Just getting started

[Gary/Louise]

Hi,

We have been thinking for a long time about emigrating from the UK. Circumstances at my work and my age have now made up our minds that now is the time. I am 42 (Gary) (Louise is 39) and we have two girls 12 and 6.

I do feel cheeky but I would just like advice from some similar families that have, or are doing, the same thing that we share our experiences with. We currently live in Leicester and after a fair bit of studying we think we like the idea of living around the Brisbane or Sunshine Coast area.

My job for thast 12 years has been Network / Systems manager for a medium size supply chain and logistics company and Louise is a Marketing Administrator.

After looking on the net it would appear there are hundreds of agents touting their wares. Do you need to use one of these? If so does anyone have any recomendations? Someone has mentioned to me Concept Australia.

Thanks

Louise / Gary

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gary

Welcome to Poms in Oz (and Louise and the girls, of course.)

Hun, there is nothing cheeky about asking for help if you feel you need it.

Whether or not to use an Agent is a very personal decision. A lot of people handle their own applications and if they have the right sort of temperament and aptitude for swotting evrything up, they usually managge OK on their own.

Others are less cofident (and/or too busy to be able to do a PILE of research) and they prefr to have an Agent guiding them through the whole process.

The skills assessment is often more difficult than the visa-application itself. Some people use Agents for the skills assessment and then do the rest by themselves, which can sometimes save some money.

The best thing is to ring several agents and see which ones you warm to and which ones not because it is essential touse an Agent whom you feel comfortable with. Most of them are happy to have an initial chat on the phone free of charge, to help you to get started. But it is certainly not compulsory to use an Agent by any means.

One thing that is militating considering using an Agent just at the minute is that some fairly dramatic alterations to the legislation are due to be implemented on 1 September 2007. These changes will skew the Points Test in favour of some applicants but they will also skew it against some other applicants, who may be left short on points as a result.

Have you discovered the DIAC website yet? If not, it is here:

http://www.immi.gov.au/

Shout if you have more queries at any time. There will always be someone around who can help pretty quickly.

Cheers

Gill

[ptlabs]

Originally Posted by Gary/Louise

My job for thast 12 years has been Network / Systems manager for a medium size supply chain and logistics company and Louise is a Marketing Administrator.

After looking on the net it would appear there are hundreds of agents touting their wares. Do you need to use one of these?

Louise, Gary,

This question invariably pops up whenver people contemplate migrating to Australia.

My standard answer:
http://www.ptlabs.com.au/visas/faq.php#basic004
which is pretty much similar to Gill's reply above.

Some agents value add in their own individual ways. While there are lots of applicants who would dismiss the idea of hiring an agent as a pure waste of money, there are certain circumstances where the presence of an agent would help tremendously.

From your brief description of yourself, you'll need to either have an "in-demand" IT specialization or Australian relatives to sponsor you for an outright permanent visa now. Things are going to change come 1 Sept 2007, but there are too many variables to tell anyone how the changes will affect them personally.

Your first port of call is the ACS: http://www.acs.org.au/ to see what you need to do for a skills assessment which is the mandatory step before applying for a skilled visa in your case. Good luck.


Peter

[The Broughtons]

Hello and welcome to PiO,

We did the skills assessment ourselves but are using the Emigration Group for our visa application. The form is pretty straight forward for the Visa but we weren't confident enough to go it alone, we wanted to make sure we got it right first time.

Do ask as many questions on the forum as you like, that's what it's here for and there will always be someone able to either answer your question or point you in the right direction.

[tahe49]

Hi Gary /Louise
Welcome to site. We are at the begining of process but using an agent Go Matilda (recommended on this site). Also hoping to go to Sunshine coast area (depending on work). Have two kids 7 and 2. Ask away!

[Ange]

Originally Posted by tahe49

Hi Gary /Louise
Welcome to site. We are at the begining of process but using an agent Go Matilda (recommended on this site). Also hoping to go to Sunshine coast area (depending on work). Have two kids 7 and 2. Ask away!

Hi,
We are going to start the process next month, looking for an agent who does a no visa no fee. Do you know how much the whole process will cost? Hoping to go to Perth with husband Gary and son Josh 8 who will only emigrate if he can take every toy he owns (most probably need about 50 crates just for him alone).

[ali]

Hiya and welcome. Like you a holiday to Oz and having our 40th birthdays made up our minds. We're both 43 (well OH will be tomorrow) and have children similar ages 12 and 7. Our daughter (12) struggled with the idea at first but loves it here (we've been here since January). No mention of going home and each of the children are establishing their own friendships.

We didn't use an agent for the application but ours was pretty straight forward - but agents have proven invaluable and money well spent to a large number of people on the site.

Ali