Collingwood_21 Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Hiya, My partner and I are both British and currently on a TSS (him) and a separate 457 (me) (both ICT business analysts). His company have agreed to sponsor him for a 186 Direct Entry as a business analyst. We are looking into the cost of a migration agent with quotes of around $5000. Do you think it is worth it? My logic is that his work will use an agent for the nomination section so that part is solid. The rest is "just" the ACS assessment, proof of our relationship and police checks. It doesn't seem too difficult. We also have a few friends who have anecdotes along the lines of "an agent just fills in forms you could do yourself". I also found this when an agent wanted to charge me $700 to apply for a bridging visa B for me. It was one form so I just did it myself with no issues. Do you agree/disagree? Does anyone have any stories of doing it themselves? Would you think that doing parts ourselves might work too (i.e. we do the skills assessment on our own etc)? If anyone has any Melbourne based recommendations that would be great also! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyril_au Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 There is no point in using a migration agent unless you have some legal complications with your case. Any agent will have to ask you the same kind of questions the form does. I've gone through the 186 TRT process last year and I didn't have any issues at all filling the form with mine & my partner's details. We've got decision in two months from the application date. The time it takes to fill the form is usually no more than 1-2 hours. Then you'll have to collect and witness a few documents - the same kind of thing if you were applying through an agent, except for the witnessing part. Good luck anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collingwood_21 Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 Thanks for the vote of confidence! Good to know others have managed it :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 15 hours ago, Collingwood_21 said: Hiya, My partner and I are both British and currently on a TSS (him) and a separate 457 (me) (both ICT business analysts). His company have agreed to sponsor him for a 186 Direct Entry as a business analyst. We are looking into the cost of a migration agent with quotes of around $5000. Do you think it is worth it? My logic is that his work will use an agent for the nomination section so that part is solid. The rest is "just" the ACS assessment, proof of our relationship and police checks. It doesn't seem too difficult. We also have a few friends who have anecdotes along the lines of "an agent just fills in forms you could do yourself". I also found this when an agent wanted to charge me $700 to apply for a bridging visa B for me. It was one form so I just did it myself with no issues. Do you agree/disagree? Does anyone have any stories of doing it themselves? Would you think that doing parts ourselves might work too (i.e. we do the skills assessment on our own etc)? If anyone has any Melbourne based recommendations that would be great also! Thanks The quote was a little high for a case wher a nomination has been approved. The bridging visa B amount quoted (for professonal fees?) was too high for an existing client. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collingwood_21 Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 Thanks for your response that's good to know especially from another agent! We would definitely like to engage an agent for the nomination section as that seems very complex but once that's approved I'm not sure if it's needed. I agree that $5k seems high for just the second part. We were quoted $7k for the whole thing including nomination, $5k for no nomination and $3k for just the skills assessment! And I was an existing client for the BVB application.. It was the same agent who did my 457! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 You cannot apply for a nomination, your empolyer must do so, and must pay all the costs associated with it. If you go to my website pinoyau.com and use the contact form I shall have a look at your case, if you wish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyril_au Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 17 hours ago, wrussell said: You cannot apply for a nomination, your empolyer must do so, and must pay all the costs associated with it. If you go to my website pinoyau.com and use the contact form I shall have a look at your case, if you wish. That's correct. Just tell your employer that it is apparently illegal for them to ask an employee to pay any fees associated with their nomination or sponsoring you for PR: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/employing-and-sponsoring-someone/sponsoring-workers/learn-about-sponsoring/cost-of-sponsoring You only need to pay the costs of your application which in my case were around ~6k for two persons (government fees). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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