Chris Karamanolis is a practiced lawyer, Australian registered migration agent and the founder of several firms. Currently, he heads First Legal & Migration Services Pty Ltd, which he founded in 2012, the same year he was registered as a migration agent by the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA).
The team at First Legal & Migration Services Pty Ltd., headed by Karamanolis, can assist clients with various Australian immigration services, including both temporary and permanent residence applications. Their vast range of expertise covers entrepreneur and investment visas, short and long-term work visas, the Working Holiday Maker program, sporting and entertainment visas, visitor visas, student visas, the General Skilled Migration program, family immigration matters, refugee and asylum matters, citizenship applications, Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviews and so much more.
Prior to forming First Legal & Migration Services Pty Ltd., Karamanolis established his first law firm in South Africa in 1994. Then, in January 2007, he sold that practice in preparation to immigrate to Australia. During those 15 years practicing law in South Africa, Karamanolis represented clients in various South African courts in matters including criminal trials and appeals, civil cases and divorce cases. His experience also includes the establishment of a real estate company in 2001, which operated out of two major South African cities. He and his spouse served as co-principal directors, supervising and training an average of 20 real estate agents at any given time.
In his extensive career, Karamanolis considers being placed on all four major South African mortgagor bank panels to be his greatest achievement. He was also placed as the sole solicitor in charge of debt recovery on behalf of a major local municipality in South Africa.
In 2009 and 2010, Karamanolis bridged his South African Bachelor of Laws degree with Australian legal requirements at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. In December 2010, he was then admitted to practice as an Australian Legal Practitioner in the Supreme Court of Victoria. He speaks fluent English, Greek and Afrikaans.