George Lombard

Hi Jerry,

I was a bit surprised to see you say:

    > Allan evens gives training in IT assessment to other migration agents in a
    > training program recogised by the Migration Agents Registration Authority.

I'm not sure that Alan has registered such a seminar with MARA, while we
(George Lombard Consultancy and Australian Labour Market Services) have had
such a CPD activity registered for two years and in fact held the seminar in
Sydney yesterday.

The seminar was attended by over 40 agents, two ACS assessors and one case
officer, as well as Jeff Grant from DIMIA Central Office. ALMS is the
trading name of Glenn Newton, who is a consultant to both ourselves and to
Alan, who in fact attended as a paying client, and I was happy to meet him
for the first time, and in fact bought him a beer. Didn't buy Glenn a beer,
he got to the bar too late :-)

I know a number of people are waiting for the outcome of the seminar for
individual pieces of advice with respect to RPL, onshore student
applications, etc. Please be patient, I will try to get back to you in the
next day or two.

Cheers

George Lombard
--
www.austimmigration.com.au

yafm

I expect everyone's circumstances will require adifferent quote. e-mail him direct he will give you an idea

Bed Of Roses

As my reply may suggest,

SO SLOW MATILDA.

Skill assesment is via a third party ie not slow matilda (the third party has its lead time too!) and although they have a UK office you will have to mail everything to Melbourne (more time delayed) and no you cant courrier as there is no advantage as it will on stay in the pile until they are ready. The pre skill is a non starter as the forms do not relate to the actual forms that you may need and you can not fill them in electronicaly it must be done manualy, so you cant email them they do not accept them.

I have already been told to keep quite on this forum regarding agents. Opps? lots of toes to tread on beware!

But I do feel that you should not waste your money on agents with web sites that apear to be helpful... they are Very Very busy and obviously will not turn away new clients but will keep you stalled with many tacticts.

I agree with other members ....Amber Collins or perhaps Global Visas, you can email them with forms or questions they are also based in the UK if thats waht you req.

So good luck in your search and dont get stung by the regulars do a search and then search again you will be very supprised at what you will find, including the prices.

As a footnote there are a dam lot of people using this forum that have DIYed ther applications and have stickers to prove it so pick there brains they are most helpful.
H. U R the best!

BoR.

or UNI.

jarv

Hi
Were using GoMatilda and they seem very good.
( If Alan Collet is reading this, do I get a discount ???? )

Dave Jarvis

Alan Collett

Hello Jerry.

As George has already pointed out it is actually my colleague Glenn Newton that gives the seminars ... I'm afraid I can't claim to have as much knowledge about skills assessment procedures as him.

Best regards.

Alan Collett

Hello BoR.

Clearly you have an issue with our procedures (if not other issues as well ...). The bottom line though is that we have a methodology that ensures clients get the visa outcome they want.

In many cases we carry out an initial stage 1 review of a person's prospects for a positive skills assessment outcome. This review involves completing a fairly detailed form and sending it to us in Australia, which usually takes about 5 to 7 days to get to my PO Box. The details gathered by that form then form the basis for the subsequent skills assessment application if the stage 1 review is positive.

Thus far, in all cases where the stage 1 assessment has been positive our clients have been successful in obtaining a positive skills assessment.

Once the skills assessment application has been lodged we usually recommend that the client presses on with the visa application stage. This is typically adminstered by one my colleagues in the UK (the exception being for those who are based in North America or Australia which are usually handled in Australia), and after the visa application has been submitted to Adelaide we oversee the visa application from my office in Melbourne, which should allow us to receive and deal with postal correspondence more quickly than might be the case if your application was being dealt with in (say) the UK.

The bottom line is that this system works, and I make no apologies for a rigorous appraisal of an intending migrant's prospects at the outset - we do not want to give a client a false impression of his or her chances of successfully making it through the skilled visa application process.

As to the other agencies you have mentioned - I believe that neither have registered migration agents acting for them.

Best regards.

Alan Collett

Yes, thanks George, the seminar was good - as was the beer afterwards!

Best regards.

alrobson

Hi,

I used Go Matilda to apply for my skilled independent visa (which I now have) and I found them to be very professional. I would definitely recommend them. I always received quick responses to my emails and never experienced any problems.

I actually met Alan at an immigration show at Sandown. I talked to quite a few other agents, myself and my wife both felt that Alan was the most honest with his answers which is why we went with Go Matilda. At the time I was not married and Alan made sure that I provided DIMIA with plenty of documentation to support my application which meant it went through without a problem.

Adrian

pabloako

I wish I had used them now as my agent is rude and you do not hear a dickey bird from him. He makes you feel like you are bothering him when you phone. (Two guesses who I am using).

Go-Matilda have an excellent website with up to date news too.

cweston

yafm <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Originally posted by cweston

    >> Hi,


    >> My wife and I are looking at skilled migration to Australia, and

    >> have contacted Gomatilda who have sent us some very useful information

    >> and a selection of consultancy services that they can provide. Have

    >> any of you used their service, and if so, what are your experiences?

    >> I'd be especially keen to know about their pre-application checks for

    >> ACS approval as I'm an IT professional. I'm not against using an

    >> agent - but I don't want to throw money at this willy-nilly.



    >> Thanks very much


    >> --

    >> Chris Weston





    > Have had lots to do with Alan Collet at Go matilda and he is very
    > helpful and patient and always gives good clear advice. We shall also
    > be using him as an accountant when we eventually get into oz.



Thanks for this, and to everyone else that responded - it's been very
helpful.

Regards,
Chris Weston

ywoods

I used Go Matilda but not for skilled visa, and I cannot say one bad word against them. They are very friendly and efficient

Use an Agent if you are not sure if your application will be successful

steve-n-jo

We are using Go-Matilda and they have done what it says on the tin.....

Our TRA was complicated but successful so no complaints there.

Visa application in when they said..so no complaints there.

They charged what they said...so no complaints there.

Having read posts on here I would say George Lombard seems on a par with Go-matilda (and they use the same trades assesser)

But Global Visas.... as the name says they have no speciality they would get you a visa to anywhere....... even if the country doesnt need one !!! (we had a close shave with them...they wanted £1000.00 just to send us some paperwork, when we said no they didnt stop ringing...home,work, office and mobile..)

We are not experts though, phoned and spoke to loads and we are happy with our decision.

Regards

Steve

(Thats two beers you owe me Alan)

Puta Nana

Hello,

I will suggest that you should go for George Lombard, he is a
professional man with alot of knowledge....... sorry but Allan doesn't
answer one single query without charging you, where George Lombard
will provide you and answer alot of queries for free. regards.

steve-n-jo <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > We are using Go-Matilda and they have done what it says on the tin.....
    >
    >
    >
    > Our TRA was complicated but successful so no complaints there.
    >
    >
    >
    > Visa application in when they said..so no complaints there.
    >
    >
    >
    > They charged what they said...so no complaints there.
    >
    >
    >
    > Having read posts on here I would say George Lombard seems on a par with
    > Go-matilda (and they use the same trades assesser)
    >
    >
    >
    > But Global Visas.... as the name says they have no speciality they would
    > get you a visa to anywhere....... even if the country doesnt need one
    > !!! (we had a close shave with them...they wanted £1000.00 just to send
    > us some paperwork, when we said no they didnt stop ringing...home,work,
    > office and mobile..)
    >
    >
    >
    > We are not experts though, phoned and spoke to loads and we are happy
    > with our decision.
    >
    >
    >
    > Regards
    >
    >
    >
    > Steve
    >
    >
    >
    > (Thats two beers you owe me Alan)

Alan Collett

Errr... I think you'll find I have answered questions many times without charging a fee. By the same token there are occasions where I am asked questions directly by email which involve detailed technical issues and as such can require a fairly significant amount of time on my part before they can be answered with the necessary level of detail.

As a person involved in professional practice I am ever conscious of the risks of giving incomplete replies, and I have no yearning desire to get involved in litigation if my responses are incomplete in some way. The consequence I am afraid is that there are occasions when I judge that I have to charge a fee for the advice I am being asked to give.

Best regards.

Rossi

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Puta Nana
Hello,

I will suggest that you should go for George Lombard, he is a
professional man with alot of knowledge....... sorry but Allan doesn't
answer one single query without charging you, where George Lombard
will provide you and answer alot of queries for free. regards.


I have got to jump to alan's defence here !
He has taken the time and effort to reply to my numerous questions WITHOUT charging many times.
I did it all myself.....TRA and full application but sometimes needed clarification which both Alan and George answered freely.
Why do some people not understand that these agents are running a business and not a bloody charity.