Going it alone....

[Guest Daniel&Kelly]

Hi everyone

 

We're just wondering how many of you have gone it alone on your visa applications? the agents we've spoken to have quite high fee's so we're thinking of going it alone

 

Would love to hear your stories and how long it took you by doing it yourselves

 

Thanks Kelly xxxxx

[mydearboy]

Hi and welcoeme, I have gone it alone with my application. I have found the process really easy, i now have a case officer and am awaiting the decision My application has been straight foward and i think the agents fee would have been a waste of money, however if you have a complicated application then i can see why they would be helpfull then.

 

The only advice i can give you is get ALL your paperwork ready (certified if needed/ or buy a colour scanner) before you start the application, i really mean everything.

 

Good Luck

 

Darren & Lisa

[Guest familygood]

Hi

 

We did it ourselves. It was a lot of work and sorting out papers etc. But if you read everything thoroughly and ask questions on here if you need to it really isnt necessary to have an agent. We found the hardest thing was finding which visa to apply for in the first place!! As you can see from our timeline we had our visas within 6 months in total. Get a colour scanner though its really worth it to save money on getting documents certified.

Good luck!!

[Guest kangomik]

We did it on our own, and was informed by agents in Manchester that over 90% apply on their own (same agents told us to go it alone!)...... that is not saying 90% pass....... You have to be thorough, and use good forums for advice...... not all the advice is correct please note, but its a good point to start from.

If you have a really complicated background then use an agent, if not then have a go and save a few grand.

[Guest kellyp]

Hi

We chose an agent as ours was not very straightforward. My hubby did not have a formal trade qualification but had done the the job for years so we used the agent to guide us, worth it in our case but not everyones.

 

Best wishes

 

Kelly

[Guest countdown1975]

Hiya,

 

We did our application ourselves - the fees people were charging were ridiculous and I can fill forms out just as well and the advice I was given was **** (excuse my French) - if it had been down to them we wouldn't have got our visa yet. We applied for a 176 visa - Dave is a butcher so got his skills assessed within 1 month. We then applied for SA government sponsorship and got that quickly. We were getting married in July last year so had to wait until we came back and I got my passport changed over to my married name so we actually filled in the application and sent off in Sept 2008. We got work back in Jan 09 to get our medicals and police checks done and we were granted our visa in Feb.

What skill are you going on?

Vicki :-)

[Guest Daniel&Kelly]

Thanks everyone for your replies

 

We'd be going over on my partners skill as a hgv technician it seems as though these things happen a lot quicker if you do it yourself,

 

love this site everyone's so nice and really helpful Thanks xxxxx

[minty]

Hi, we have just started and are going it alone hopefully i wont eat my words but the vetasses aplication wasnt to bad. Good luck.

[Guest Team 'W']

Hi Kelly

 

We did it ourselves and reckon we probably lost about 2 - 3 weeks in time through odd mistakes that visa agents would have picked up on but saved a fortune in the process. A lot of the stuff in our applications seemed to be repeated for various different forms, but in all honesty its been relatively straight forward and once you know what visa you are going for it's only a case of answering questions and providing evidence. As one or two others have said get yourself a colour scanner and you have all the tools you need!

 

Good luck

[Guest Andrew&Ren]

We did it without an agent too.

 

It was a real easy process and we just had an "AUS FILE" we kept EVERY document,letter,form etc in. Agents do seem pretty pricey, i say save the money for when you get out here instead

[Guest robertreynolds]

Im just waint on stuff getting sent over from home so I can send in the Skills Assessment.

 

Then I will be doing the online applicateion for a Skilled – Independent (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 175).

 

 

[Guest ReadyPenny]

We did it ourselves too, but our situation was straight forward. Sean's skill was on SOL and MODL and we are married with one child who belongs to both of us biologically!

 

The skills assessment was the hardest bit, the visa was a piece of cake after that.

Our timeline is below and as you will see it happened VERY fast for us - we just got lucky, VERY lucky indeed.

 

Mandy

[Guest I_FELLOWS]

Hi there,

 

I would echo what everyone else has said. As long as you have Broadband internet and a lot of patience then do it yourself and save a load of cash.

The exception, as others have said, is if your circumstances are complicated in any way. Then you may benefit from some professional advice.

 

Just research like mad on the DIAC website and as everyone has said be thorough with everything especially your supporting documents.

 

Good Luck.