Cost of Apply for Skills Assessment

Jellab · #1 (**permalink**) 20th October 2008, 09:45 PM

I have a question if you could please help me I would really appreciate it. Myself and my partner are about to apply for the Skilled Migration Visa from Ireland.
My partner is a plasterer,he has the experience but not the qualifications. We went to see a person at Austrailian Construction training Services (ACTS)who were refered to us by Liz OHagan to get his skilled assessed before we could apply for the visa through Liz. The person has qouted us £ 2950 stg to get his skills assessed and regconised in Austrailia.
Then there is the costs of €3500 for the actual visa with an agent.
That is a total of about €7200 depending on exchange rate.

My question is. Has anyone went down this route.
Did you pay this much?
Or did you go through someone else.
We just find the whole think a bit too expensive.
Thanks for your help in Advance

Dolly · #2 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 12:05 AM

That does seem rather a lot. Do the amounts you quoted include all fees (skills and visa application fees)?

I always recommend contacting at least 3 agents to compare fees and what their services will include - there are a few who post on here (Alan Collett/SOMV/Liana Allan).

Dolly

Jellab · #3 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 07:09 PM

[HI Dolly
Thanks for responding to my post. Yes that is the total for all. I dont' think it includes medicals though. I will call a few more agents and see if I can get cheaper. I really would like to get the ball rolling soon.
Thanks

MandM · #4 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 08:29 PM

That seems real expensive. we were quoted AS$400 for a skills assessment! The visa fees were AS$5250 in total (both parts) the last time i checked on australian immigration web site

Jellab · #5 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 09:32 PM

Did you apply directly from Aus or did you use an agent in Uk or Ireland.
Thanks

MandM · #6 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellab

Did you apply directly from Aus or did you use an agent in Uk or Ireland.
Thanks

hi there,

We are at the start of the process, still in Uk, with a UK agent based in Oxford. decided it as much much easier than trying to figure it out on our own. At least with an agent we know what we have to do / get etc and we know what will be right and wrong, save time later in possible rejected applications!

MandM

Jellab · #7 (**permalink**) 21st October 2008, 10:09 PM

I wonder would we be able to go with a UK based agent as Ireland seems to be a bit of a rip off.

Dolly · #8 (**permalink**) 22nd October 2008, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellab

I wonder would we be able to go with a UK based agent as Ireland seems to be a bit of a rip off.

Yes, of course!

Our agent was based in Australia so apart from getting used to the time difference when contacting each other, it worked well.

Dolly

kaz101 · #9 (**permalink**) 22nd October 2008, 01:54 AM

And with the current exchange rates you may find an Aussie agent is much cheaper for anyone thinking of using an agent!

RachaelK · #10 (**permalink**) 22nd October 2008, 08:11 AM

For Ireland, did you check out Migrationabroad.com? I'm using them and the peace of mind knowing everything is done correctly and having somebody around to ask questions of has been REALLY helpful. Just sorted my medicals in Dublin and THAT was kind of expensive: €175 for exam and blood test €95 for chest x-ray.

Looking back, I might have been able to sort it myself but it was good to get the tricky questions sorted (I'm not Irish so there were a few unusual bits).