MrSol Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Good Afternoon from a windy, cold UK! My wife and I are looking to start an application. Having read up and done quite a bit of research, I cannot work out whether to use an agent or to go it alone! I am applying for a Skilled independent Visa 189. I'm a fully qualified Plumbing, Heating and Gas engineer. We looked online and it said we can apply for around £5000. After speaking with an agent, we were quoted somewhere around £10,000!! Any advice? Any agents that anyone can recommend? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozmaniac Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 £10,000 sounds steep to me but just how steep will depend on whether they have included the Visa Application Charge (£3090), skills assessment (around £1200), medicals and PCCs as well as their own fees. Go Matilda @Alan Collett is very highly recommended by numerous PIO members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSol Posted December 7, 2014 Author Share Posted December 7, 2014 Hi Ozmaniac. Thank you very much for you reply. I thought it was a little steep too. I just would like to know roughly what cost an agent adds on. I believe I have just this second made an enquiry to Go Matilda. Kind Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Roberto Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 It depends if you think you have a 'simple/straightforward' case, or whether you predict there could be anything tricky involved in the application. And the only way you can find out whether your application is going to be straightforward is to do a lot of the initial work involved. If you have spare money, you should have an easier time with an agent, who will guide you. Both ways are possible. Up to you (and your budget). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aconcannon Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 If you've got the time needed to fully research every aspect of the visa process & if your generally good with forms etc then you should be ok preparing your own visa. We used an agent as we knew the process would take us forever otherwise - we lead busy lives & wouldn't have found the time to do the research. Personally, if you've got a spare £2,000-3,000 i would just use an agent! The process is stressful enough as it is, without doing it off your own back! I've heard stories where people have lodged visas & paid the fee to the Australian immigration & then been told there application was unsuccessful only because they'd filled out something incorrectly on the form, or a piece of supporting evidence wasn't quite sufficient & so they've ended up paying twice for the visa!! We didn't want to risk that happening to us & so used an agent who we paid in instalments. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Roberto Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 We did it ourselves as we didn't have enough money for an agent. It's also doable. So if you are a bit strapped for cash you could do it yourself. As aconcannon says, there's a potential to make a mistake. But if it's going to cost a chunk of cash, you should probably check and double check you don't. I think that's why people come on here and ask tons of questions! (Like we did). We paid some money to an agent on a consulting basis just before we did out our EOI. This was just to make sure we understood what we were applying for. I guess as long as you get the visa at the end it doesn't really matter which way you do it. A good agent should tell you what to do at each stage and make sure the application is done correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephensteve Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Good Afternoon from a windy, cold UK! My wife and I are looking to start an application. Having read up and done quite a bit of research, I cannot work out whether to use an agent or to go it alone! I am applying for a Skilled independent Visa 189. I'm a fully qualified Plumbing, Heating and Gas engineer. We looked online and it said we can apply for around £5000. After speaking with an agent, we were quoted somewhere around £10,000!! Any advice? Any agents that anyone can recommend? Thanks in advance! Hi, we used Ian Ingle, have a look on this link..............he was great, highly recomended by us..cheers http://www.inglemigration.com.au/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyssa Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Hi, I am a teacher and my OH is a plumber. We did the visa with me as the main applicant and him attached as he hadn't finished his qualifications. I did the whole process myself and didn't find it a problem. There is clear information for each stage and as long as you are willing to spend the time ensuring your paperwork is correct and be organised about it I don't see a problem. All in it cost us around £3000. I did a little research before I started just to check it would be straightforward for my qualifications and it was, so I got started. Happy to help if you do decide to go it alone. Nyssa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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