markthespark

Hi everyone new to the forum and first post so apologies in advance if this is going over old ground with most of you!

My wife and i have decided to try to emigrate to Australia, i'm a JIB approved electrician so we are going to be applying for the 175 skilled migration visa and we recently attended a meeting with a company called 'thinking australia'

They seemed knowledgeable about the whole process and explained the costs and time frames, including the fact that a lot of 175 visas are currently taking longer than they were and that we might be better switching to a state sponsored application.

Was wondering if anyone on here had used them/are using them for the same thing and could let us know there thoughts before we part with a decent sum of cash to start the process

Thanks in advance for any advice

Janna and Nick

Hi Markthespark

Welcome to the forum. We are also in the process of immigrating. My OH (other half) is an Electrician and we are just waiting for our visa now.

We did not use an agent and whilst our ride has not been straight forward., we have managed to get this far on our own.

I guess just wanted to let you know that you can quite easily achieve this on your own if you are that way inclined. It is quite a straight forward process and unless you have a difficult case maybe you could consider doing it yourselves? This forum will no doubt have answers to most questions you would ask.

175's for electricians are on hold for the moment as they don't fall into priority 1 or 2 for processing. As a result our 175 application is in the process of being converted to a State Sponsored 176.

There is a lot of paperwork, waiting and grey hair to come (think this is true even if you don't have an agent ) but I wish you good luck for your journey.

By the way there is the Electrician forum a little bit further down under "working abroad".

As an electrician you would need to be assessed by Vetassess and undergo a practical. The electrician forum if full of the things you have to do in that practical.

crazynconfused

Hi markthespark

welcome to the forum I am sure you will find all the answers to your questions here, there are plenty of knowledgable people on here some who, have already emmigrated and some in the process. Good luck with your application.

markthespark

cheers for that may well look into doing it ourselves then as the agent fees are £1850. Not sure what others have paid but it does seem quite expensive?

crazynconfused

If you have a straight forward case it seems easy enough to complete it yourself. But for ourselves we have some medical issues so we will probably continue to use an agent. Good luck

pomerz

Hi Guys
We used an agent fortunately as we had complications, without them we wouldnt have had the golden ticket (visa in the passport) so for us it was money well spent

Be Lucky

M@

scaria197

My Advice..in case you plan to go on your own. Keep some time aside to read thru the documents related to your visa type-175.

Get you documents organized. Read thru again to make sure you are providing what they require. In case you are confused...refer to BExpats and lodge a question(PLE) to immi before you lodge the application.

and like all said..incase you are a simple straight forward case..no need to get an agent...make sure you get ready for loads of anxiey, patience and panic attacks..its all worth in the end.. Good Luck

Angelica666

Hi
We are using thinking Australia, not come acrosss any problems, we applyed last year and got as far as a case officer and then I got cold feet and withdrew the application (THE BIGGIST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE) they tried to explain that this far in the application its not unusual to become unsure but I wouldnt listen, and now re-applying with them, there Very friendly and down to earth.
Angelica x

dodge26

Yes we are with thinking australia, have been good so far, still long way to go... I'm an electrician and the one thing I can say about the visa process that there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel.....anyone got a torch

gilly1020

Hi we are using thinking australia too and they seem good. Hubby is a joiner and failed the trade assessment on one question and had to repeat which took 20 minutes and a cost of £400 (I just don't know how they can justify that) but he passed and thinking australia have been great throughout our little setback. We decided to go with them as we didn't want to make any mistakes and have to start the process again. The company advised us to go SS too.

Yorky1969

Hi Mark,

I asked the very same questions when I started my application last month. Everybody is different, but I wanted the comfort of having an agent if something went wrong. After a lot of searching, comparing agents, obtaining quotes and getting some great help on here, I decided to appoint Go Matilda. Their fees are just over £1500+VAT for assistance with the whole process and so far they have been great. Quick to action things too. One of the good things with them is they have offices in both the UK and Oz. So I can speak to someone on UK time if I get stuck and on the Australian side, they can deal with my application on Oz time. Best of both worlds!

My case is likely to be a bit more complicated too, so I wanted to make sure I had help at hand if I needed. If yours is a straight forward application, you might choose to do it yourself?

Hope this helps and good luck.

Welcome to the forum by the way

dodge26

Yes I failed on one question and had the pleasure of paying £400 for the 20 minutes the joy I know what i would of rather done with the £400 for 20 minutes of joy. At least I passed this time. We are going down the SS route. It appears the options are diminshing.