Agents

[Guest family hobbs]

Hi All,

 

Can anyone help me in my choice of agent to save me getting bogged down at the first hurdle in obtaining my parents visa.

 

 

Many thanks

 

Pete.

[Guest caoimhe]

We went with Visa Bureau and were very happy with them

[Guest massive]

We went with Concept Australia and found them to be honest and reliable

 

Debbie

[Guest bev_stef]

Hi we are using Go Matildia and they are great the lady that is processing is helpful and having offices in Australia useful when we were going for SA sponsorship. There details are:

International House

George Curl Way

Southampton

Hampshire

SO18 2RZ

 

 

 

T: +44 (0)23 80 30 2525

F: +44 (0)23 80 05 1361

E: info@gomatilda.com

[Guest ali@51]

We used Go Matilda to and they were great. You can ring them and have a free chat befor you sign up. They were very helpfull.

[The Monaghans]

We used Global Visas and they were great but have since heard a few not so good things about them. My brother in law used Go Matilda and said they were very good. Hope this helps.

[Guest family hobbs]

Hi All,

 

Many thanks for the replys to my first thread on choosing an agent. This gives me a good start on the journey to come.

 

Many thanks

 

Pete.

[Gollywobbler]

Hello Pete

 

My mother has a Contributory Parent subclass 143 visa so yours is a cause that is particularly dear to my heart!

 

Parent visas are not difficult to understand. We didn't use an Agent for Mum's visa and the DIAC stats are that something like 53% of all Parent visa applications are DIY applications. They are all handled by the Perth Offshore Parents Centre, who are very approachable and friendly, since they operate a deliberately "Open Door" policy and are willing to talk with any member of the family at any stage of the process.

 

So if you want to, you can easily save yourselves £1,000 - £2,000 (or the Aussie equivalent.)

 

If you would feel more comfortable using an Agent, then only 3 firms of Agents have ever really convinced me with how solid their own understanding of Parent migration is, but the three I shall name really DO know about it in great detail. They are George Lombard in Sydney, Tony Coates at Ian Harrop & Assocates near Oxford, and Go Matilda in Southampton & Melbourne.

 

http://www.austimmigration.com.au/site/?q=node/6

 

http://www.ianharrop.co.uk/

 

http://www.gomatilda.com/home.cfm

 

The main strength that Go Matilda can offer is that the MD, Alan Collett, is a Chartered Accountant in both jurisdictions, and since Parents often transfer substantial assets to Oz, skilful tax and estate planning can be a very important consideration.

 

In my opinion, George is the beadiest of the 3 when it comes to interpreting the Parent visa legislation cleverly because George is a first rate lawyer.

 

Tony tends to know lots of obscure things which can be very valuable, plus he used to work at DIAC in Perth so he still has a personal relationship with a number of key staff there, including at the POPC. In theory that should not make any difference. In practice I would not like to bet.

 

A LOT of Agents know a lot about skilled visas but really nothing about Parent migration, regardless of claims to the contrary. I have seen some very serious blunders - including a visa refusal in 2007 - by Agents who claimed to know all about Parent migration but the truth turned out to be that what they actually "knew" was wrong and caused disaster or near disaster for their unfortunate clients.

 

I would suggest that before you make a decision about whether to use an agent at all, study the information I will provide in the links below (which I will put into a second reply so that this does not get too long) and see what you think of it. Then if you want to use an Agent, at least phone all 3 of the firms I suggest, none of whom would charge for an initial chat for 15 minutes or so, before you decide whether to use one of the ones I suggest or someone else entirely.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

Hi again Pete

Here goes with the links:

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-outside.htm

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books3.htm

http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/australia/processing-centres/perth-offshore-parents.htm

(The DIAC web page about the POPC is out of date. With effect from 1st July 2008, they are now responsible for all 6 categories of Parent visas. Also, they prefer people to direct enquiries to parents@immi.gov.au rather than using the on-line form.)

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=461

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/parent.htm

** The 2nd Instalment for Contributory Parents was not increased on 1st July 2008 (the start of the new Migration Program Year) which is normally is. The 1st Instalment was increased but not the 2nd. The POPC are now hinting strongly that the 2nd Instalment is going to be increased wef 1st October 2008, that the increase is "significant" (though they won't say how much) and they are encouraging prospective applicants to apply well before the end of September 2008 where possible.

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=441

CPVs are expensive but relatively fast-track. Non contributory Parent visas are cheap but very slow:

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-visa-processing-priorities.htm

Sooner or later all Parents end up with an Assurance of Support and it is vitally important to understand it thoroughly in advance. Up to three people can club together to provide an AoS and they need not be related to the visa applicants or to each other. However the Assurer(s) is/are means-tested by Centrelink (the Benefits agency) who administer the AoS Scheme on DIAC’s behalf. Therefore it is essential to ensure that the Assurer’s net assessable income (or their combined net assessable income) will come up to scratch on the day. Centrelink are apt to increase the AoS income threshold with no prior warning at all, and the changes are effective immediately, so it is prudent to build a safety-margin into one’s figures.

Note too that an individual who gives an AoS cannot Assure more two adults at any given time, and with the Contributory Parent visa, the AoS lasts for 10 years. A typical scenario is that W’s Parents want to migrate. H is the breadwinner for the H&W team. If he Assures both of W’s Parents then it will be 10 years after that before he can Assure his own Parents as well. It is essential to consider both sets of Parents if there is any possibility of this becoming a relevant consideration.

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/factors/assurance_support.htm

http://www.facsia.gov.au/guides_acts/ssg/ssguide-9/ssguide-9.4.html

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=436

Please shout if I can help any further.

Best wishes

Gill