Hello,

Myself and my family are currently in the very early stages of beginning our move to Canada.
We’ve been looking into the Express Entry Skilled Worker Visa and are considering applying for it very soon.

If people were to go through the whole Visa process again, would you use a Visa representative to guide you through the process etc. or would you instead complete all of the paperwork etc yourselves?

I’ve read online that a representative can cost anywhere between $1,000 and $5,000, does anybody know why it is so expensive?

Many Thanks
Anton

They're in business so are looking to make money. The general advice on here is to do it yourselves, unless you have complicated circumstances. You still have to provide all the information and basically do all the work - but you pay someone who tells you what to gather, rather than reading it yourselves.
We did use a lawyer, as it was provided by the company my OH was working for but it was up to us to gather the necessary paperwork and deliver it to them, which is the main work.
It’s rather like the adverts re companies to renew your passports - they don’t really add value to the process but are happy to take your money to do it.

it’s really not that expensive when you break it down by the number of hours. Even a paralegal, who will do most the work is going to be 150+ an hour (as said above there are overheads, wages to pay and yes profit to be made). A $5000 fee is only around 30 hours or about 4 working days.

Hi all,

Thank you very much for your responses, we will definitely try to complete all documentation ourselves.

Many Thanks
Anton

Most people on the forum do it themselves, so there are plenty of people to help if needed. As long as you’re sure you meet the criteria (enough points on the CRS, have got your ECA & IELTs, no criminal inadmissibility issues, enough funds etc), then it should be straightforward enough.

Best of luck!