We are looking to move to New Zealand using a general work skills visa, by getting sponsored by a company in Auckland. The skills I have are on the shortages list.

The question I have is.... should we use an agent which appears to cost loads of money, or should we go it alone and fill in the forms ourselves. I work in London so can go to NZ house as many times as necessary.

I dont mind paying for an agent if I feel they can do something I cant and we increase our chances of getting accepted, however it does appear to be money for old rope.

What are your experiances?
Can you recommend a agent to use.

We are off to the Opportunities Abroad 2003 show in York this weekend. Does anyone have any comments on the show if they have been before? What should we expect.

Thanks

PF

Go it alone, sounds like your application is going to be straight forward, its not a difficult process, just make sure you read and fully understand each question.

For agents take a look at http://www.movingdownunder.co.uk/fil...ntagencies.php

''''''

Hi PF!

If your circumstances are fairly uncomplicated, then i'd say definately go it alone, but with complications, then using an agent isnt neccesaryily 'money for old rope'. and there are some good ones that post on this group. they give their professional help and advice for free!! which is much appreciated by the rest of us!

Good luck and hope things work out well for you!

cheers

Just to say - I agree with the others, we did it ourselves and found it all pretty straight forward. It was always easy to get advice over the phone from the immigration people too.

Just to add my tuppence: we used a good NZ migration agent but would advise any other straightforward NZ applicants to DIY - no bitter regrets as we appreciated the agent's help but with hindsight and this forum we could have EASILY done it ourselves.

Harpers - if you just mean you will include an allowable job offer, and there are no complications, I strongly advise you to DIY as NZIS London bend over backwards to help UK apps with job offer succeed. There need be NO FEARS about an app being rejected out of hand because you got a small detail wrong - they will just ask for clarification.

Cheers - Don

I agree, isn't it unusual for so many people to agree
money for old rope and to be honest I'm doing exactly
what your doing now and the Forum has been a great
source of Information..

It takes time to look through though, trying to find the New Zealand topics from the Oz ones.. but it is worth the read..

Good luck

Hi
I decided to go it alone, the hardest bit was the skills assesment, but we got the ok back from that in 2 weeks!
The rest was quite simple really.
If i had let an agent help me i would have driven them nuts phoning them 24/7 to find out what was happening! At least going it alone i felt in control of my own stuff. (oh god i really am a control freak, wheres the prozac! )

Like others on this forum, I'd suggest going it alone. I would add that it could be important to get good evidence of everything, even though it might not all be needed.

A good agent who knows his or her stuff can be a geat backup but they do seem to want a lot for what may be not much effort. It depends on the complexity. NZ based agents are a lot cheaper as they charge in NZ$ and it could work out to significantly less than £1000. After a preliminary chat with one agent (I did it alone, eventually), he did seem to be up to speed with the latest interpretations of immigration policy and I added more evidence of what subjects my BSc was actually in. But I don't think that was worth the £3,500 (incl VAT) that he was charging.

Thanks for everyones help and advice on this.
My gut feel is to go it alone.

We will see what happens at the Opportunties Abroad Exhibition tomrrow at York, and let you know how we get on.

PF

Only 2 weeks for the skills assessment? Did you pay the extra "fast-track" fee of $150?