189 visa...do I really need to pay a consultant £2400??

[Guest Iscashe]

Hello everyone!

Am right at the beginning of starting the emigration process, ie have decided to do it and started the research! We want to go for the 189 visa, I took the skillselect test and appear eligible. Got an email from Australia Visa Bureau who so far have been very helpful about questions. But if I use them to do all the legwork it's £2400 altogether (before all the actual visa money!). Am trying to work out whether this is a worthwhile investment into a complex process, or a ludicrous expense that I don't need as could do it myself (am a reasonably intelligent person!). What are others' experiences please - is it worth paying the money to save the headaches or will I end up thinking i just threw money away?

Thank you! Tracy

[Guest Rachael M Bowen]

Hi,

 

we have just finished the 189 process and waiting a result, we started January this year, so it's not a quick thing. We used an agent 1)simply because we didn't want the added stress of going through the long and sometimes tough application process, 2) we work fulltime in very stressful jobs. It may seem a little excessive money wise but for us it was the reassurance that our agent would sort things out and guide us as to what documentation, evidence etc would be needed. Sometimes we thought why do they need all this and it didn't become clear until the EOI, medicals, DBS and form 80 etc, which they help us to complete. if you do use an agent make sure they are registered and try to get reviews from their customers. We have been really pleased with our agent and a lot less stressed so for us the money was worth every penny.

You will find though that many people on here have DIY'd and had no problems so hopefully you can get both sides of the coin. Have you completed your IELTS? This really is the first thing to get done and dusted.

Good luck with which ever route you take.

[Guest Iscashe]

Thank you, that's really helpful. No haven't done any of the official stuff yet, similarly have a horribly stressful job and battling just to keep head above water, so maybe we should just accept the cost to make it easier! We're in an odd position of not wanting it to go too quickly, as can't actually make the permanent move till August 2015, so am not wanting to be pushed too fast! Can I ask how much your consultant charged, just so I'm comfortable ours isn't a ripoff?! :-)

[Daveyboy]

Hi Tracey I can recommend the guy I used. He charged £1700 but that was for a single applicant. Not sure if you are coming with any family in which they would probably charge extra per applicant. He took the stress and leg work out of the process and can recommend him. Drop me a PM and I will pass on his details.

 

Dave

[Guest Iscashe]

Thanks Dave, have pm'd you

[Irishglover]

Hi, I've recently applied for and had a 489 visa approved. From what I gather the process is pretty much the same as the 189. I was in Adelaide at the time of applying and went to a agent and found I pretty much knew all they could tell me as I looked into it quite I bit. My partner and I decided to do it ourselves and everything went smoothly. It still cost $5,500 when you factor in the medicals, skills assessment, IELTS and police clearances and everything. That was even getting the application in just before the costs went up. If you decide to do it yourself you get time to get each part of the application in and the questions at all the stages pretty much repeat themselves. I swear I had to repeat answers 3 times on 3 separate forms. You'll always get help from people on here of your ever stuck. If you don't think you have the time it arnt comfortable doing it yourself then obviously get a agent to do it for you.

[Guest ColinOz]

Well I applied for the 190 visa without an agent and all went smooth, I think it all depends on the kind of profession you are nominating as it can be difficult to have your experience assessed, but the process is very straight forward if you want to do it by yourself, and you can save some money as well.

 

Cheers

[Rabeah]

What Collin writes is completely true, when your application is a straight forward one.

We did ours on our own, though English is not our native language. Even TRA for the job recognition we did on our own (okay, TRA in those days were much more easier than today). And also hubby worked full-time, I had more time for research and the visa application we processed after working a full day in front of our computer. The visa application was so easy, even children could do that on their own.

We only used a migration agent at the very beginning of our visa process in order to find out if we have a change of migration to Aussie and paid nothing (was this kind of free advise, first assessment or so). I would recommend only using a migration agent for your very early research and save the money for something else.

[Guest Rachael M Bowen]

Thank you, that's really helpful. No haven't done any of the official stuff yet, similarly have a horribly stressful job and battling just to keep head above water, so maybe we should just accept the cost to make it easier! We're in an odd position of not wanting it to go too quickly, as can't actually make the permanent move till August 2015, so am not wanting to be pushed too fast! Can I ask how much your consultant charged, just so I'm comfortable ours isn't a ripoff?! :-)

 

I'll PM you with details of agent also i'll attach info re IELTS.

 

We are not looking at going out until July next year so like you we were not really rushing. It's worth remembering though that when you are at the stage of getting medicals and police checks which ever date comes through first, you then have a year to validate your visa e.g we have our meds 14/9 13 police 28/9/13 so we will have to validate the visa by 14/9/2014 hope that makes sense.