[chrisandelaine]

is it a must to use an agent for getting your visa, or are they juat a watse of alot of moeny, as you seem to do all the running etc, they just point you in right direction.

has anyone done the whole process them selves from start to finish ? and does it take alot of heartache, and longer to process becuase of it.

chris

 

[mr.india]

is it a must to use an agent for getting your visa, or are they juat a watse of alot of moeny, as you seem to do all the running etc, they just point you in right direction.

has anyone done the whole process them selves from start to finish ? and does it take alot of heartache, and longer to process becuase of it.

chris

You can apply for visa yourself (without agent). However, If you are not aware of migration process then it is a better idea to take help of migration agent.

We did not took migration agent and we lost $2525 as we had to withdraw our first application because of error (without refund)


So, you have to take decision weather you want to DIY or take agent's help.

Best Regards,

 

[Busyte]

Hi,

I'd say it really depends on the visa.

We had a spouse visa and we followed the immigration website and prepared everything, asked for all the papers and documents necessary and sorted ourselves out.
Mind you, it took us a whole month paperchasing.

But I believe the spouse visa is one of the easier ones.

If you have to do skills assessment, plus visa, Visas are so expensive and it's such hard work to paper chase, I won't take the chance of being refused and would get an agent.
After all it is their job to get you a positive outcome and if they are professionals.

Good luck!

Busyte

 

[M.Omar]

As Mr. India said, if you are not well aware of the tinies and trickies of the process or you do not have the time, maybe it's better to get yourself on board with a migration agent ( As I am also doing now), I decided to go with one after long discussions with my wife we found out it won't be only loss of money if we end up with rejected application, but also loss of what is more precious which is time!
Also Busyte is completely right, the process might be not so simple when you combine skills assessment and the application itself afterwards.

One major thing is to try to get yourself a good agent ( basically must be MARA or MIA registered with a sanction free record as a start)

I know some people here that had commented on the quality of service they got through their agents in previous posts, just search the forum for migration agents related posts and you will get many in return,

good luck ,

M. Omar

 

[chand]

You can do it

Hi

I lodged my application without any support from agents (got the visa last week). All what I did was-

1. Studied the entire process through DIAC website.
2. Had a look at a copy of a successful application (similar occupation and visa subclass).

As indicated by others, it depends on the type of visa. However, if you are applying for GSM 175 visa and if your occupation is "Accountant", Im sure you can do it without an agent(coz I ve done it).

Get hold of a successful applicant (similar occupation as yours) and start your way. All the best.

Regards

 

[anj1976]

the agent just tells you what all you need. you end up doing all the running around. depends on how well read you are and how confident you are.. we used an agent but we are lazy and that time we did not know as much as we do now. i dont regret using an agent but yeah we would have saved had we not used one.

 

[Timh]

For what its worth in January last year i went to a migration agent and paid £195 for the initial meeting. They quoted me £3,500.00 and then told me all the stages i had to go through to justify their money. I almost signed up but decided to try and do it myself so I completed VETASSES, IELTS, State Sponsorship and the Visa form (with my girlfriend) and nothing came back rejected. If your willing to put a little work in then i would recommend you do it yourself cause its 1 cheaper and 2 it makes your find out a lot of information about OZ. Had a bit of a scare when the processing times changed but we recieved our visa in November last year and planning to head off this July.

Another thing that was good was as we needed state sponsorship we went to th emigrate expo and spoke to the government rep of state that was sponsoring us (and you can't normally speak to those people). He was very helpfull and gave us his number in case we needed anything else.

Good luck and remember, if your stuck on anything just post it on the forum.

Tim:juggle:

 

[Dolly]

To save money, some use an agent to help with the skills assessment and then do the main application themselves.

Dolly

 

[bluebird121]

I too was going to use am agent.. but just decided to have a go myself.. I am no great at forms.. but immigration were great.. anything I was not sure about . I phoned them..also the forms are quite easy.. even for me .. just I had forgotten the Police checks.. but it all came together..and I have a semi permanent spouse visa.. hope to get my permanent one this year..Yippee!!

 

[Wild Beast Of Borneo]

is it a must to use an agent for getting your visa, or are they juat a watse of alot of moeny, as you seem to do all the running etc, they just point you in right direction.

has anyone done the whole process them selves from start to finish ? and does it take alot of heartache, and longer to process becuase of it.

chris

hi Chris,

I am from Malaysia, and I did the whole process myself from top to bottom (well... it's not approved yet, so I wouldnt exactly call it bottom).

After doing the whole thing myself, I think it's pretty damn easy, and I could actually make some money helping people do it also... LOL...

You are right about the agents though, they make tonnes of money doing this.. when you can actually do it yourself.

Longer process? Not at all....

 

[riversandlakes]

This has got to be one of the more popular questions.

If you want to DIY do your homework else it may end up more expensive than with agents. DIAC will reject applications fast and furious.

It can be done DIY - even easier now with the online application. Ain't rocket science.

 

[sambit]

I would say , Do it yourself anyday !!!!

Take it as a project or a challenge or an exam...go through the site ....get all the information...do research here as lots of great advice is here on the net.

My opinion - If you are dependent from the first stage , then migrating to another country will not be a easy task .

 

[M.Omar]

@sambit: I agree fully that this process is completely "self doable" but I also do not agree completely to the conjuction of being dependent on an agent and the difficulty of the consequent move, because there are many aspects that govern the immigration to another country, I would say paper work would only be the longer part but not the most difficult that would prove if you do it yourself you'd be successful and if you don't you won't.

There are emotional planning for immediate and surrounding family, financial planning, backup planning, job preparation and hunting, location selection, housing, and removals, each of which is a full task that needs tons of preparation and calculations to minimize the risk that would always remain there.

Some people just don't have much of space or breath for paper work (like myself), some other cases really require consultation and there are many so called " straight forward" cases that had failed at first step because they missed some details on their own , also many others they were initially not eligible but the correct agent consultation got them there finally and of course many who did it on their own and were successful.

It's just a very personal decision, all what I meant, we shouldn't generalize judgement of after immigration difficulty based on this choice,

cheers,

M. Omar

I would say , Do it yourself anyday !!!!

Take it as a project or a challenge or an exam...go through the site ....get all the information...do research here as lots of great advice is here on the net.

My opinion - If you are dependent from the first stage , then migrating to another country will not be a easy task .

 

[lepeyrou]

I ditto what the others say. If you are a devil for detail, you can be sure to understand the process, the rules and regs, and your case is straight forward, do it yourself.

We used an agent as our case was not a simple one and we only had 2009 to get it right due to our age.

The agent was fantastic and helped us gather all the supplementary evidence we needed to support our application. Even tiny details like the order you list your skills for assessment can make a difference, something we would not have even considered, so with this advice we were able to submit a CV that accurately detailed, in the correct order, the skills needed for the Visa.

We had expected a long wait and much more paperwork, so when we were granted an independent skilled migrant Visa in just 6 months, the fee for our agent was truly money very well spent.

I think the trick is going with the right agent.

I wish you the very best whichever way you choose.

 

[chrisandelaine]

yes

I ditto what the others say. If you are a devil for detail, you can be sure to understand the process, the rules and regs, and your case is straight forward, do it yourself.

We used an agent as our case was not a simple one and we only had 2009 to get it right due to our age.

The agent was fantastic and helped us gather all the supplementary evidence we needed to support our application. Even tiny details like the order you list your skills for assessment can make a difference, something we would not have even considered, so with this advice we were able to submit a CV that accurately detailed, in the correct order, the skills needed for the Visa.

We had expected a long wait and much more paperwork, so when we were granted an independent skilled migrant Visa in just 6 months, the fee for our agent was truly money very well spent.

I think the trick is going with the right agent.

I wish you the very best whichever way you choose.

yeah true about picking the correct agent would help, thanks for you support.

chris

 

[sambit]

Hey Omar ,

Agree with you.

Its a personal decision.
I think the author of this thread has recieved enough advices already

Sambit