are we crazy to do not use a migration agent?!?

[mummyoftwo]

I often tell people they need an agent, but I honestly cannot think of any reason why you need an agent based on what you have said so far. You don't even need an initial eligibility call, you know you are eligible as your occupation is on the list and you have enough points. That is all you will be told during such an assessment. You would be asked about health or character issues I expect too, if you don't have any issues then that would also be a pass.

 

Applying as an accountant is about as easy as it gets, it is certainly the easiest skills assessment by a mile. Although you will need to sit academic IELTS before you apply. Being CIMA qualified, you will pass CPA skills assessment almost by default as they have a reciprocal arrangement in place.

 

Do not go anywhere near the immigration system to start your EOI before you have your positive skills assessment in your hands and before you apply for that you would need IELTS which you can also use for points on the application. An EOI that predates the skills assessment is a visa denial. It is important to get information correct on the EOI, you would need to be careful with dates if you are claiming work experience points for example, but I don't think it requires an agent to ensure you type your dates in properly.

 

I am also an accountant. I stupidly used an agent at first because I also thought it was a sensible thing to do. It created more work for me, was slower, they got it wrong and my first skills assessment was refused (and I was a fully qualified accountant with 15 years experience and it would not have been refused had I dbe it myself because I would have followed the instructions properly). I sacked the agent after that and did the visa application myself. Although only after having to involve MARA as the agent refused to give me my skills assessment after I sacked them. It was far, far less stressful once I was in control and didn't have to deal with a third party. And it is really not that hard to fill a form in!

 

I wasted £1000 on an agent, I might as well have thrown it in the bin. It is indeed a small figure in the grand scheme, I am not a penny pincher, I moved three cats, a 40 foot container and flew out in business class. But I don't think that means I should waste money on something that is easily done by myself.

 

Thanks Bungo. IELTS was done in April so that's not going to hold anything up. All in my hands to gather the docs to get them over to the CPA, which I should be able to do in the next few days.

 

Interesting to hear about your experience as our thought process was around not spending money on something we could do ourselves - we didn't even consider the possibility of wasting our money on something the agent couldn't actually get right. I can only imagine how pleased you were about that one and can see the benefits about having it all in your own control. Risks too, yes, but hopefully we'll end up ok.