Ianha77

I applied for a pr visa with my wife back in April.
We decided to go through an agent to make the whole process easier. I recieved a positive assessment from the TRA and my wife from the ANCI.
Our application was logged, but when i tried to contact our agent to send us the positive ANCI assessment i got no reply's from E-mail, Letters or phone calls. That was 6 weeks ago. I have just recieved an E-mail from her saying sorry, but she was moving house. 6 weeks to move house??????
She also claims that she had never received a positive skill assessment letter back from the ANCI. So apparently our app has been logged without it !
I have now contacted the ANCI and they say they will send a new one out directly to our address. I will forward this to Adelaide as soon as it arrives.
Surley an agent should be more helpfull than this??
I now would like to dump her and go it alone. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks....

baldbutts

Speaking from experience,my agent was as useful as the preverbial chocolate snag!Once we had submitted everything except medicals & police checks,we wrote to AHC to request that all future correspondance was sent direct to us not that limp handshaking tosspot (does that give any clues to people who've used him too).
So if you,ve done all the hard work already,yeah go it alone,& with the help of the more serious posters here ,you should get through.But wait for some more replies first (Yeah right,as if you'd take advice from a would be migrant who waxes his bald but cute butt)!

a1macc

Ian

Go it alone. You are over one of the major hurdles already, and there is nothing in the rest of the process that you wont be able to carry out yourself. It seems to me you will do a better job than the agent your are using. Do as Baldbuts suggests and write to your case officer advising them to communicate directly with you.

Good Luck!

hibee

Ian ,
I used an agent and payed a lot of Money for Nothing , he was about as good as a chocolate firegaurd . Most of them seem to be the same.
The 2 guys who post on this site however seem very good Alan Collet & George Lombard

Regards
Jamie

JohnyC

Some Agents are really

Ianha77

Thanks for the advice. My letter is now on its way to DIMA.
Cheers

mandandbri

Correct me if I am wrong but I though the word agent conjured up a person that takes you through the whole emmigration experience from start to finish answering any questions you or your other half have. Well we found our agent to be exceptionally helpfull whilst taking 1500 quid off us and now it is like trying to get blood out of a stone. It takes me at least 5 calls and several E Mails to actually speak to someone then every week our case worker has changed. Coming from recruitment if a compnay pays for our services they are kept informed and at all times and the service is exeptional what makees them so different?

Mandand Bri

Ianha77

I had exactly the same problems. Very helpfull untill they have been paid and then they dissapear from the face of the planet. I know not all agents are like this, maybe a few a us just had a bad experience. Maybe we should have a 'Name em and shame em' post. It would certainly help to stop other people going through the same problems.

FOX

I know this was mentioned on a previous post, I cannot find it right now, but wondered what other peoples thoughts on this are? As long as comments are intelligent and not slanderous I think it could be useful, and avoid other paople going through similar experiences.

Also is there an official body that we can voice our "concerns" to?

Alan Collett

Hi FOX.

Yes, the official body that regulates registered migration agents in Australia is the Migration Agents Registration Authority, though I would add that there are doubts about the MARA's ability to police the system outside Australia.

The MARA's website is at http://www.themara.com.au and if you have a grievance about a registered migration agent you should complain (there is a standard form on the MARA's website). The MARA can also be contacted at PO Box Q1551, QVB, NSW 1230, AUSTRALIA.

In fact in my view is it best practice to have a clause about the migration agent's complaints procedures in the letter of engagement setting out terms and conditions that you should have received from your appointed agent.

Before you do anything though you need to check that your agent is registered - if they aren't there's not a lot you can do (unless you feel like litigating ...)

Best regards.

Browny

Hi Ian,

Can you pls name the agency you used (and dumped now). From Austimeline I understand that you are in UK. I am also live in UK and thinking of using an agent. I just want to avoid accidently using the one you dumped. I also heard from a few others that most agents just eat our money.. and nothing after. Agents are charging 1500 pounds plus VAT for Aus PR processing. They should give better service for this money, isn't ?

Jaj

Alan I would point out that for many overseas agents it's impossible to become
registered, due to the requirement to be an Australian citizen, PR, or NZ citizen
resident in Australia.

As far as I know the powers that be are looking at extending registration to overseas
based agents - presumably on a voluntary basis - but at the moment there are probably
some who would quite like to register but can't.

Jeremy


    >On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 10:23:01 +0000, Alan Collett <[email protected]> wrote:
    >Before you do anything though you need to check that your agent is registered - if
    >they aren't there's not a lot you can do (unless you feel like litigating ...)
    >Best regards.

poggle

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ianha77:
I applied for a pr visa with my wife back in April.
We decided to go through an agent to make the whole process easier. I recieved a positive assessment from the TRA and my wife from the ANCI.
Our application was logged, but when i tried to contact our agent to send us the positive ANCI assessment i got no reply's from E-mail, Letters or phone calls. That was 6 weeks ago. I have just recieved an E-mail from her saying sorry, but she was moving house. 6 weeks to move house??????
She also claims that she had never received a positive skill assessment letter back from the ANCI. So apparently our app has been logged without it !
I have now contacted the ANCI and they say they will send a new one out directly to our address. I will forward this to Adelaide as soon as it arrives.
Surley an agent should be more helpfull than this??
I now would like to dump her and go it alone. Any advice would be gratefully received.



Hi Ian!

My advice, as someone who has trouble with any forms requiring more than name, adress, and D.O.B, is go it alone!! if you want to get to oz as much as i do! take the time and effort to study the forms and you will find they're not as 'scary' as you first think. I sent my forms to Adelaide in May this year and all is going well so far! [they havent been returned yet!] so if i can do it, anyone can!! , i would have been tempted to let someone deal with it all for me earlier if i had known about people like Alan Colette, fom gomatilda, who seems like a nice bloke, who knows what he's talking about! so my advice, is just go for it!
good luck!
cheers Kaff x

Marlo

My advice too like Kaffs would be go it alone, it could cost you a lot of unneccessary expense and with a web site like this there is always someone willing to help you and who is a step further ahead of you to give free advise. Good luck.




Hi Ian!

My advice, as someone who has trouble with any forms requiring more than name, adress, and D.O.B, is go it alone!! if you want to get to oz as much as i do! take the time and effort to study the forms and you will find they're not as 'scary' as you first think. I sent my forms to Adelaide in May this year and all is going well so far! [they havent been returned yet!] so if i can do it, anyone can!! , i would have been tempted to let someone deal with it all for me earlier if i had known about people like Alan Colette, fom gomatilda, who seems like a nice bloke, who knows what he's talking about! so my advice, is just go for it!
good luck!
cheers Kaff x [/QUOTE]

hibee

Check out ALan Collet or George Lombard on this Forum
They give good advice and both are Registered Agents

Regards
Jamie