The new CPD framework for Registered Migration Agents — set out in the Migration Agents (CPD Activities, Approval of CPD Providers and CPD Provider Standards) Instrument 2026 (LIN 26/001) — has been in force since 1 April 2026. RMAs who have not yet completed CPD for their current registration period should treat this as a reasonable point to review their position, since a separate, narrower concession tied to 30 June 2026 is still available but is closing.
The underlying point requirement is unchanged. To renew registration under the Migration Act, an RMA who does not hold a current Australian legal practising certificate must complete 10 CPD points annually: a minimum of 5 points in Category A, 2 mandatory points split evenly between ethical standards and the Code of Conduct, and the remaining points from either category. Category A covers interactive, real-time workshops, including online webinar workshops, allocated at one point per hour, or accredited units within a program of learning. Category B covers conferences, seminars, and lectures conducted in real time, allocated at one point per 1.5 hours, and private study with assessment, also at one point per 1.5 hours, which must now be completed within 12 months of enrolment.
The most operationally significant change concerns online learning. An online activity is now worth a maximum of 6 points within any continuous 24-hour period. The earlier instrument allowed a much higher daily allocation, which in practice let an agent clear an entire year's CPD requirement in a single extended online sitting. That approach is no longer available under the current framework: where the online component of an agent's CPD exceeds 6 points, it must be split across more than one 24-hour period.
A separate, time-limited concession sits alongside the new framework. Agents applying for repeat registration between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 may submit evidence of CPD activities that were commenced or completed on or before 30 June 2026 and have that evidence assessed on relaxed terms: up to 1 point (rather than 2) for ethics and Code of Conduct combined, up to 5 points of private study without the new 12-month completion deadline, and more than 6 online points within a single 24-hour period. This is not a delay to the framework's start date — it is a closing window for CPD already underway under the previous settings.
For agents with CPD still outstanding, the practical step is to total points already completed against the 10-point requirement, confirm whether the ethics and Code of Conduct components have been separately satisfied, and decide whether any remaining online study should be finished — and supported by evidence of completion or commencement — on or before 30 June 2026 to rely on the transitional concession, or planned across multiple days to comply with the 6-point cap thereafter.