This year has been one that will go down in the history books, with its mass lockdowns, record number of covid cases, continued border closures, families separated by the pandemic and many valuable and highly skilled migrants leaving our shores. It has certainly not been without its challenges.
On an immigration, visas and covid front, organisations needed to be creative in finding and employing global talent and those wanting to emigrate to Australia needed to be clever in their approach to become part of the talent funnel Australian businesses so desperately needed.
The mass exit of migrants as the Australian government cracked down on visas and exemptions meant more than 1 million temporary residents left Australia during the pandemic. (Source: Bloomberg)
As migration specialists, the team at The Migration Agency, has been privy to the difficult scenarios and situations many employers, employees and their families faced in 2021.
As the year draws to a close, in this blog, we look back at the year that was for TMA as we helped countless businesses and individuals navigate the new working landscape in Australia, while also navigating our own business and growth.
Our Net Promoter Score is a record high!
We are proud to end our year with a Net Promoter Score of +87.
The Net Promoter Score is a widely used market research metric that typically takes the form of a single survey question asking respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend a company, product, or a service to a friend or colleague. (Source: Net Promoter)
To give an idea of what that means, a score can range from -100 (where 100 percent of customers are not promoters of your business to +100 where 100 percent of customers are 10/10 promoters.
Our average score is very high for the majority of people that we work with and that’s because at TMA our whole team prides itself on wowing our customers. For example,
“It has been a pleasure working with Vanessa this year. I have worked with many immigration partners in the last 10 years and Vanessa is by far one of the best. She has truly become a trusted partner to me and [the business]. In a crazy year of COVID and travel exemptions, we are eternally grateful for everything she helped with this year! It’s clear she is dedicated and takes the time to understand the business she works with – she is outstanding.” – HR Manager, APAC, Medical Device Company
Increased education around immigration, visas and exemptions
For 2021, it was a year of advocacy for TMA, and the clients and industries we work with.
TMA was involved in high-level discussions with the government, clients and industry organisations about the state of Australia’s economy and how immigration will play a major part in reviving it. TMA also spearheaded a number of negotiations and bespoke arrangements with the Department of Home Affairs and employer sponsors, to help ensure health workers could be deployed to the frontline and assist with the covid response and vaccination roll-out.
Managing Director Sarah Thapa was invited to speak at the PANGEO Conference, deemed the largest global employment conference in the world, in front of more than 6000 registrants on the topic of how to “Future-Proof Your Business: Scale and Hire Globally and Compliantly”.
Sarah also organised and co-led a discussion with Life Sciences industry leaders, presenting an immigration briefing to the ARCS Workforce and Capacity Summit on how Australian immigration programs can support the life sciences sector and immigration pathways for global talent.
Additionally, she was heavily involved with the government’s Global Talent Attraction Taskforce and raising the profile of the Global Talent Visa program in the target sectors.
Partnerships and expansion
To extend our services and offer end-to-end solutions to our clients, we buckled down and nurtured our existing relationships and formed many new and exciting partnerships, which helped our clients grow and expand into Australia and other parts of the world.
The partnerships we have formed offer our clients access to more options when it comes to immigration services, sourcing highly skilled candidates from around the world, and reaching new markets and countries.
We also worked closely with the government through the Global Talent Attraction Taskforce. The taskforce aims to “transform Australia into a more powerful magnet for marquee enterprises and exceptional individuals so we can reap the benefit of their ideas, capital, talent and networks.” (Source: GlobalAustralia.gov.au)
The Migration Agency continued its mission to make a positive impact by contributing its profile, people and product to aligned community partners. Thanks to the financial support of TMA, our partners at FONA completed the construction of a state-of-the-art Education Centre of Excellence, an incredible feat given all the logistical challenges of the pandemic. The Education Centre is providing life-changing education to over 400 students living in a remote village in Singhuli, Nepal. The Migration Agency has also formed a new partnership with The Freedom Hub, to support survivors of slavery and human trafficking, a significant portion of whom are migrants. We look forward to building upon these partnerships in 2022.
Awards and recognition in 2021
We are proud to be rewarded for our work and dedication to immigration and supporting employers and employees with these awards:
- Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Business Services 2021
- APAC Legal Best Immigration Law Firm 2021, Australasia
- APAC Legal Client Service Excellence Award 2021
“These awards recognise our hard work and achievements and I’d like to acknowledge the team for their contribution. We couldn’t continue to offer the high standard of service to our clients without the whole team. The awards we won this year are a testament to them.” – Sarah Thapa, Managing Director, TMA
Our own TMA immigration tech platform
To bring immigration services into the new-age era, we have created a tech platform to digitise the way we do immigration. The new platform will initiate a seamless hiring process for organisations bringing international employees into Australia.
One of our company’s strategic objectives this year was adaptation and innovation. We used covid as an opportunity to develop our technological capability. Our objective is “to be at the forefront of technological change and innovation in the immigration industry, to anticipate future trends, adopt new technologies which improve customer experience and leverage data to generate insights.”
TMA Digital Services is the new platform that streamlines and automates parts of the visa application process and compliance for companies and applicants.
Team success and growth
This year has seen our footprint expand around the world as we also moved into new markets and recruited our own global talent. On an international front, we opened an office in India, expanded our team in South Africa, deepened our capability in New Zealand, and grew into the Philippines.
We have felt very privileged to help bring highly skilled migrants to Australia during the pandemic and assist organisations to grow in challenging times, while also reuniting families.
As the calendar closes on 2021, we have been honoured to work with some of Australia’s best companies and brightest employees with their immigration, visas and exemptions needs, as we navigate the new working and employment landscape together. Wishing you every success in 2022 and thanking you for your support in 2021.
