Acacia Staff Profiles

Mark Webster, Director

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Mark Webster is the founder of Acacia Immigration Australia. He has  a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science (Hons, University Medal majoring in Pure Mathematics) also from the same university.

Mark has been a Registered Migration Agent since 1999, and a member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) since 2001. In November 2003, Mark became a Member of the MIA NSW Executive.

Mark frequently presents seminars on Australian Immigration Law for IARC, the MIA and for Acacia Immigration. He has also presented for the University of NSW, and worked on the General Skilled Migration topic for the MIA’s migration agent entry course. He recently was a major author of the MIA submission to the Joint Senate Committee on Migration on skills assessment.

Mark wrote the chapters on General Skilled Migration and Temporary Workers for the current edition of the Immigration Kit, which is the definitive Immigration Law textbook used by migration agents.

Prior to the foundation of Acacia Immigration, Mark Webster was employed by Port Jackson Partners Limited as a management consultant. Port Jackson Partners was formed by ex-directors of McKinsey & Company to provide strategic and organisational management consulting services to large Australian corporations. 

Alexia Emmerson, Associate

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Alexia Emmerson is a French Qualified Lawyer and a Registered Migration Agent. Originally from France, Alexia worked as a Legal Counsel in an international IT company headquartered in Paris prior to moving as In-House Counsel in the Sydney based subsidiary in 2003.

She has been advising international clients doing business in Australia and in New Caledonia within major International and Australian law firms (PWC Legal , Norman Waterhouse Lawyers and until recently Jones Day). Alexia managed the Expatriation/Immigration practice within an International law firm advising international clients doing business in New Caledonia/France and in Australia with their expatriation/immigration and employment issues.

Alexia provides professional migration advice and strategic assistance to Acacia’s international client base. This client base mainly comprises those offshore companies seeking to import senior executives and skilled technical managers to their Australian operations, as well as private individual investors.

Alexia has also run several workshops dedicated to business immigration. She is actively involved within the French business community. She has also participated in the writing of articles dealing with Australian immigration.

Alexia was a contributing author for the upcoming guide " Resider et travailler en Australie" published by Ubifrance and the French Trade Commission in Sydney. She wrote the chapter dealing with Immigration issues.

Natalya Khodan, Associate

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Natalya is a Registered Migration Agent and a member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) since 2008. She has completed a Graduate Certificate in Migration Law and Practice from Australian National University in Canberra in 2007. She also has a Bachelor of International Business from the Ukrainian Government University, a Diploma in Management and a Certificate III in IT from the International College of Business & Technology.

She mainly specializes in ENS, temporary business sponsorship (457s) and skilled offshore visas. Natalya’s knowledge of migration law allows her to work with companies as well as individuals. Natalya is professional, extremely organised, motivated and dedicated to her clients’ needs. Her main goal is to meet any client expectation.

Natalya understands that the migration process can be very complicated if not stressful as she migrated to Australia from the Ukraine in 2001. This helps her to understand her client better than anyone else. She is also fluent in Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Aki Takahata, Registered Migration Agent

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Aki Takahata completed his law degrees both at Kyushu University in Japan and the University of New South Wales in Australia. After admission to the Supreme Court of New South Wales as a legal practitioner he practiced as a commercial lawyer at several Sydney CBD law firms before moving to the area of immigration law. Aki has experience in all visa areas including Employer nomination, Business Temporary, Spouse and Parents visas with a special focus on General Skilled Migration.

Lauren Partridge, Registered Migration Agent

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Sarah Kabbara, Case Manager

Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Sydney and is currently completing the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law to practice as a solicitor in NSW.

Sarah has extensive experience in business sponsorship visas, general skilled visas and family sponsored visas. She has handled close to 100 successful cases since starting at Acacia Immigration in October 2007.

April Nurse, Paralegal

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April is a Registered Migration Agent, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pune, a Master in Logistics from the University of Wollongong, Postgraduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from ACAP, and a Graduate Certificate in Migration Law and Practice from ANU. She moved to Australia in November 2002, and is now an Australian citizen. She has first hand experience of studying in Australia and migration to Australia.

Zuelma Sterling, Paralegal

Zuelma joined Acacia Immigration Australia in August 2008. She has a Bachelors in Computer Science from Simon Bolivar University in Sartenejas, Venezuela and a Telecommunications Certificate awarded with distinction from UC Berkeley Extension California, USA. Currently she is completing her project management certification with the PMI.

Justin Kowalski, Head of Business Development and Customer Relations

Justin is a graduate with distinction in International Relations and Politics from the University of New South Wales.

Originally from the United States, Justin came to Acacia as an international student and never left! Assisting with corporate and overseas development as well as our ongoing and one-of-a kind ‘Acacia-on Campus’ concept, he is proud to assist fellow internationals in achieving their dreams of prosperity in Australia.

Melanie Duncan, Business Development Manager – Education

Melanie comes to Acacia with ten years experience working with international students in the University sector. She brings a wealth of knowledge on international student matters from both an education provider and student perspective.

Melanie graduated ‘With Distinction’ in 2003 from her Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) degree at the University of Wollongong.

Lara Arcos, Paralegal

Lara is an international student from Argentina. She has a bachelor Degree in Law from the Universidad del Museo Social Argentino and is currently studying a Masters in Business Law at the University of Sydney.

Chrissye Wirya, Sales Coordinator

 Chrissye is a sales coordinator at Acacia Immigration Australia. Her role is to be the first point of contact for clients seeking immigration advice - arranging face to face consultations and liaising with clients wishing to use our full visa application service. She has worked at Acacia since September 2008. She has an Advanced Diploma in IT & a Diploma in Business Marketing.

Originally from Indonesia, she decided to migrate and live in Australia upon her arrival here in year 2000.