beckamojo

Can anyone tell me (roughly) how much we would expact to be charged by a visa agency for the cost of PR visa to New Zealand?

We can find all the information on everything else except that one. My husband will be the main applicant and myself and the 2 children are along on the ride. It might be the difference between going and not going so if we could plan that would be great.

Thanks to all who try to help

Maz

Simple answer: too much. Do it yourselves. Please don't pay an agency. It's simple enough to submit it yourselves. Of course you still have to pay the NZIS fees, but there'll at least be nothing you have to pay to an agency. There are always tons of people on here who can offer advice. Have you done the points calculator on the NZIS website?

simonmarkellis

thousands.... and you'll still have to do most of the leg work gathering the evidence!!!

beckamojo

Hi, thanks for the info. We have done the points thingy and we are ok for residency because we have degrees and are on the long term skills list. When we looked at the gov web site it looks as if a visa application is about 1400 dollars, I dont know if this is each person, ie 2 adults and 2 kids, or if this is for a family application, and are there other fees as well for each stage you go through? which would mean that we really need to look at the bigger picture.

There is also the matter of shipping out the contents of the house, do we sell it all or take it. ARGH there is a lot to think about, but as things take time we can mull rather than panic.

beckamojo

Hi SimonMarkEllis,

When you say thousands do you mean tens of thousands, people could not afford to do it could they?

Maz

You'd be surprised at how many people fork out thousands of pounds to use an agent...

Can't remember how much it costs to submit the EOI. NZ$400? NZ$450? Somewhere around there.

Then once you get your ITA, it's NZ$1,400 to submit that.

Once you get approved for your residency visas/permits, that's NZ$300 per person, capped at NZ$1,200 for a family. So unfortunately you would be liable for the whole NZ$1,200. Yuck!

hjmilligan

Don't pay an agent when you can do it yourselfs,and yes bring everything with you,about 3,000 pounds for a 20ft container but do get quotes as they can vary in price.

Any problems someone will be here for you to get the answer!

Best of luck

Helen

to-go-or-not-to-go

From an agency it is about £3000 for a family of 5. On top you will have to pay for the visas £1400, the medicals, the police checks etc. The agency only collate everything for you. I know everyone is very negative about them and I understand why, there are some real horror stories. You have to collect all the information etc yourself anyway. I can also see the plus side in that they do collate everything for you and if you are mad busy, unsure, or just want the confidence that it is being done properly and you can afford it then its ok. I have used one and can recommend them but it is certainly not for everyone, whilst it may be simple once you get your head round it some people never quite do or haven't got the time to, we paid for the simple reason that we wanted someone to say that we need this now and then that etc. For them to put it in the right order and for us not to be delayed because there was a silly mistake was worth a lot to us. If you make a mistake you get declined you don't get told what you did wrong, and then you have to start again and yes that means paying the £1400 again!
If you use an agency because you think you stand a better chance of getting in then you'd be doing it for the wrong reasons. If you can't get in for a reason that reason will be there whoever fills the forms in!
Good luck

beckamojo

to-go-or-not-to-go thanks for the info, very useful Did you go and come back or still in process of going?

Are there agencies that we should avoid? Can you name and shame? Would be good to get a decent one!

Thanks

to-go-or-not-to-go

Hi.

I'm still in the process of going so I'm up-to-date with it all. I can recommend one to you if you pm me and there was one mentioned on here recently that is a big no no that I can tell you about.

If you use a NZ based company then you don't have to pay VAT so they are cheaper and they are in the right time zone to work with immigration and job hunting. In my personal opinion some of the UK based ones are very very very over priced and I know of a couple where none of the employees have even been to NZ. Also I think I would prefer to use an agent that works soley on NZ visas rather than being an expert on every visa worldwide, because then they can spend their time being constantly and completely up to date with all changes etc. Some people claim to be experts yet you see them overing services for hundreds of different things! Something else I've just thought of is that a guarantee/refund policy and a set fee is a must. Some people seem to pay in drips when they are asked for money and never know when it is going to end!

Hope that helps

beckamojo

Thanks for the useful info there Will pm in a minute.
I LOVE THIS SITE Always someone on hand to help and advise, thanks everyone