Few of my friends are interested in applying to see what reasults they get.

Can you save money by cutting out the middle man? because surley they are just profit makers...

has anyone done it alone, be interesting to see if DIY does save money and how the agents actualy help.

Liam

Of course DIY saves money.

However, DIY may mean you don't achieve the outcome you want, or it involves a lot of research and discipline that could be avoided by paying a fee.

Best regards.

Hiya,

I considered using an agent when I applied 3 yrs ago...decided against it and submitted the application myself....had no problem getting the visa at all....If anything, I had prepared TOO MUCH information (according to my case officer)....she found it quite amusing!
Tanya

I also applied myself without the aid of an agent. It’s pretty straight forward all the forms and information can be obtained from the DIMIA website. I recall that the process seemed to take a long time though, I don’t know if it is any faster with an agent?

You can of course save money by not using an agent as you aren't paying any agents fees. It depends on a few things though - do you have the time to do all the application yourself, do you understan the process for your particular visa enough to do it yourself - skills assessments, sponsorship etc, and most importantly - how straightforward is your application going to be.
Most spouse visa are easier enough to do yourself, but even some of those have complications - medical issues, children from previous rel'ships, criminal records etc.
If you think you have an application with no real problems attached, then by all means go for it, but if you can forsee any hitches, or anything where you would benefit from having an agent advise the best way to proceed - then it may be well worth the money to employ someone.
Remember agents have experience with DIMA, you don't, agents know how to prresent problems to DIMA in the best way, you don't; thats why many people use agents.

I think it very much depends on what visa category you are applying for. Some are considerably more straightforward than others.

I would say that if getting into Oz is very important to you, and you have an application that is not straightforward, definitely use an agent.

(I'll take my commission now Alan.... )

Cheers

Buzzy

we did it without an agent, saved thousands!!! We failed our TRA first time, but had another go, passed that and when the main part of the visa was a piece of cake!!

Do it on your own, be carefull and use the web and forums like this one to get it all done correctly pete

Liam

We've not used an agent. We passed our skills assessments (IAust and VETASSESS) and applied for a 136 (Skilled-Ind). We've been asked to lodge our $100k bond (for the five points) and I assume that we've cleared all the other stages and they are happy with the information we've provided so far (unless anyone out there knows different). This was the reply I posted in response to a query in another thread about using agents:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...55&postcount=8

All the best

Heading South

I forgot to add in my earlier reply that I was quoted £2,800 + VAT by an agent. I could have shopped around but decided to do it myself.

Heading South (hopefully)

Hi all, my Wife did ours, passed TRA first time, Application was a piece of cake, only thing we regretted was applying for police ccs to early, this made our validation date only six months.
Dont forget you may feel safe using an agent, but you still have to run around getting all the information, going to ex employers, counter signed signatures by solicitors, and on and on.
you just give the agents £2,500 to put it all in the envelope.

With respect, your last comment is unnecessary, inaccurate, and bordering on the offensive.

Regards.

£2,800 plus VAT sounds expensive for a skilled application ...

Best regards.

ouch!
that was a little offensive to say the least!!
if thats all they did then im sure they would get thier asses wupped on here!! and i dont think ive ever seen a post saying an agent was a waste of time or money....

if you have a straightforward application then i would imagine you will be ok to do it yourself - these forums are great for asking questions about the odd thing that you dont understand.
but if you have any childcare issues/employer issues etc , then surely paying someone who knows the system inside out is the way to go? they dont all charge £2500........

you seemed to have been over quoted. our agent has charged just over £1000, and its the best money we've spent. yes, we did all the chasing of ex-employers etc, but they gave us templates on what was needed, they filled in all the forms for us, and we felt secure in the fact that we knew that our case would be presented as it should be (as our agents was an ex senior case officer, and the other an ex manager of AHC).

i also thinks it depends on which visa type, and what your individual situation is (ie. ex-partners/children in other relationships etc). but we feel our agent was invaluable, and would recommend them to anyone.

not all agents collect £2500 to put it in an envelope

Alan

I thought so too, especially as we should have been quite an easy case to take on. We'd already figured that we'd qualify for a 136 Skilled-Ind (which seems to be the simplest visa to apply for). We both had the right sort of academic qualifications and work experience to easily get on the SOL and a pretty straightforward story to tell. Just to put it all in context our 'biggest' problem was that I had to get FBI police checks as well as UK ones as I'd lived and worked in the US for more than a year in the last 10 years. I'd have thought that our application would be a breeze for an agent to deal with. Perhaps I should have shopped around, but seeing that sort of fee just made me go ahead and sort it out myself.

Heading South