Lulu29 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Hi all, im a brand new member we are hoping to start our visa app soon and I'm wondering if I should use an agent or not? If so any recommendations for agents? Any advice is appreciated thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Hi all, im a brand new member we are hoping to start our visa app soon and I'm wondering if I should use an agent or not? If so any recommendations for agents? Any advice is appreciated thanks Welcome! If you decide to use an agent, which is recommended in most cases, you should only use a registered agent. All genuine registered agents are searchable on this website > http://www.mara.gov.au You can go it alone, as I and many others did, but there are quite a few pitfalls that can only be avoided by proper research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 We did our application ourselves, but that was long ago and it was an awful lot simpler. The big risk with doing it yourself is that if you make one little mistake, you're stuffed. They don't come back to you and ask, "did you mean....?", they just reject the application and you've lost your application fee. Whereas if you use a MARA registered agent, it will cost about twice as much but at least you know it will be done properly - and they won't advise you to apply unless they're pretty sure you've got a good chance of approval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhouse101 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Did mine myself, relatively straight forward but it was only for myself. If there are wives, girlfriends, children etc involved I would maybe use an agent.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJD Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I guess every application is different. Our's was fairly complicated so we used an agent. Always use a MARA agent. Advice was great and everything was completed in good time. We needed skills assessments and a lot of other stuff, but all done now and visas granted. If one has the resources then I would highly recommend, unless of course its a fairly straightforward case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 You'll get a lot of differing opinions, and really a lot depends on your situation, how competent and confident you are at doing a lot of research to understand the requirements, gather and complete the documentation, how risk adverse you are, etc. Even if you decide to do it on your own, it can definitely be worth a small investment in having a migration agent review your work before you click the submit button an pay thousands of dollars on a visa. Make sure any agent you use is MARA-registered, as you then have some assurance that they have the required education on the legislation, process, etc. and you have an avenue for complaints if they don't live up to the required code of conduct. There are several good migration agents who post regularly on this forum if you want to get an idea regarding some specific ones: Raul Senise, WRussell and Alan Collett. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 It is a sound idea to obtain a professional assessment of your case, even if you subsequently decide to manage an application yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joy Hay Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Hi all, im a brand new member we are hoping to start our visa app soon and I'm wondering if I should use an agent or not? If so any recommendations for agents? Any advice is appreciated thanks Hi, Many of the people we hear from (who started things themselves) say they found the process more complex than expected and appreciate having an agent 'on their side' to help them through it. Joy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Hi all, im a brand new member we are hoping to start our visa app soon and I'm wondering if I should use an agent or not? If so any recommendations for agents? Any advice is appreciated thanks Hi Lulu. Much depends on your resourcefulness and the time you have available to research. Plus your financial budget! Would you ask a professional to assist with the preparation of a personal tax return? If you would I'd say you should be more inclined than not to instruct a professional to assist with your visa application. What is your (presently) planned visa strategy? Best regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Put it like this. You are about to make a life changing incredibly expensive decision. Don't you think that speaking to an expert might be a good thing from that stand point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 If you decide to use an agent, which is recommended in most cases... Is it really? Recommended by whom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK11 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Hey, So when you're looking to use a migration agent use an approved one - off the government site! That's extremely important. Secondly, there are pros and cons and in my experience, which is ongoing, i would say this is what I have found so far: 1) A reputable migration can actually be a help when getting a job as organisations spoke to my lawyers and confirmed my visa situation, thus getting me a job - incredibly helpful in my career! 2) They're extremely thorough and look over everything, then give you the chance to look at it to confirm before sending it off to the department. This ensures everything is done correctly and swiftly, without any hiccups. 3) They have solutions to problems that arise, for example I was in the midst of having my Grad visa granted but at the same time potentially my residency, they were smart enough to wait it out and get the grad visa granted, then wait for the pending residency. Basically it was smart because it didn't mean my residency may have came through and then my grad visa would have overridden it - could you imagine that! lol That's my input and to be bluntly honest, the only disadvantage/con is the price you pay - it is astronomical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiaishia Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 We did ours by ourselves, if you do your research, its straight foward, but the whole process is long, i have been researching australia immigration for five years before doing the actual process. Lol so i knew whar to expect at each stage ☺ Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronwen Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Agree with others that it probably depends a lot on your circumstances. My husband and I successfully submitted our own 189 skilled independent visa and didn't have any problems at all. Our situation and subsequent application was reasonably straighforward though - from the moment we started the ball rolling i.e. booking English tests, skills assessment to direct visa grant was under 6 months. So it definitely can be done without an agent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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