Is it worth paying an Agent?

[Guest 0125dannydanny]

Hi everyone! Please could you help in gving me an idea of fee's if I go with an agent? and is it worth paying someone rather than doing it myself?

 

cheers from blackpool

[Guest The Pickles]

I can't remember the fees but know that it was well worth using an agent. The paper work was sometimes daunting and stressful and they made it so much easier for us.

 

We used Ian Harrop Associates and highly recommend them.

 

Marilyn

[Guest WoodMartin]

We also used Ian Harrop, he was really helpful and kept us informed all of the time. I think the cost was about £1500 to him, plus all the fees we would have needed to pay anyway.

In hindsight we could probably have saved ourselves time and money by doing it ourselves, however we wanted the security of a professional to make sure it was all right.

 

If only you could get hindsight in advance!!

 

Ali

[Guest Richard&Judy]

I can't remember the fees but know that it was well worth using an agent. The paper work was sometimes daunting and stressful and they made it so much easier for us.

 

We used Ian Harrop Associates and highly recommend them.

 

Marilyn

we also used Ian harrop and I thought there service was priceless.

the whole migrating thing is stressful enough without worrying about how you put your TRA together, wondering if you've worded things ok or not.

We sent stuff off to Ian Harrop and they sent it back asking us to reword bits and offering standard templates for us to use.

There email and telephone support was excellent.

I know a lot of people say do it yourself and save a few bucks but if you're the type to stressed or worried an agent is worth his weight.

good luck which ever way you go.

[Guest theknights]

we approached an agent when we first started looking into emigrating and we were told that there was no chance we would be accepted, yet here we are 18 months later in beautiful willunga, sa.

 

my oh did all the donkey work involved and saved us a lot of money in the process. we were fortunate as my oh's sister and her family had emigrated two years previously and had done it without the help of an agent so they were invaluable to us.

 

Good luck

Alison

ps where abouts in blackpool are you from?

[jim and adel]

We didn't use an agent and found it straight forward. All the info needed is available online and altough it looks daunting at first, a few reads of the various visas and their requirements and conditions and we pretty much knew what we were doing. I had my skills assessed by AIM and gathering all the info together for that that was probably the most arduous part, but we'd have faced that with or without an agent.

 

There's no right or wrong answer to this, it's just a case of whether you feel comfortable to do it yourselves and are happy to take that chance or whether using an agent gives you peace of mind at a price you regard as reasonable.

 

Good luck, Jim

[Guest Richard&Judy]

 

There's no right or wrong answer to this, it's just a case of whether you feel comfortable to do it yourselves and are happy to take that chance or whether using an agent gives you peace of mind at a price you regard as reasonable.

 

Good luck, Jim

[Riponian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim and adel

There's no right or wrong answer to this, it's just a case of whether you feel comfortable to do it yourselves and are happy to take that chance or whether using an agent gives you peace of mind at a price you regard as reasonable.

 

Good luck, Jim

 

I agree it is up to each individual what they are comfortable with. We just thought as my husband was Self employed and we had 2 young kids we needed the help.

 

We used the Visa Bureau and the guy was fabulous even with me asking dumb questions! Can't remember how much it was for PR but I know it was a lot but I don't think we could hvae done it with out them.

[Guest RazandKaz]

Hi

 

I was quoted £1500 + VAT for agents fees about 12 months ago. Our case was very straightforward, CSL, MODL, plenty of points etc. So I chose to do it myself, the only complication was proving de-facto relationship (apparently the birth certificates of our 2 kids was not enough!), but a couple of additional letters, soon sorted this problem. We lodged in May and were granted 175 in November. (Validation trip planned for March 2010!)

I guess the best thing would be to take the free advice from the agents, see if they think you have enough points, then check out the DIAC website and go to the Visa checklists and see if you think you can manage to do the paperwork yourself.

If you get all the information required on the checklist before lodging the VISA, the actual VISA paperwork is very straightforward. But if your not comfortable and don't want the stress, or your case is more complicated use an agent.

Good luck - keep us informed of your progress.

[mydearboy]

All depends how straight forward your application is, are you on the csl? have you enough points etc

 

If yes then i would say an overwhelming No dont get an agent, it took me about a couple of hours to collate all my documents together (i would reccomend this), then about another hour to scan them in, had to apply for my qualifications to be inspected this was one email and a cheque then it was just the meds and police checks. I found the process easy, but my application was straight foward.

 

If you are likely to run into any difficulties ie trade, citizenship, family etc i would reccomend an agent good luck

[minty]

You dont need an agent as all of the info you require is reapaly available on websites and forums and if you cant find something then you can always ask. We are doing it ourselfs and the vetassess was the longest part but quite straight forward. Sponsorship if required is easy to and the main visa application is simple to. Just a tip if you go it alone, print of everything you send as a lot of it is duplicated on other forms.

 

Good luck.

[Guest JayBone]

We used an agent, OE visas in Edinburgh, they really were superb, and i would definitely recommened them or another reputable agent.

 

Our application was 'straight forward' i suppose, but i dont know what other peoples is like so cant really compare, but the support and advise from the agent was priceless, everything we sent to the DIAC was decision ready, had we gone alone we may have missed some important documents.

 

Before i employed an agent, i didnt even know what a certified copy was, or a justice of the peace etc etc.

 

All the information is available on Forums, but if your like me you will spend weeks on the internet just checking and double checking that you have your facts straight, and if you dont it could cost you alot of time bouncing around between you and your Case officer, and apparently they only look at your case every 44 days!! so if you send the wrong thing or its not quite complete you could literally cost yourselves months and months! having an agent gave me the piece of mind that everytime we sent a document etc it was all 100% complete

 

We got our visa on 7th Jan 2010 after just 9 months, 176 non csl;)

 

Good luck with it all

[she1971]

Hi there

 

We aren't using an agent and although it is a lot of work and time gathering documents, we figured we would have to collate them to give to an agent anyhow!!!! We prefer being able to contact people directly rather than have to wait to contact an agent and for them to get back to you.

Just forms to complete and you can always get advise on here, if your situation is complicated most agents give advise initially free of charge anyway, but its up to you at the end of the day, what you are most comfortable with.

Good luck!!!!

[Guest rowy]

Hi there, we did not use an Agent and found this pretty straight forward. PIA is so helpful and you only have to post a question and these Guys are straight there with the answer. Plus there are plenty of us still in the UK who have been throught the process. Think long and hard before you use one. The monthly magazine on Aus and Nz is very good too and also going to an Expo helps. Good luck! Penny

[Guest proctor3069]

Hi

We were not going to use an agent till we looked into the visa process and we got recommended to Ian Harrop.

We live in Manchester and we went down to Oxford (where they are based) and agreed to use them straight away. We met him in August, got on Vetasess (motor mechanic) in October and had state sponsorship by Xmas.

It cost us about £2000 in all but think it was money well spent as it took alot of the stress out of it.

I am sure if we didnt use an agent we wouldnt be thjis far into it.

[minty]

Hi, We are going it alone and our time line is pretty much the same as yours. I do not think an agent makes any difference to timings as there are only x amount of vets courses.

 

Hi

We were not going to use an agent till we looked into the visa process and we got recommended to Ian Harrop.

We live in Manchester and we went down to Oxford (where they are based) and agreed to use them straight away. We met him in August, got on Vetasess (motor mechanic) in October and had state sponsorship by Xmas.

It cost us about £2000 in all but think it was money well spent as it took alot of the stress out of it.

I am sure if we didnt use an agent we wouldnt be thjis far into it.

[Guest thekings]

Hi we too used Ian Harrops, who's services have proved to be priceless. You can do it yourself but its peace of mind and knowing that they have crossed all the "t's" and dotted all the "I's" for you

[JHN5]

Our application wasn't straight forward but our agents "Emigration Group" were invaluable. Just advising us of the options that were available to us and the best way forward for us.

 

We though had to do a lot though pulling together evidence etc. But we always were given plenty of notice of when things would be required and you can see from our timeline (in the welcome thread) that our app moved through quickly even with the changes that were announced in Sept.

 

Would agree completely with above if your application is straightforward, you won't need one.

 

Good luck with your application!

[Guest cliveost]

Hi we had a quote of £1800 + vat + the other fees Anmc, Visa application, Medicals etc.

The company we spoke to was the visa bureau and they were very helpfull when I contacted them.

 

After reading posts on PIA and other sites we have decided to apply on our own to save money and as we have to get all the relevant documentation together and certified we feel we are doing half the application anyway.

 

I would say if you feel comfortable applying yourself and you have no issues that need to be addressed then apply yourself but if you have any doubt use an agent.

 

Our case should be straight forward OH is a nurse, no convictions, good health etc