billylane

Is it worth employing an immigration agent here in the UK to sort out the paperwork for the 189 Visa or is it straight forward enough to complete on your own?

Thanks
Billy

carcajou

You will get a variety of answers.

I believe an agent is worthwhile - there are some very good ones who post on this board.

You are going to spend a fortune on the visa process and the physical move itself - an agent is a tiny fraction of that.

verystormy

Generally, the people who get a refusal had no idea they were likely to be refused. An agent would have. A refusal means loss of the fee and a potential ban from reapplying

carcajou

Can I add to that:

An agent also knows when a person who would be successful, has put together improper documentation that will lead to a refusal.

Common examples of people who don't see refusal coming include those who don't interpret professional or experience requirements strictly enough and overclaim points - ie, "secondary school teacher" - well I coached basketball at the rec centre for teenagers in the afternoons two years ago, so that counts as "teaching experience" right? Um no . . .

I would recommend hiring an agent for the entire process including the skills assessment, since if that is negative, you can't apply for a visa.

spouse of scouse

Horses for courses. Some reasons people have an agent do their application are an adverse immigration history, medical issues, lack of confidence, lack of skills, lack of time. Others research the process and find it quite ok to do on their own. It really does depend on you and what you feel comfortable with.

rammygirl

Also you don’t have to use an agent for all the process. You can consult one initially for a few hundred dollars and get them to appraise your case. They will also help with just the occupational assessment, the eoi or the application itself.

It can be done without but you will need to spend a lot of time going through the fine detail to ensure you know the proper procedure and information required.

Whether you use an agent or not you should avail yourself of the facts and you will still have to provide the information required to back the application.

I did two business owner applications successfully by myself (the old ones) but we didn’t end up migrating. For the last employer sponsored application we used Go Matilda as it was new to me and we had an age deadline to meet.

So it will depend on your circumstances and abilities with paperwork.

If you do use an agent they do not need to be based in the UK, most people never meet their agents. They do need to be MARA registered though. Any who post on here would be a good start.

Crystaltipps

We did it without an agent. It was fine (albeit frustrating) but I wasn't working at the time.

Depends what kind of time, money (and patience) you have on your hands.

Best of luck.

the troubadour

You should be fine. There was a time not so long ago, when al applicants managed without a migration agent. It depends on degree of difficulty perhaps, but don't throw away money un necessary, if reasonably capable at form filling. Remember it is a business, a quite profitable one at that.


Just as an after thought, The Australian Immigration Kit can be purchased for a bit under a hundred , or even available at some libraries at least here in Australia. (possibly UK?) Just make sure it is the latest addition, as the rules change in Australia with great frequency.

Pollyana

What is the Australian Immigration Kit? And which visas does it cover? I'd be cincerned as to whether any hard-copy kit could be guaranteed to be up to date at all times

the troubadour

It provides information on all visa's. With up to dates for this year.The latest 2017 edition I skimmed through at the library.


I did write ensure the latest copy for most up to date information. May well be available on line, haven't checked.


With regards to usage, up to individual to decide. If a not too complicated application an individual could save themselves a considerable amount of money.
The book is only an addition to help those [preferring to do it themselves. An application can certainly be done alone in answer to OP. If a migration is worth it and the fees charged should be decided by the individual.
Obviously the more difficult the application the more advice should be sought after.

Pollyana

I certainly agree that applications can be done without an agent, however I would urge caution for anyone with a less than 100% straightforward application would be well advised to run it past an agent first.

If that guide is available online it might be useful. I did search for it quickly and found a 3 year old dead link, but maybe it is online elsewhere. I would be very very wary of a hard copy version - things change far too quickly so anything should be verified before relying on hard copy info.

moneypenny20

Putting my hand up to admitting I've never heard of such a thing. Do you have any idea how long it's been around?

spouse of scouse

https://migrationalliance.com.au/imm...opy-today.html

The comments are interesting, some say it's great while others express concern about how up to date it's kept.

moneypenny20

No current comments/reviews. I did search and found you can only get it online from the creators but their site is being updated and there are no links that I could see. I just find it odd that it's not been mentioned (to my knowledge) in the past 15 years.

Pollyana

Glad I am not the only one having doubts about it. Likewise I have never heard it mentioned before, and though I only had a quick look at sources via google it didn't seem very up to date. The one link I did find on a website said 'last updated 2014'
I think we would all agree - anything that outdated could be dangerous and lead to people losing a lot of money