visa agents

[Guest oz4us?]

Hi everyone,

 

I've just had our first telephone consultation with a visa agent (AustralianVisaBureau) who explained the process and timeline and everything involved.

We qualify for the Skilled Independant Visa Subclass 175 which we are pleased about!

Just wondering if anyone else who is using an agent could tell me how much fees they are paying?

We were just quoted £1800+vat with the total amount for everything being around £4500.

Can anyone tell me if this is about normal?

 

Thanks so much.

 

Nikki xxxx

[Guest Django]

Hi Nikki,

 

What skill are you going out on? If it is a straight forward skill assessment then don't use an agent. The money you save will go towards your flights or pay for the visa. If your TRA is a bit more envolved then use them to make sure things go smoothly.

We aren't using an agent as Tracey's Skill assessment was relatively straight forward. If you ok with forms but the skills bit is complicated then get a quote for them just to help you with that part of the process.

At the end of the day some people will say they couldn't do it without an agent while others (me included) will say 'why pay someone that amount of money to fill out a few forms?'

Have a look at the immi website http://www.immi.gov.au/immigration.htm and find out what is required for your skills assessment and decide if you can do it with out an agent.

 

Pete

[Guest Ian & Diane]

Hi Nikki

We are using Concept Australia and the fees they charged us for a business visa 165 are £2000 plus the visa fee which was around £1100 so approx £3100 for the lot.hope this helps a little good hunting.

 

ian

[Guest Aussiebound]

Hi

 

We are with Go Matilda, they cost about £1500 plus the TRA and Visa fees. We found their help invaluable with the TRA process, don't think we would have passed it without their input.

 

Each to there own though, if its straight forward, probably you could get all the help from forums etc and save your money like Pete.

 

The visa application was straight forward and very easy compared to TRA.

 

Good Luck

 

Sarah

[Guest dglamoore]

Hi Nikki

 

We used Go Matilda at a cost of £1450 plus TRA and visa so yours seems to be about the average so if you are happy with them the price seems fine

 

Or like others have said, you could go it alone. We went with an agent mainly due to a tricky TRA and some peace of mind. Right at the end of our application we got caught in some wierd case officer loop where instead of our application progressing we just kept getting issued new case officers 3 in total!!! At his point Alan Collett, our agent, stepped in and contacted the manager of ASPC to see what was going on and one week later we had the visa :jiggy:Must admit without him I would have had no clue what to do and with him having the privilage of being able to phone them sorted it in no time and was worth the money paid for this alone!

 

Lisa:v_SPIN:

[scooterdan]

Hey!

 

We too used Concept Australia...they charged us £1500 plus visa costs for the old 136(now 175).

 

They were very good and highly recommended.

 

Dan and Steph

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

We used migration solution 2 yrs back they charged around £450 each for TRA and visa, then the TRA cost and visa cost...I think £1800 is a lot. With hindsight we could have done visa app. ourselves, but the tra was a tricky one. For us it was £900 very well spent. I would imagine he has gone up now, but I would be surprised if it was that much.

Sarah

[Guest andy&jill]

Hi Nikki,

We are using the same agent and paying the same price, so far they have been first class no problems what so ever, dont think i would of passed the TRA without the help of my agent.

 

Good luck

 

Andy

[Guest oz4us?]

Thanks for the replies again!

 

I think we'll stick with VisaBureau, the people we've spoken to seem great so far.

They did tell us the cost has gone up quite a bit since the changes on 1st Sept, partly due to some people now having to do a practical exam at a test centre. Kevin needs to do this as he is a Bricklayer but thankfully there is a test centre just an hour or so from us.

The practical tests are run every 2 months so we're hoping to have all his paperwork stuff done in time for him to catch the february test!

 

We probably could go it alone and do it without an agent but we have 2 small kids and I'm also planning our wedding for next summer so I think it would be easier and less time consuming for us to have the knowledge of an agent on our side!

 

Anyways, again i'll keep you all posted.

Thanks

Nikki xxxx

[duncan-clan]

hi i used www.australiamigrate.co.uk they charged me £1800+vat plus all other parts i payed for total cost approx £4500 this is for a skilled visa 136 plus my family this visa allows me to work where ever i want to in australia in all most helpfull company its run by two womenwho have done visa for over 20 years