content and that it does not infringe any copyright or other legal rights of a person;

· warrant that the User Content complies with these terms;

· waive any and all existing and future moral rights as defined by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth);

· grant TMS. permission (in the form of a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sub-licensable and transferable licence) to publicly use (reproduce, distribute, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of) the User Content in any way as TMS. sees fit.

TMS. reserves the right to remove any User Content where it is seen to:

· contain unlawful material;

· be libellous or defamatory;

· attack TMS.

· disclose personal information;

· contain irrelevant information.

TMS. is not responsible for the content of User Content and its existence on the Website or social media channels does not indicate TMS.’s agreement, endorsement, recommendation or otherwise.

Testimonials

This Website and our social media channels may contain examples of matters we have completed, outcomes we have achieved for clients or other examples of our services. This is for illustration, example or showcase purposes only and TMS. in no way guarantees that any specific, same or similar results or outcomes are possible, likely or otherwise for other situations.

You may be contacted by TMS. to submit a testimonial or author a review for marketing, promotional or publicity purposes. By providing said testimonial, whether or not used by TMS., you expressly waive any right to that testimonial and agree that testimonial (or a part of the testimonial) can be used on our Website, social media channels or in any other marketing, promotional or publicity materials and purposes.

Warranties and Disclaimers

TMS. expressly disclaims all conditions, representations, warranties (express, implied, statutory or otherwise) regarding this Website and social media channels to the fullest extent permitted by law. The Website and social media channels are provided on an ‘as is’ basis and TMS. makes no warranties, representations or otherwise that:

· our services are suitable, reliable, accurate or fit for a particular purpose;

· this Website:

o will meet your requirements, expectations or needs;

o is reliable, accurate, complete or up-to-date;

o free of any harmful code, malware, software or otherwise;

· any links on this Website or social media channels lead to information that:.

o will meet your requirements, expectations or needs.

o is reliable, accurate, complete or up-to-date;

o free of any harmful code, malware, software or otherwise

· any errors or defects will be corrected;

· there is no possibility of failure to store data.

Limitation of Liability

TMS. (including any sole trader, agents, partners, affiliates or personnel otherwise related), to the maximum extent permitted by law, are in no way responsible for any loss, cost, expense, claim or damage, however arising, arising out of or in connection with the use of this Website. This includes any loss of profits, income, loss or damage to property, claims of third parties, loss or corruption of data or loss of goodwill.

TMS. has liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Release

You agree that:

· use of this Website is at your own discretion and risk;

· by using this Website you release TMS. and any affiliate sole trader, agents, partners or personnel otherwise, from any claim, demand or cause of action you may have against them arising from these terms or your use of this Website or another person’s use of this Website

· TMS. may plead this Release as a complete defence and/or bar against any claims or proceedings.

Force Majeure

TMS., to the maximum extent permitted by law and without limiting any other provision of these terms, expressly excludes liability for any delay in performing any obligations under these terms where such delay is caused by circumstances beyond TMS.’s control. TMS. will be entitled to a reasonable extension of time for the performance of such obligations.

Additional Terms

TMS. only become your legal representative once a contractual agreement is created. This is indicated by the issuance of a costs agreement and disclosure statement (sometimes called a Service Agreement) that is signed by you and TMS., and any agreed-upon costs (whether in part or full, subject to the costs agreement) is received.

The Service Agreement contains terms and conditions in addition to these terms. The Service Agreement forms the basis of your legal relationship with TMS. and operates in conjunction with these Terms.

Interpretation

The below rules of interpretation apply in the reading of this Website’s Terms:

· headings are for reference only and do not define, limit or describe the scope or extent of any provision in these terms;

· the terms cannot be construed adversely against TMS. solely because TMS. authored these terms;

· reference to a singular may be a reference to a plural, and vice-versa;

· reference to ‘you’ or ‘a person’ may refer to an individual, but also a corporation, body corporate, partnership, firm, government body or other entity;

· general words are not limited to specific examples due to the use fo the words ‘in particular’, ‘for example’, ‘including’ or similar English language expressions.

Costs

Unless expressly otherwise provided, you are responsible for any costs associated with these Terms.

Assignment

You must not assign, sub-contract, transfer or otherwise give any of your obligations or rights under these terms to another person without TMS.’ prior written consent.

TMS. reserves the right to assign, sub-contract, transfer or otherwise give any of its rights or obligations under these terms to another person at any time without notice to you.

No Waiver

A waiver of any right or power under these terms must be in writing, signed by the beneficiary of that right or power and is effective only to the extent provided in the written waiver.

TMS.’s failure to act with respect to a breach does not waive TMS.’s right to act regarding that breach, any subsequent breach or any similar breach, by you or other persons.

Severability

The provisions of these Terms are severable.

If any provision or term of these Terms is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid, unenforceable or otherwise contrary to law, the provision may be removed (or amended) and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Breach and/or termination

TMS. reserves the right to terminate your use of this Website where you breach or violate any of these terms, or for any reason at any time.

Indemnity

You indemnify and hold harmless TMS. and any sole trader, agent, licensor or personnel otherwise affiliated with TMS. from and against any and all losses, costs, expenses, liabilities or damages (including but not limited to actual, special, indirect and consequential losses) suffered or incurred due to:

· material or information provided by you through submission, post, transmission or otherwise through this Website or TMS.’s social media channels; and/or

· your use of this site; and/or

· your negligence or misconduct; and/or

· breach of these terms; and/or

· violation of any right of a person, or infringement of any law.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria. These parties irrevocably submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the courts of appeal from them.