Nicko

Hi all,

The wife and I have just come back from after visiting Vic, Qld and Nsw. We have made our minds up on Mornington Vic.

I have spoken to several agents and can't believe the difference in costs!! I have come across this company as named in the title who only charge £ 1250.00 inc vat for the full visa service including setting up a bank account for you, getting your tax file number done and dusted and sorting out your medicare. Has anyone on here used them?

I would like to know if it is really a case of agents can pretty much charge what they like?. I have also spoken to Go Matilda and I know Mr Collett comments on here quite a lot, I feel very comfortable doing my bbusinesswith them but I have to say that I can save £ 800.00 is quite substantial.

I am after best advice people as we are ready to get the process up and running.

Many thanks

Nick

ianbrown

Hi Nick
We are with Go Matilda, and £800 is chicken feed when it comes to something so important and getting it right first time. Dont know if these guys are MARA registered but Go Matilda are the best in the business, You will find hundreds of people on here that will tell you the same. Ive never heard of this company so cant comment on their reputation, But seriously Id rather pay more and know that everything is spot on first time and Alan has a fantastic reputation with his customers and more importantly with DIAC!

Good Luck and welcome to the mad house

ianbrown

Nick

I cant comment on these other people, as I have not seen the name posted on here before, If they are MARA then they should give you certain standards of service but you get what you pay for, they may be good but like I say if you want something done right, and first time with as little stress as possible then you can guarantee that it will be with Go Matilda, £800 is chicken feed in my opinion, applying for your visa is a mega stress in itself without worrying if you have chosen the right agent or not.
When we started on this journey we looked at around 10-15 agents as you do, thats before we discovered British Expats and had no hesitation using Go Matilda when you see how highly they are rated on here, and having a chat with Lorraine at GM made us feel 100% sure they were right for us.

Ianrpm

We have used Go matilda and you are right , I would rather pay £800 more and be assured that who we are using will do the business properly for us.
Iain

Alan Collett

While it is not necessarily an indicator of experience or competence (and everyone has to start somewhere) it is sometimes worthwhile remembering that the first two digits of the MARA registration number indicate the year the individual was first registered as a migration agent.

For our part, I know there are agents out there who are cheaper than Go Matilda. These tend to be the more recently registered agents.

There are also some agents who will charge LOTS more!

Best regards.

Nicko

Alan, thanks for that info, didn't realise about the mara number. P.s I wasn't having at dig at your prices, and after speaking with Marina yesterday we will be using and are very comfortable using your services.

Nick

Alan Collett

Thanks Nick.

Best regards.

xzibit

As long as they are MARA registered, I would say you are safe, although the more experience helps.

I was going to use an agent and registered with Go Matilda, but they were very bad at getting back to me, and for some reason didn't want me to apply for a perm skilled sponsored 176, but the 457 regional temp sponsored visa, even though I have enough points for the perm visa.

After a month of trying to find out why, I gave up and just went it alone.

I'm not saying Go Matilda are bad, they get brilliant reviews on here, and I imagine they are very efficient in 99% of cases, but I just want to point out that all agents can have bad days, and if it was me, I would save the £800.

Good luck with the application!!

Alan Collett

I'm not saying I doubt you, but I would like to know who suggested a subclass 457 over a permanent residency visa.

Feel able to send me a PM with more details.

Best regards.

Brisben

Nick I used Alan to go through the whole process of migrating to Australia.

I found that you get what you pay for, I also found that something so substantial in your life needs to be actioned on the best advice possible.

I also found that the best advice comes from those with more experience in the migration process.


I was told by several that I would never get here.

Alan told me different.

He worked with me and now I am living in Brisbane and been here a year.

My family and me are so happy to be here.

To be honest what I paid to what I received was extremely good value for money.

In hindsight I would have paid double what I paid because it has enriched our lives beyond our wildest dreams. Don't let the money guide you let experience and reputation do that.

Speak to Alan and you won't go far wrong.

Take my advice , I have been there and done it.

ianbrown

Thanks for sharing with us Brisben, it was lovely to read that you got there in the end we completely agree about Go Matilda,we dont have our visa yet but im sure we arent so far off now,

After what Alan had put about mara numbers and the first 2digits being the year they registered as a migration agent i went through all our Australia magazines (sad yes i know but this waiting is a killer lol) and saw a lot of agents advertising were either 06 (2006) a lot dont even put their number in their ads (im sure they would if they had years experience) Go Matilda do .. 01 (2001) we didnt know how the registration number worked at the time of choosing them, we went with good reputation on here, but now we understand it we can share this with others who put on posts about looking for an agent, so Brisben i agree with your quote ...... I also found that the best advice comes from those with more experience in the migration process. (we had very good advice regarding non-migrating children and unfortunately we have seen on here that others have not recieved the same advice from their agents)

Good Luck to the opening poster

Debs xx

Claire Tubman

Hi - My name is Claire and I'm the senior relocation consultant for migration agents, FastrackOZ. I notice that one of our current promotions has been the subject of some discussion recently, so I hope you don't mind me taking this opportunity to introduce myself and address the points raised.

Firstly, please let me assure you that our promotional £1250 Skilled Independent Migration Visa deal, really is as good as it looks. It covers full visa assistance with a highly experienced and fully registered migration agent plus an Australian Sim card and the set up cost of your Australian Bank Account, Australian Tax File number and your Medicare application.

FastrackOZ is a new branch of relocation specialists Fastrack Relocations which has been assisting people successfully migrate between the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa for the past two years. Our visa partners are <,snip>> who’ve been operating since 2004 and have offices in London, Sydney, Melbourne and Cape Town. Senior migration agent <<snip>> has been MARA registered for 12 months but just prior to this he was working for 5 years with the Australia High Commission making decisions on visa applications from people just like you, so there are few people better placed to help ensure your application is successful.

Thanks for letting me put my points across. I hope that I’ve reassured you that just because we offer very competitive prices does not mean any compromise in the quality of our service. For us, word of mouth recommendations are essential and we intend to work very hard to make sure we get them.

Take a look at our website to find out more www.fastrackoz.com, or even better give us a call on 0208 547 4117.

Pollyana

Errmrmmmmm, sorry to pick on part of your post but has this particular bit of setting up in Aus changed in the last five years? Only when I came over none of the above actually cost anything - except Nurofen and shoe leather

Marc Garside

Hello All,

I've been reading this thread with great interest. Firstly let me introduce myself; I am the Managing Director for fastrackUK / FastrackOz based out of Sydney. Originally from Hammersmith in West London I moved out to Australia in 1997 for a year and never left!!
I would like to respond to the last message regarding costs of setting up Bank accounts, Tax file numbers and Medicare. Agreed these items can be set up by the individual at no cost. We incorporate a cost factor purely for the convenience of having us do this for you!

We have been running a very successful reverse business (FastrackUK) for over 2 years supplying the UK market with Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans. Our plans have always been to have a service into Australia and as such we launched FastrackOZ at the end of March 2008.

Our business model is one where we look at a holistic approach to moving countries; therefore the relocation services, recruitment, visa services, etc are combined. Our pricing reflects a non arrogant view of ourselves as a new entrant into a competitive market and does not reflect a lack of dedicated and professional service to our clients.

Alan, I admire Go Matilda and you have a large and loyal client base, this is something we hope to emulate over time. I think you will agree with me that there is room for another highly professional and competent company in this space.

Kind Regards,
Marc Garside

Claire Tubman

Setting up a bank account, tax file number and Medicare card doesn’t cost you anything to complete on your own, however the staff in our offices will manage all the organisational work for these areas on our client’s behalf – taking the hassle out of this process.
We understand the complexities of relocation, hence why we provide our time and expertise in completing these additional forms correctly enabling a less stressed period of time when you arrive in Australia.
Plus our visa case work combined with our relocation starter pack set-up is still a much more reasonable price than many other migration agents and our clients receive a lot more for their money and an excellent service too.

Best,
Claire