The Migration Agents Capstone Assessment is the final hurdle between finishing your migration law studies and registering as a Registered Migration Agent (RMA) in Australia. It has a reputation for being tough — but most of that difficulty is about knowing the format cold and preparing for it properly. This guide walks through exactly what the assessment is, how it's structured, how re-sits work, and how to give yourself the best chance of passing the first time.
What is the Capstone Assessment?
The Capstone is an independent, competency-based assessment that tests whether you have the skills and knowledge to meet the nine Occupational Competency Standards (OCS) required of a Registered Migration Agent. Every part of it must be passed at the minimum threshold before you can register with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) and provide immigration assistance in Australia.
Legal Training Australia (LTA) is the sole provider of the assessment and runs regular intakes throughout the year. The Capstone brings your studies together into a single holistic assessment: rather than testing isolated topics, it checks whether you can actually operate as a migration agent.
Who has to sit it?
You're eligible to apply once you've completed one of the prescribed qualifications:
- Graduate Diploma in (Australian) Migration Law and Practice; or
- Master of Australian Migration Law and Practice; or
- Graduate Certificate in Australian Migration Law and Practice, if completed before 1 January 2018.
You'll also need to be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or hold a New Zealand subclass 444 visa, and provide certified photo ID and certified copies of your qualifications when you apply. (Candidates who hold only a Graduate Certificate should review OMARA's recommendation before enrolling.)
How the assessment is structured
The Capstone has two graded assessments — a written assessment and an oral assessment — and you must pass both. The written assessment itself has two components.
| Assessment | What it involves | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written — Component 1 | 10 multiple-choice questions (20 marks) + 2 short-answer questions (30 marks) | 50 | part of the 3-hour written sitting |
| Written — Component 2 | 1 long case study | 50 | part of the 3-hour written sitting |
| Oral | Zoom interview on a case study given in advance; a client-interview scenario assessed by an experienced migration practitioner | Pass/fail at threshold | ~40 minutes to 1 hour |
A few important details:
- The written assessment is open-book, with access to LEGENDcom, and is invigilated over Zoom. You can use online and hard-copy resources — but you're marked on speed and judgement, not on your ability to look things up from scratch.
- New candidates get 3 hours for the written assessment, split roughly 1.5 hours for Component 1 and 1.5 hours for the case study.
- The oral gives you a case study in advance, then tests how you'd communicate with and manage a client as an RMA. It can also draw on the Code of Conduct, the Occupational Competency Standards, and your knowledge of immigration law and policy.
- A practical note: you can't wear headphones of any kind during any assessment, and you need a stable internet connection, camera and microphone.
What counts as passing
You need to score 65% or more on each graded component — both parts of the written assessment and the oral — and you must pass every one of them. The Capstone is pass/fail; there's no grading beyond the threshold.
The 65% figure is the pass mark — the score you need — not the proportion of candidates who pass. Those are two very different numbers that get confused constantly. We break that down fully in our guide to the Capstone pass rate.
Intake dates and the assessment timeline
LTA runs regular intakes across the year. Each one follows the same rhythm: apply and pay, get access to Canvas and LEGENDcom about a week before it opens, attend preparation webinars, sit the written assessment, receive written marks, book and sit the oral, then receive outcome letters.
Note that oral bookings usually open after written results are released — so you'll know where you stand before the oral is confirmed.
For current intake dates and enrolment deadlines, see the LTA Capstone Assessment page.
What it costs
The enrolment fee covers access to the assessment platform (Canvas), one attempt at the written assessment, one attempt at the oral, supporting resources, and access to LEGENDcom for the duration of your enrolment.
If you need to re-sit, fees are charged per component — and the oral re-sit is the most expensive single component. Re-marking (a review of your existing result) is also available at a lower cost.
For current fees, see the LTA Capstone Assessment page. LTA reviews fees periodically, so always check there rather than relying on figures quoted elsewhere.
Whatever the current amount, the cost of re-attempting the oral alone is a powerful reason to prepare properly the first time.
What happens if you don't pass
The assessment is designed to only re-test what you didn't pass. If you pass both written components but not the oral, for example, you re-sit only the oral. Re-sit written components are also shorter — 1.5 hours for the single component you're repeating.
The key constraint: you must pass all components within 12 months of the intake you first enrolled in. Miss that window and you start over.
How to prepare
Here's a fact many candidates don't realise until they're enrolled: LTA states that it does not provide training or education specific to the Capstone Assessment. The body that runs the exam gives you practice questions and webinars on how the assessment works — but preparing your knowledge and skills to actually pass is on you.
That's where most of the difficulty comes from. After working through the Migration Act, the Regulations and the Code of Conduct, the patterns in why candidates fail are consistent, and none of them are about intelligence:
- Time against marks. The case study carries 50 of the written marks in its own 1.5-hour window. Mismanage it and knowledge won't save you.
- The Code of Conduct treated as background. It's directly testable — including in the oral — and has a specific structure you're expected to know.
- Open-book overconfidence. LEGENDcom access rewards familiarity and speed, not learning on the spot.
- Going into the oral cold. You get the case study in advance, but it's a live assessment of how you advise and manage a client under pressure.
The fix in every case is practice under exam conditions: timed drilling until mark-allocation is automatic, the Code of Conduct learned as its own topic, and the oral rehearsed out loud. We cover the oral in depth in our guide to preparing for the Capstone oral assessment, and you can work through free Capstone practice questions to test yourself.
Try MARA Prep
MARA Prep is built specifically around the gap LTA leaves open. It gives you a large question bank mapped to the Occupational Competency Standards, timed drill and exam-simulation modes, and a Learning Academy covering the Code of Conduct, landmark cases and oral scenarios — so you can practise the format until it holds no surprises. Try the free demo to see where you stand before deciding on anything.