joeyb

Well just 3 weeks until husband flies off to Brisbane to see if Oz is for us.

If it is, we will apply for a skilled visa (hubbie is a brickie) and his Sister, who lives in Brisbane, is able to sponsor us (which I believe gives us 5 extra points).

I just wanted to hear about some of your experiences when applying for and getting your PR visas - in particular, did you use an agent (any recommendations would be appreciated) or did you do it yourselves (did this save a lot of money). Also, I would like to hear about the general timescales for each way of applying.

Cheers

Aus4us

Hi

We used an agent (visa-go) and having seen the amount of paperwork involved Im glad we did.

It is a personal thing really, It depends how good you are with paperwork and also how much knowledge you have on the subject. This site is a great source of info. though!!
I have read posts where people have had terrible experience with agents, personally ours is great!!

For us having an agent deal with it all takes some of the stress from us.


Roni

samnrob2

In fear of sounding like a broken record I personally wouldn't dream of using an agent.

The paperwork isn't that much - but I guess it depends on how much is 'too much'. In our lines of work, my wife and I are always dealing with forms, red tape, etc so it didn't appear to be that bad.

People talk about the 'pioneering' spirit of going to Oz and forging a new life (sentiments I echo) but it makes me laugh when people in the next breath say that the forms were too stressful for them or 'would take too much time' to fill in

It isn't brain surgery. If you take an online test and are confident you meet the points level then do it yourself. After all an agent doesn't collate all your documents, get them verified or fill the form in for you. You do all that - they just check it and send it off for you?!

As long as you are prepared to do your research and double check everything, then do it yourself. Filling in the form doesn't take that long, collating relevant documents, etc does, but as I say - it is you that does that anyway, not the agent.

However, if your circumstances mean that you are only just meeting the points criteria / struggling to prove work history, etc, then maybe it's worth consulting an agent.

It will save you thousands of pounds as well .

In terms of timeframes, from start to finish (skills assessment, lodging application) it took only 7 months.

Good luck with whatever you do.

Rob

samnrob2

Just in case you are only just starting out and haven't tracked it down yet, I should have also pointed out the official website: http://www.immi.gov.au/

We went to the Emigrate show at Sandown last year and listened to agents regurgitating all the information from the site!!

If you can get your head round the information on there I'd take it as a sign that you can do the whole thing by yourselves.

Rob

fraser

We used an agent, they don't fill in the forms you do. They just guide you through things that we needed to be guided through like TRA. So it all depends on the individual case ours wasn't straight forward so we paid for the help we needed. A couple of grand seems a small price to pay for fulfilling your dream and even smaller price if it's the difference between failure and success

scissors

HI, i can only echo what samrob has already said,we did it all ourselves,and saved ourselves a lot of time and money.
Its not that difficult,getting all the paperwork together is the worst,but you have to do that whether you use an agent or not,and if there is anything your not sure about you can ring either the tra or dimiia and asked questions,as we did several times,because being self employed things werent quite as straight forward as they would have been if i had been employed.
We know a lot of people who have had trouble with agents, so we re very glad we did it ourselves.

Why not give it a go,tracey.

samnrob2

Also, if you're not sure on something - why not ask people on here. We've all done it / going through it - we should all be made honorable migration agents shouldn't we?!

Plus I come really cheap

Rob

scissors

lol, this is very true and if we cant help theres always the emmigration forum

tracey.

samnrob2

You've just got your visa haven't you scissors (last week?).

Are the wheels in motion now? Does it still look like summer 05?

Rob

scissors

yes we ve had them a couple of weeks,hopefully we ll be there sometime between the end of june and august depending on the sale of the house, its going on the market in a couple of weeks, we re geting agents in next week to value it,so fingers crossed.You havent got long brefore you go have you?

tracey.

samnrob2

Gulp - nope!

House sale agonisingly there. Should all be tied up by the end of next week and then just have to work out my notice!

Said our first good bye on Sunday - not good tho'!

Rob

joeyb

Thanks for that info.
I am used to paperwork - being a simple (sorry, I mean Civil) Servant.
I think I might try to do it myself - I am thinking that the extra money saved could go towards a pool in Oz!

Did anyone find going through the TRA stage difficult - am i right in thinking that you need 9 years of proof for working in a particular trade? Does this proof come in the form of references and job contracts, etc?

Jo

scissors

ooohhh im sooo jealous,i just want to go now,did it take long to sell your house.

tracey.

markeh

Hiya JoeyB,

I would take a look at the forms on the DIMMA website, print them out allong with the appropriate booklets (you will need some of the pages from the booklets with your application) and have a read.

The forms & booklets are designed for you & me to use.

Using an agent won't speed up the application, but may be usefull if you can't manage it onyour own.

We did the forms our selves and it took just under 1 year. We had our visa last March.

The wait is all down to the forms being processed DIMMA and there is nothing you can do to speed that bit up.

let us all know which route you decide to go.
Any probs post on forum, I'm sure someone will have the answer.

Bye
Mark

Perthforme

I think that for a straight forward application no agent is needed i looked at what they do for big bucks and feel that you still have to get all the same paper work together to give to your agent as to TRA etc. So no need for a middle man. Read the forms and booklets over and over till it sinks in then go for it.
My TRA cam back ok main going in very soon