Summersby

Hi there,
We want to start a Visa application process for Australia but would be great to get some recommendations of which agencies are good. Its an expensive process and we don't want to lose out.
Many thanks for any advice.

ayse68

whatever you do, dont use a company by the name of corporate migration/prev imm/unit. They took £6000 off us, other people up to £12000, & have done nothing. My advice, like canadian & Australian embassy's say " You dont need to use an immigration company or lawyer. It does'nt get you in any quicker.
Save your money & do it yourselves. I wish i found this forum 2 years ago. Would have saved our money & our worry!

Summersby

Thanx for the warning. Don't know about doing it ourselves though I would hate to waste all that time for processing and waiting but with no positive result at the end. Shame the Agents don't do some kind of rebate offer on their fees if the application is unsuccessful it would maybe give them a better incentive to only help with applications they truly believe will get through. There should be a governing body that is able to give stats on the % of successful applications achieved by each Agent.

Pollyana

Make sure you use an agent registered with MARA. That at least gives you a measure of protection against bad service as they have to abide by the Code of Conduct.

Sue

Hi Summersby,

Sorry for hijacking your thread, I just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the site. I hope you enjoy using the forum.

If you have any site usability questions or concerns please do not hesitate to let me know. You can either send me a private message or leave a question in Site Feedback.

Regards

Sue

Summersby

Thanks Pollyanna. Do you also know how to search Australian company information/accounts (like you can for UK companies on the Companies House website)?

Pollyana

Haven't a clue, sorry. Try posting in the main Australia forum, I'm sure some guys there will know

erco

i tihnk its a different approach for every 1 personally. If i was applying for a visa on my own or with OH then i would not use an agent as it would be straight forward. However in our case with 1 of our 3 kids having some med problems in the past (not for 4 years i chose to use an agent for the extra backup etc. there are some helpful people on here who can help you out just as much as the official agents (george lombard rox ). i used thinkingaustralia.com and ive fou8nd them to be great and had no problems at all. were at med stage now and just waiting to see what happens next. Daryl the head guy is a bit of a mad ozzy lol and the team in UK are very helpful and always on the phone n mail. they do seminars to which we went to initially. Lara a(uk) and sandy (Aus) are our 2 agents and they havnt let me down yet.

Wayne & Caroline

petarin

try AVC (australian visa company) www.australianvisa.com

Summersby

Many thanks, did you use this company and they were good? Did you get a visa yet? - I'll check out their website.

Has anyone used ASA Consultants?

Also considering the option of doing the work ourselves. Has anyone got any advice for the Business Plan that you need to do to accompany the Senior Executive Business visa?

withorn

Also George Lombard & Tony Coates are very experienced & respected agents,well know on this forum..

__________________
Tony Coates
Un-Registered Migration Agent
http://www.visabureau.com/australia

_________________
George Lombard
Migration Agent Registration Number 9601056
george[at]austimmigration[dot]com[dot]au
www.austimmigration.com.au
PO Box 257 Summer Hill NSW 2130

xLaLax

Hi, I contemplated using a migration agent to assist us with the process however when i found out much it was costing in excess of £3000 I decided to do it myself and although some days i wish i didn't I am glad I did as not only have we saved ourselves money i know that when documents are asked for they are sent immediately and I don't have to wait for someone to do it for me.

snoo

We used Asa....and today we have been sat enjoying a couple of beautiful bottles of Vino tinto in The Swan Valley with Cornel who owns the company! We have been in Perth just 4 days and he invited us over to his restaurant for a chat. He gave us some good advice....and a fabulous meal, we had a lovely day in beautiful surroundings!!
I would recommend Asa, good price, great Mara agents who reply to any questions very quickly. We got our 176 Fam Sponsored visa in less than 6 months.

Lisa,x

Alfresco

Yes we are using them and they have been 100% so far!

Alan Collett

Start by searching at www.asic.gov.au - ASIC is Australia's company regulator.

Unfortunately you won't find copies of accounts available for most limited companies though, as there is no requirement to lodge annual accounts in Australia in the way that pertains for limited companies in the UK.

Try also Dun and Bradstreet: http://www.dnb.com.au/express/default.asp

Best regards.