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Agents - anyone really care about them?


Guest guest33730

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Guest guest33730

Ok so I have been thinking - does anyone really care about the migration agents especially since the changes on September 23rd?

 

Everyone will have their own opinion as to whether it's worth using an agent some will have good experiences and some not so good. However I got to thinking that love'em or hate'em they must also be really hit by the recent changes in the priorities. My thinking goes - How many new people will start applying for Aussie visa's if they know they are going to have to wait until 2011 or 2012 for an answer? I know the agents are currently telling people to apply now because at least they will be in the queue however it surely must be putting a lot of people off applying. PIO is full of people saying they are giving up or choosing to move to Canada etc instead and with the exchange rate hitting everyone going to Aus by a drop of 33% in a year it must be putting people off even more.

 

So my guess is that alot of them are suffering big time - does anyone care? I would be interested to hear from any agents honest enough to tell us how business has been effected!

 

For the record, I do care - My experience of my agent has been good and I would be sorry if they were affected and actually I think PIO would be a worse place without them especially for all the free advice they dish out to us - am I alone in this?

 

Daniel

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Guest patience

We have decided not to use an agent, as we really think they don't justify the money they charge and we are quite capable after some research, of doing it all our selves, and if it goes wonky we have only got our selves to blame rather than some stranger!

 

No I couldn't care, I hate all agents, travel, estate, solicitors the whole lot......Vultures!

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Guest sh7t man no way

some agents good --some agents bad--its cheaper to do it yourself,and you seem to have more control.they seem to say what you want to hear,and not inform you of anything till you ring them.ive done two types of visas for aus one temp 4 yrs,and one perminant life time.not that many great dramas,but a hell of a lot of little windups.i found doing my own made me look for infomation,and doing that made me more aware of the way australia works before i got there.

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I hope they can all stay in business - if the number of applications drop significantly as people may not want to wait 3 years it could cause many to go to the wall. This in turn will affect people on here who have already paid for and are using agents.

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Guest guest33730

 

No I couldn't care, I hate all agents, travel, estate, solicitors the whole lot......Vultures!

 

Mmmmm I suppose now's not the time to mention that aside from the profession I've put on the 'about me' page I also own a large letting agency in Scotland!

 

Thats maybe why I do care about the migration agents - people always think they can do things themselves (and I agree they can) - it's when things go wrong that maybe some regret it.

 

Daniel

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I've found my agent, and also the ones I've encountered on this forum to be decent people who try to do their best despite unpredictable policy from DIAC (understandably if you take their viewpoint) and demanding clients (again understandably from their p.o.v.).

 

To answer the question, yes I do care about the agents, at least the honest ones who genuinely work in their clients best interests, and wish them well through what must be a difficult time for them.

 

Anecdotaly there are some who do not deal honestly with their customers, mostly it seems in "HR" countries and those who deceive their clients or attempt to deceive DIAC through counterfeit docs etc are no better than people traffickers IMHO (and I'm specifically excluding the agents who give their valuable advice free on these forums forums from this last group). The system needs to be cleaned up, and it appears that this is now underway.

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Guest thebeatties

hi all

I agree that there is a need for agents, some people are not too confident filling in form etc(and there are plenty). Personally i did not use one, it made me look into the whole venture of moving to OZ far more carefully.

 

176 Application online 15/9/09

CO appointed 8/10/09

Meds and PC on way.

 

hopefully Visa Nov

 

OZ here we come

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Guest sassygal

I have found the agents on here to be very helpful, however most will just tell you what you needed to know, if its complicated or personal then they request you to contact them. However I have seen a lot from one in particular whom just repeatedly says contact such a person and the office number and as much as its their business ( I wouldnt do a free haircut) its nice to see that they all do not "tout" for want of a better word.

 

I dare say some will fold, it goes with the teritory so lets hope its the useless ones whom give duff information or are involved with illegal stuff like forgeries etc

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We used an agent from start to finish, kept us well up to date with all the changes at the start of the year and after, Helped endlessly with all the paper work, Don't think we would be where we are now without her!

Couldn't fault her at all!!

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Guest guest33730

Thanks to all that have replied so far - Any agents willing to tell us if their business has been affected by September 23rd?

 

Daniel

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Not sure why people say they hate the agent, we used one because we didn't have the time to do it ourselves. you still do all the paperwork, but they give you all the info to fill it in.

 

Personally we found it very easy and not time consuming, could that be because we used one, Hmmmm im not sure.

 

Now its sent we are not sat bitting our nails thinking did we do it right, the last thing you wan't after a long wait is to find out you messed it up, and yes if you use a crap one that can still happen, so do your research.

 

I suppose the bad ones give the good ones a crap name.

 

"Long live the agent" thats what i say.

 

Simon.

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I agree with gozzo, but I must admit if it wasnt for my wifes hard work and her decision to go for a 176 instead of a 175 I think we would still be waiting for our Visa.

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Guest proud2beaussie
We have decided not to use an agent, as we really think they don't justify the money they charge and we are quite capable after some research, of doing it all our selves, and if it goes wonky we have only got our selves to blame rather than some stranger!

 

No I couldn't care, I hate all agents, travel, estate, solicitors the whole lot......Vultures!

As a travel agent with over 12 years experience and having never had a claim from a dissatisfied customer I find your comments highly insulting,there are bad apples in many barrels but to tar all agents from any profession with the same brush is unacceptable.

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No I couldn't care, I hate all agents, travel, estate, solicitors the whole lot......Vultures!

 

 

I agree in general with your opinions..the majority do have reputation for being rip off merchants.

Fact is there are good and bad in all professions and an additional fact of life is.... the punter has a choice - Use one - or dont use one after deciding if its going to be cost effective.

 

Estate Agents basically work on commission which is pre-advised.

Consider that the one with the highest valuation - is most likely to be the bad guy who will later tell you that your house is not selling because there has been a shift in the market or that people are looking at lower priced property. Check your general details against similar properties/area on rightmove.com - before deciding your "valuation" price and agent.

 

Travel Agents, shop around till you get a deal, usually better online deals anyway.

 

Solicitors... in private and business life I have had dealings with a few.

Basically by the time you are dealing with a solicitor, its because you need too - without options - but they are a service industry so ask questions before you contract to one.

 

Migration Agents, I have to agree that pricing seems to be sky high with some.

The agent our "kidz" used in Scotland, was not easy to contact and wanted a £500 deposit off us for our CPV.

I looked around on here and other forum and finally decided that as we intended to be in Sydney on a 12 month tourist visa...deal with a local.

We chose George Lombard and the price suited us and he and his office did the job without fuss or fault.

 

In all cases a punter has an option, being ripped off is usually due to not putting in enough background work first or leaving things to late to have options.

 

If there is a problems during a visa application, dealing with a case officer by email or trying to resolve the problem may take time, - an agent as probably dealt with that type of problem and may have easy phone access to the C.O.

Sometimes its worth the money for peace of mind while dealing with bandit eatste agents and solicitors!

 

 

Now about DENTISTS........

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I don't think its fair to blame all the recent changes on agents and as with ANY profession there will always be the odd rotten egg out there.

 

We did use an agent and they were fantastic from start to finish, in fact the girl who dealt with our case over 3 years ago STILL keeps in touch. They couldnt do enough to help and reassure.

 

If i had to turn the clock back and start all over again ,i would still make Visa Bureau my first port of call..

 

Cal x

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Seems like the agents are avoiding this thread - are there any out there still in business?

 

Daniel

I very much think they have better things to do than stimulate your ego as they are most probabley trying to help there clients through a very difficult time at the moment or would you rather they spent it in other ways ?. It is easy to knock someone doing a job but if you can do better then go right ahead I know for one I could not thank them enought for the effert they put in for us.

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Seems like the agents are avoiding this thread - are there any out there still in business?

 

Daniel

 

You cannot really expect any agent to come here and "defend" the profession.

 

What we see on forum websites - is a small percentage of visa applications and in many cases the more reputable agents are also accountants or solicitors and have other work to deal with.

 

Worry about the guy who just did a six month online course with Sydney University and qualify to be a registered Migration Agent and works from a bedroom or cubby hole under the stairs....

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Guest Guest31881

 

No I couldn't care, I hate all agents, travel, estate, solicitors the whole lot......Vultures!

 

But I presume if you have problems and post on here you expect one of the resident 'Vultures' to help you out?

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Worry about the guy who just did a six month online course with Sydney University and qualify to be a registered Migration Agent and works from a bedroom or cubby hole under the stairs....

 

 

This is so true! There are definitely some completely disreputable, unscrupulous agents out there who are just trying to make a quick buck, and consider their clients nothing more than a meal ticket....I've even heard of one giving their whole office staff a good laugh reading aloud and taking the mickey out of love letters that they were copying for a client applying for a spouse visa!

 

.....but there are also some extremely professional, helpful, caring agents around who really do go the extra mile for the people they're working for, give up their time to answer people's questions on forums (forii??!) such as these free of charge and work very hard for the money they charge. For some people, choosing and using a good agent such as this can mean the difference between success and failure - and the ones that really care about helping to make their clients' dreams come true are worth their weight in gold.

 

Hopefully the current climate will filter out some of the bad ones, and leave the good ones still going strong - sort of a "survival of the fittest" thing

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Thanks to all that have replied so far - Any agents willing to tell us if their business has been affected by September 23rd?

 

Daniel

 

Not adversely. Most of my business is pro bono, about 90%.

 

Agents who rely on ‘family visas’ are not much affected, so far.

 

Agents who rely on subclass 457 and/or student visas, particularly those who have a client base in places where the department of racialism (the DIAC) exhibits a massive negative bias, are experiencing long delays and almost 100% visa refusals for student visas.

 

I have deleted:

 

Based on current processing times, you can expect your case to be finalised in about xx months from the date of visa application.

 

from my costs agreement;

 

and I am thinking about revising clause 10:

 

10. We will promptly inform you about significant developments in your case. If your case is not progressing in a timely and satisfactory way we will let you know why this is so and what we are doing about it.

 

To continue to represent clients whose applications are in limbo, or even the black hole, an RMA in Australia must remain registered and annually pay the various useless acronyms: OMARA, CPD, PII (and others) and maintain a professional library and telephone and so on.

 

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Guest guest33730
You cannot really expect any agent to come here and "defend" the profession.

 

What we see on forum websites - is a small percentage of visa applications and in many cases the more reputable agents are also accountants or solicitors and have other work to deal with.

 

Worry about the guy who just did a six month online course with Sydney University and qualify to be a registered Migration Agent and works from a bedroom or cubby hole under the stairs....

 

I very much think they have better things to do than stimulate your ego as they are most probabley trying to help there clients through a very difficult time at the moment or would you rather they spent it in other ways ?. It is easy to knock someone doing a job but if you can do better then go right ahead I know for one I could not thank them enought for the effert they put in for us.

 

Hey guys,

 

Chill - if you look it was me who started this thread - i am 100% for the agents, I am using one myself and they have been fantastic - The WHOLE point of this thread is to see if anyone one else cared as I do! Lot's of people are obviously affected by the 23rd September and it occurred to me that the migration agents may also be suffering out there and I am genuinely interested to know if that is the case - I may have an ego but not in this instance!!

 

Daniel

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Hello Daniel, and hello everyone else!

 

Apologies for not having responded sooner - I spent the day yesterday catching up on emails, doing some tax work, and here in Geelong today it has been a lovely Spring day. And I had a few Scotches last night ... :twitcy:

 

You raise a good question, Daniel, and having had a dialogue with other agents in recent weeks I think it fair to say that a number of us have been asking whether Aussie migration is a business that is sustainable with a view to earning a living for the next couple of years.

 

However, there is still a fairly significant body of work out there, and whether that is delivered by a significantly lesser number of advisors remains to be seen. Perhaps suffice it to say that I (and the team) have worked pretty hard to build up the Go Matilda business, and I don't intend for it to disappear in the foreseeable future. We may have to make some internal changes for the business to be worthwhile, but we shall endure!

 

I am sure more established migration advisors (who are well known on this forum) would express similar sentiments.

 

In this brave new world the risk when instructing an advisor is perhaps more in dealing with the newer operators who have not seen a recession before, have not had a great deal of business experience, and who are perhaps unlikely to be so concerned about ethical issues.

 

Happy days - onwards!

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