markmillz

Hi everyone, iv'e been working on moving to NZ for a short while now, had some very positive responses from employers for my wife and me but not a formal job offer yet. I was really wanting to find out if anyone has used an immigration adviser, we were quoted £3000 for one, thought this was a bit extreme but are keen to find out everyone's opinion about this. Thanks
Mark

BEVS

It's an individual choice but many manage perfectly well without an advisor.

So. Welcome to this NZ BE.

Tell us something about yourselves. Your occupations. Your poss job offers etc.

We are nosey like that.

scrubbedexpat094

A very warm welcome from me too. Nosey is my middle name, so info please

Unless your case is likely to be complex then I would leave the immigration advisor alone & keep your money

MrsFychan

welcome.
we looked at using one and was frankly not amused. Information he gave us was incorrect, cost time and money to actually go and see him, train, days where we could of been doing other things, luckily he annoyed me so much that I refused point blank to use him or anyone else, and he was a recognised Immigration agent.
We found the cheapest and easiest way was to call NZ house and speak to guys there. Husband also went and paid them a visit in person on one occasion but then he likes to get out and about in London, and likes their carved totem pole. he also coincided it with a drink out with the boys so all worth it.

My advise, see if you can do it yourself, lots and lots on help on here and then if you have problems revisit the agent possibility again

ellenarosemary

Do it yourself, we used an immigration agent (for the job search side of things), as we could do all the paperwork, and he went into liquidation. We lost over £4K and never got a penny back, as did a lot of other people too. The worst thing is he we as only banned for 18 months, and that was nearly a year ago.

thepinkone

Welcome to the site; we're doing it ourselves with pointers from everyone on here (do take some time to read older posts as they are very informative). I did however use an agent for my job but they bill the employer not me. Good luck with the process.

markmillz

Hi all, many thanks for the replies and also the warm welcome!!!

We feel as if we could manage without an advisor, don't really mind doing all that paper work if you know you'll get something worthwhile at the end of it, was really just putting that question out-there to see the opinion of others and their experiences.

I am a panel beater with 25 years experience in the trade, my wife Dawn has an HNC & SVQ Level 3 in Social care and has 6 years experience caring for youngsters in the community. We have 2 boys Jake & Fraser aged 8 & 5. Both of us have had employers in NZ asking to meet us when we arrive, they said they were impressed with our cv's but not that much as yet to offer us a job, but still early days.

Again, thanks for the advice we'll keep looking for jobs and hope we get the break-through we need. MARK.

scrubbedexpat094

Good luck with your plans

MrsFychan

My husband was getting much the same, IT field, so decided to come over on a three week "holiday" and have Coffee Meetings with those interested. In the end he got an offer of employment through an agency 4 days after landing and started on the 7th day of being there and didn't return to UK until nearly 2mths later just for a week to see me and the kids

Tom1983

Three grand!!! Tell em to move forth

I suppose it depends really, we did commence our move using working in but lost out on the 750.00 since my company had an invalid accredited certificate. In a way that was a good thing because some of the stuff they were asking for compared to what the companies immigration team wanted were a bit silly. E-mails from people confirming you were in a stable relationship, police forms from my caution 10 years ago (9 at the time of the application), character approval statements from employers, proof of being a couple (holiday photos etc).

There were a few questions on the form that I wouldn't have known what to have written and I was glad we used the company's immigration lawyer (company paid for them). I felt more confident of being accepted than if I attempted on me tod.

markmillz

yeah i think we'll just give it a go ourselves, we've found a lot out in the past few days and i'm sure if we get stuck on anything there will be some-one on the B E forum to give us a few tips, thanks.

simonsi

Yis!

RachelG12

We're also doing it ourselves, was advised by my recruitment officer to avoid immigration agents. Everyone on here is really helpful and a lot more up to date than the agents (from what I've read).

Does anyone know how long it takes for you to get your Visa once you have a job offer? I'm applying for a skilled Migrant Residence Visa.

Thanks for the help
Xx

MrsFychan

We went this route and even with my husband already working over here (had to get a work visa which only took 3hours to obtain at the Wellington Imm Office) it still took just over 3mths for the initial approval from the CO, then 2 weeks for the secondary checks after we chased them and then a week or so to get the visa's into the passports (we did transfer after secondary approval to Wellington Office as we were living here by then) It was also over the Christmas and New Year period and our CO only working a 4 day week. Mine and my daughters medicals were referred and then sent back cleared. Husband had to get his job offer rewritten a couple of times to satisfy CO and then had to get the company to write confirming that even though he returned to UK for 2 weeks at Christmas he was still employed by them and was still working so his 3mths had been completed.

simonsi

We were under time pressure to start ASAP so applied for a WTR instead of PR, 5 days door-to-door to get the passports back. Just applying for PR now....