Sassy14 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm new to this site.. myself and and my family are in the process of looking into emigrating but not sure if we should use an agent or apply direct!! Has anyone got any advice please... Thank you xxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 If you do a search, you'll find a lot of threads on this topic. The consensus will be that it depends on whether you're confident you can do the necessary research and gather the documents and complete the paperwork. Some people are confident and apply quite successfully. Some people are confident and fail, losing their visa application fees. Others aren't confident or don't have the time to do it on their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Thank you for getting back to me maggie, We have been told by the agency they are confident we will be accepted for the 189 visa, there fee is £2.000. I'm just so worried as I have read about fraud agencies etc. xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovingtoTasmania Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Hi Sassy, welcome to the site. Perhaps look at some of the agents that post on here? There's Westly Russell, George Lombard, Adam Grey, a few more whose names I forget. Use the search option at the top of the page perhaps to look up some other threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Hi Sassy. Maybe contact 2 or 3 more agencies - and (for comfort) make sure you are instructing a migration agent who is registered with the MARA: https://www.mara.gov.au/map-search/?location=united+kingdom&keyword= (shows UK based registered migration agents) Note that: > Individuals are registered with the MARA, not the company or firm for which the agent works. > The first 2 numbers of the migration agent's registration number show the year the agent was first registered, which can be a good indicator of the number of years experience the agent has in Australian migration matters. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caz Brady Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Depends on how much you need them to do, we used one to get my dh trade papers and after that I realised I was doing most of the work anyway and did TRA and visa application myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Go Matilda (Alan Collett) is also highly respected on the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovingtoTasmania Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Go Matilda (Alan Collett) is also highly respected on the forum. Yes, this was the one whose name I couldn't remember. Sorry Alan :wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Yes, this was the one whose name I couldn't remember. Sorry Alan :wubclub: I was starting to feel unloved ... :wink: Best wishes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I was starting to feel unloved ... :wink: Best wishes. Just saving the best for last, maybe! I was another DIY submission. Only minor hiccup I had was discovering I had to do IELTS (English test) as my occupation was on what was called the Critical Skills List at the time later on in the process. An agent could probably have picked that up for me sooner but it didn't change the outcome and saved me a lot of money doing it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 Thank you will do that xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 Thank you Alan - so do you mind me asking, are you an agent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 we was actually told by a few agents that my partners qualifications werent valid etc etc and basically agents tried conning us into paying out a lot of money to transfer my partners uk qualifications to the oz equivalent but we after emailing tra and doing a lot of research ourselves we found out his qualification were fine as they was with his experience as well and didnt need too do this so we did the whole process on our own. the way we looked at it is that agents wanted a large amount of money, ranging from £1500 to £3000 so we thought if we spent 10sundays in a row then we could do it ourselves and find all info ourselves on the proper government websites and that is exactly what we did and we got a successful outcome. we sent off my tra in september then did points advice then did EOi which we got an invite within 12hours and then we sent off our main visa which again we did ourselves and 4 and a half weeks later got a successful outcome. we never had any requests for more documents etc as we just did our research. Personally i think money is hard to save up so i wouldnt pay it to an agent to do form filling when basically you still have to get them the documents they just basically check if over like a post office passport service but they hold your hand etc. Just our opinion but i think the agents rates are incredibly high for a bit of emails too yourselves and form filling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 we was actually told by a few agents that my partners qualifications werent valid etc etc and basically agents tried conning us into paying out a lot of money to transfer my partners uk qualifications to the oz equivalent but we after emailing tra and doing a lot of research ourselves we found out his qualification were fine as they was with his experience as well and didnt need too do this so we did the whole process on our own. the way we looked at it is that agents wanted a large amount of money, ranging from £1500 to £3000 so we thought if we spent 10sundays in a row then we could do it ourselves and find all info ourselves on the proper government websites and that is exactly what we did and we got a successful outcome. we sent off my tra in september then did points advice then did EOi which we got an invite within 12hours and then we sent off our main visa which again we did ourselves and 4 and a half weeks later got a successful outcome. we never had any requests for more documents etc as we just did our research. Personally i think money is hard to save up so i wouldnt pay it to an agent to do form filling when basically you still have to get them the documents they just basically check if over like a post office passport service but they hold your hand etc. Just our opinion but i think the agents rates are incredibly high for a bit of emails too yourselves and form filling Yep, it is just as easy to go wrong with an agent if you have the wrong agent. I used an agent initially and they gave me incorrect information, at that time five years ago there were much longer queues than today and the advice I got would have had me in the queue for probably two or three years. Fortunately, I discovered forums, fired the agent, took control of my application and had he visa grant within months. I also felt a lot better handling it myself, more in control. I do often advise using agents if something looks tricky, but I wouldn't default to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Thank you Alan - so do you mind me asking, are you an agent? Alan is one of the most respected agents I know of. He is VERY highly recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Many people of course do it themselves. The issue is that if there is a problem, then most people won't even know there is a problem until they get a rejection. Expensive. Agents are professional advisors and in my opinion not using one is foolhardy. If you were ill, would you trawl the Internet to try to figure out what was wrong then buy drugs on line to treat yourself. Or would you seek assistance from a professional? If selling your house would you appoint a lawyer or try and do it yourself? we was actually told by a few agents that my partners qualifications werent valid etc etc and basically agents tried conning us into paying out a lot of money to transfer my partners uk qualifications to the oz equivalent but we after emailing tra and doing a lot of research ourselves we found out his qualification were fine as they was with his experience as well and didnt need too do this so we did the whole process on our own. the way we looked at it is that agents wanted a large amount of money, ranging from £1500 to £3000 so we thought if we spent 10sundays in a row then we could do it ourselves and find all info ourselves on the proper government websites and that is exactly what we did and we got a successful outcome. we sent off my tra in september then did points advice then did EOi which we got an invite within 12hours and then we sent off our main visa which again we did ourselves and 4 and a half weeks later got a successful outcome. we never had any requests for more documents etc as we just did our research. Personally i think money is hard to save up so i wouldnt pay it to an agent to do form filling when basically you still have to get them the documents they just basically check if over like a post office passport service but they hold your hand etc. Just our opinion but i think the agents rates are incredibly high for a bit of emails too yourselves and form filling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you Alan - so do you mind me asking, are you an agent? From his posting signature.... Managing Director, Go Matilda Visas, www.gomatilda.com - Principal, GM Tax, www.gmtax.com.au Registered Migration Agent Number 0102534, and CA (England & Wales, and Australia) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you for replying, it is abit of a minefield I have to say.. So far the agent feels we can apply under the (csol) but there fee's are so expensive, have you heard of many people successfully applying directly? Thank you sarah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovingtoTasmania Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Many people do successfully apply without an agent. An agent is a guarantee of a grant but if you are in anyway uncertain as to the process then I would recommend that you do consult an agent as equally, many people apply without an agent and get rejected because of a small mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Hi Shazza, thank you so much for replying to my post, wow well done you, that's great news!! - I am completely new to this and so worried about getting it all wrong, but do you have to get your skills assessment done first (via AIM) and your English test then submit your EOI or do you submit your EOI first? Just been looking at the skills assessment and it's requiring lots of paper work work charts etc!! It's tough isn't it :-(( - so when are you planning on leaving and where abouts in oz? Xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you.. I really need to try and decide.. X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 hi sassy 14, yeh it is a minefield and agents tend to charge a lot. i recommend using the immi website and really doing your research but do your research a section at a time otherise your mind gets overloaded and print off all the guidelines and highlight everything relevent to you etc. we found this helped a lot. took a lot of time but we did it all ourselves as mentioned previously. we are planning on moving to wollongong which is about an hour away from sydney. so really looking forward to it though we will miss family a lot. i recommend looking up all about your skills and your skills assessment and check all the guidelines and see if you can get all the paperwork together. its skills assessment firt then letter of interest then main visa just take each stage at its own pace etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Hi Shazza 87, thanks again for replying, The application is in my husbands name, so I have printed off the skills assessment application form for him to go through and the job description, We will go through it with a fine tooth comb, shall I wait for the result of that before I book the English test? I will concentrate on that for now then move on to the EOI, so what visa did you apply for? Do you have children travelling with you? We havnt mentioned it to anyone yet just incase it falls throug, especially family :-( How long did your application take from the time you put in your EOI? X ps - thanks for the advise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sassy14 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thanks Alan, the agent I made the enquiry with is registered with MARA but not sure the advise they were giving me was correct, so now doubting we are even suitable:-((( x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thanks Alan, the agent I made the enquiry with is registered with MARA but not sure the advise they were giving me was correct, so now doubting we are even suitable:-((( x So tell us a bit more. What is the occupation? How are you doing on points? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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