sharon_gareth

Just found this on MARA website and thought it was a good guideline for knowing what a fair price is for using a migrant agent.

http://www.themara.com.au/ArticleDoc...%2002%2008.pdf

Provides average fees charged by Migrant Agents between July 05 and Jan 06 for both PR & Temp Visas

CathnPaul

Thats reassuring to know that my agents fees are realisting inline with mara...good thread. I think one or two people may benefit from that link.

tony4563

So how much is it to apply for the Permanent Residency Visa in english pounds and how much do agents charge roughly for their services excluding the Visa Costs if you don't mind me asking?

CathnPaul

The charges for an agent vary greatly... we had quotes ranging from £800 - £3000.

sharon_gareth

divide by 2.4 to get a guide or use the calculator on the DIMIA website http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i.htm. You will be looking at around GBP 1,200 (a range of GBP 983 - 1650. In an agent is charging you GBP 3,000 for a skilled migrant visa I would want to know what extra service they were offering to warrant such a huge fee (perhaps they are including the DIMIA visa fees)?.

The fees quoted in the link are only for the agents services. If you want to know the Visa costs and other related costs these can be found on the DIMIA website.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i.htm (see p rint charges and fees for a PDF file)

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i...ther_costs.htm

CathnPaul

I agree, thats why we started to do a lot more checking when someone pointed that out to us last year. We are now very settled with an agent who has his fees on his site www.ianharrop.co.uk...

tony4563

Thanks CathnPaul for that link. I've sent Ian an email.

CathnPaul

Ian is a well respected agent and has a vast history of experience as can be seen from his mara number...

We searched for approx 18months for an agent we felt comfortable with. that included emailing 50 of them - ringing some - then following them up further... we then thought we had settled with one until the paperwork came through and triple checked it to find we were being overcharged and to re-consider..which was the best thing we did as we were being steered down the wrong path without knowing it.

He has a 24hr turn around on any emails so I am sure he will be in touch with you soon.

tony4563

"He has a 24hr turn around on any emails so I am sure he will be in touch with you soon."

Got a reply within an hour.

Jensen Healey

We've paid just over $2500 - about £1000. Plus fees of course.

Darren S

I have a better price....don't pay for one. It's hardly rocket science

CathnPaul

It is for some people who have difficult cases - or who dont want the hassle of filling in the forms etc.

We dont have the confidence to go it alone as we only have one shot due to the 139 changing mid year.

ACE

Ageed. Our case was very tricky and I must say that we were very pleased with the service offered by Ian Harrop, worth every penny.

ACE

sharon_gareth

We used a migrant agent because we came here on a skilled migrant visa.

Reason we felt that using a migrant agent was important was that a work friend did it themselves and got declined first time round but when they went through a migrant agent the application was succesful.

All it was down to was the wording in the job description. Something like this can make all the difference and a migrant agent should be able to get it right.

Sure if you are applying for a straight forward visa why not do it yourself but if your a skilled migrant you may want to think twice. Why give your self the stress and dissapointment of getting declined just for using the wrong wording to describe your work.

sean trethewey

It may not be rocket science but lots of people fail the TRA assessment so using an agent isn't always a bad idea, i used an agent and received my visa with no stress so to me it was worth every penny (thanks visa connection)