Originally Posted by esperanza

Out of interest, would those of you who have used agents for your visas do the same thing again or would you try and go it alone?
Luckily for us our visa was quite straightforward and we did it ourselves no probs - so what do you think? Is it really worth it to pay thousands of pounds to an agent?

Originally Posted by GinaUK

As per my reply above: we DID NOT "pay thousands" to our agent! We paid a total of £940 in agent's fees for the skills assessment and the visa. And yes, I still think it was worth it. And yes, if I had to do it again I would .- In fact, before we move next year, I shall engage the services of the same agent to give us financial advice.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous agents out there and they do rip off their clients - which has given the industry a bad name. However, this does not detract from the fact that a good agent is well worth it.

Also, at the outset, you don't know if your situation is straightforward.

Gina

Originally Posted by GinaUK

As per my reply above: we DID NOT "pay thousands" to our agent! We paid a total of £940 in agent's fees for the skills assessment and the visa. And yes, I still think it was worth it. And yes, if I had to do it again I would .- In fact, before we move next year, I shall engage the services of the same agent to give us financial advice.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous agents out there and they do rip off their clients - which has given the industry a bad name. However, this does not detract from the fact that a good agent is well worth it.

Also, at the outset, you don't know if your situation is straightforward.

Gina

Originally Posted by busterboy

Yes...I agree with this...I think one of my posts was miSunderstood by the OP.

We paid £3000 in total - it was very clear cut (in fact it we had known how easy it was, we might have gone it alone, given that I do loads of permits etc for the UK)! We paid one fee of £1200, it would have been around £1500 if we have paid by installment method. We paid around £300 for VETASSESS and around £900 for lodgement, we then paid around £450 for medicals and £20 etc for police checks and £100 for a South African courier service for a SA police check= totally in all around £3000.

We went with our agency as all costs were presents to us before we signed a contract with them. I liked the fact that they detailed their costs and then additional vetassess etc costs...and also timetabled when these costs were likely to be incurred. We felt fully informed.

Originally Posted by Nick11

I say - name and shame them! It might stop others from being ripped off.At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!!!!

Originally Posted by busterboy

We only paid £1200 to our agent..I was quite happy with that (am I typing something else here because no-one seems to be getting me.....my point was £6000 for the OP was excessive)....lots of people pay around £3000 for the whole process.

Originally Posted by jon&kate

We are using an agent for our move and the bill is at over £6000 thats excliuding the costs for my TRA and the cost of our visa.We have been accepted for stni by canberra and are just putting together what i hope will be our last major paper work for DIMIA.During our application we have had to change visa type as my wifes brother let us down (he was going to sponsor us)This didnt cause to much upheavall with our application as we suggeted to our agent going down the stni route.Bearing in mind my tra was done before being let down.We get a bill every month with a breakdown of work done.We have been charged for reseaerch into stni visa (surely an agent know's about the different visa's on offer.I can understand that paperwork had been done for a 138 visa as this was our original route but this bill only came to £750.The agent we are using is a very famous one and not some backstreet job.I n the e-mail it says a bill for £1600 is in the post but since last month we have been putting together our paperwork for DIMIA i:e birth a marriage documents updated letters from work etc and although i have contacted agent by e-mail i fail to see how they come up with theses costs.I have just sent an e-mail to the accounts department expresing my disgust at the costs.

Originally Posted by mad.chef

ours was also around the £3000 to £3500 for everything ??? £6000 is alot of money

Originally Posted by Bexie

We have done all now and just waiting for visa grant. We have paid a lot more than the seemingly average 3000.00 - infact nearer 6000.00 in total. If they do the job great, but ours, despite chasing etc, don't ever pay us courtesy calls to let us know what is going on. I have learnt far more through this forum than from my agent. The customer service has been shocking. Trouble is, as you don't do this too often, it's all as bit hit and miss. Wish I had found this forum earlier. I am not knocking agents, I would hate to go through this process on my own - too difficult, but I do expect value for my money, I guess we just picked the wrong agents? Plenty of people on here have reccommende the same agents time after time after time!! Mind you once I get that visa, it will all pale in to insignificance and I'm sure that I will say that it was worth every penny!
Bexie (and breathe!)