Which Agent??

[watty]

Hi All

After recent disappointments i think i have a big positive at last. A couple of months ago many agents e.g. Go Matilda, Immigration group, visa bureau to name a few advised me that i would not qualify for the 136 visa as i did not have a qualification to link with my work experience.

To my suprise i have discovered that the tertiary exams i took many years ago (19 - i feel old) with the institute of banking are named as, "Diploma in financial services management" sounds grand!!!.

Since my good news this week have tried to switch my attention back to agents. Has anybody had any experience of a company called Visa First? if so were they good / bad.

Who would you all recommend? I did find Alan of Go Matilda very helpful.

Thanks

Watty (Keith)

[Scarletfever]

I've heard Go Matilda are really good and that quite a few of the people on her have used them and been sucessful. I was given the thumbs down by Global Visas after a telephone conversation with one of their agents. It was an 'absolutely, no chance, sorry, bye' sort of situation. I was a time served carpenter who hadn't really lifted a hammer in anger over the last 4 - 5 years.
Someone recommended Ozlife.com to me and I filled in the online assesment. I got an email back after a few hours after which I replied saying that I'd had problems with another company and could they look into my assesment to see if they could maybe recommend some other way of reaching the required criteria. Instead of saying, no, forget it, it was more of a case of thinking 'outside the square' to see if I could qualify some other way.
During writing down what my current duties actually were, they said, 'No problem, even if you can't get in being a carpenter, you can apply seeing as my present occupation as a timber surveyor included a large period of my working day supervising sub contract carpenters. So instead of applying under ASRI 4411-13 which is the carpenter section, I've applied under ASRI 4411-01 which is the Supervisory section.
Sorry, really long winded I know, but I firmly believe that good recommendation will pay dividends in the end. We're very lucky on this forum to have quite a few individuals who are agents who are never too busy to give their advice. The same goes for lots of individuals who, after meeting certain barriers themselves, offer their advice and support willingly. I know that I, if I eventually manage to gain my visa, will be indebted to loads of individuals on this site who have helped me every step of the way.
dAN

[watty]

Cheers Dan, i appreciate your advice. I will get in touch with them.
Good to hear that there are agents out there who will help even if it is not as straight forward as they would like.

I agree there are a few agents who will assist on th forum. Good luck and thanks again.

Keith

[hays]

Hi Keith,
Allan Collett is the MD for 'go matilda' and he often helps people with advice and posts on here. He also answered a PM i sent him regarding a tricky situation almost immediatly has been really helpful. We'll be using them when we apply next year. Hope this helps!
hays

[Debs64]

Hi there

I would certainly recommend Go Matilda. I spoke to two other agents before them, one promised the earth, the other wasn't too confident I had a chance.

Go Matilda made no promises but told it how it was, have been very straight forward to deal with and reply to all my e-mails promptly, however daft.

good luck with it all

Debs