mandandbri

Hi There

We applied to Oz fifteen months ago through london ( Now gone to Adelaide and used an agent.

We have a specifice agent assigned to us from this large company.

I have called on several occasions and E mailed and find that I am getting little to no response .
For example I called to see if they had recieved THE letter that our app was going to Adelaide and only when I begged her to look in our file ( because her database was down) That she informed me " oh Yes there is a letter . It had been sent two weeks ago!!

I have also sent our medicals to her at great cost and have asked her send these on to Adelaide and to E mail us with confirmation that this has been done ( I have sent 3 E mails at last count )

I would like to complain to the manager however my hubby is concerned that this may mean they will correspond less. ( they were fantastic correspondants when they wanted 1500 quid off us.)

I may be confused of an agents responsibilites to the applicant. Can anyone enlighten me?

Manda

shellypuss

Hiya,

Prey tell who is your agent.

Is it someone that has been slated on this website?

Our agent is OK and what we have paid basically covers everything between beginning and end. He is not perfect by any means but is a fair bit better than some mentioned on here by other people such as Four Corners.

Cheers

Shelly

onlyme

to me an agent is like an escalator...
you don't really need them, unless your legless....

I have heard alot of people use agents purely because alot of agents used to work in the immigration offices and they still know people there and this can possibly help to speed up their application...

I met an immigration agent and asked him what he could do for me that I couldn't do for myself and he was a bit stumped to say the least. All I know is he was going to charge me $5,000 and to do it myself costs less than half that....and all he would have done is ask me questions all day so that he could fill the forms out for me !!

No offence to any agents out there. There are some on this website that are outstanding and have in depth knowledge of immigration processes...I suppose they are very useful for people who find the whole process a bit mind boggling. My application was a straight forward independent skilled migration.

pommie bastard

They are there to empty your pockets , if that is going on then they are doing their job well.the money you sad lot throw away realy does amaze me , an immigrant and his money are soon parted.

Luvvly_Jubbly

I hate to say it but the Pommie Bastard is right, migration agents are there to fleece you out of your hard earned cash! I approached a migration agent in Adelaide and was shocked to discover his fees, it's a license to print money!
On a serious note, if your sure of your skills, have passed the points test, meet the criteria,not phased by in-depth forms and can dot the 'i's and cross the 'T's you should be ok. The only time I can imagfine them warranting their nice fee is if you are a borderline application and have a few doubts.........

scooterboy

We found that Immigration themselves confirmed our suspicions saying that using an agent was often a waste of money. Agents will not make a weak evidence for a visa look stronger nor will they speed things up.

We applied via the De Facto route which is notoriously toughly tested and we had some areas of criteria that could be regarded as weak.

Get your presentation of evidence looking clear and professional: spend a few quid on some stationary (binders, sleeves); have an index of all your evidence and cross reference it with the criteria the Immigration expects (eg Proof of financial interdepandance with bills etc). This is about all an agent will do for you and will charge a fortune.

We found the Immigration department needed a bit of a nudge to get around looking at our case after 4-5 months. An agent would just be another chain in your application and I think any enquiries are best coming from yourself than an agent. Once they looked at it in the space of days, they gave us the visa and commented on how helpful the presentation was ("I wish they were all this good").

Alan Collett

Well if true then frankly DIMIA have a cheek making these sort of comments about using a migration agent. Indeed it is beyond their remit to do so. The unhelpful nature of many DIMIA posts and the incorrect "advice" that is given out by many who should know better means that the lay person can be a hostage to fortune.

I also take issue with your comment about an agent not improving the appearance of a weak case - the agent jolly well should flesh out the key aspects of an application to guide the case officer through the desired visa outcome. And an agent can speed up an application if he or she presents all the information required by the case officer if the unrepresented applicant would have omitted these details - not always, but usually.

I'm not saying all agents are value for money (I'm not that naive), but I can't let these comments pass by without at least making the case for using an agent, particularly where an applicant wants the comfort of using a professional who has dealt with the law and the authorities before, is uncertain about what is required in terms of documentation or procedure, or if the application is difficult/borderline that needs to be presented in the best light.