paul nd steph

i would be very grateful if some 1 could point me in the right direction, on which visa agent would be best to use/talk to ?

i live in the north east of england. if that helps any ?


a rough cost of how much it will cost altogether ?


any advice at all on this matter would be great .

kind regard's

paul

travelling_annie

Hey,

Are you sure you need an agent as they can be quite expensive?

I did our paperwork by myself and it all went through within 4 months if you have a reasonably straightforward case it is worth looking into before you commit funds that will be really useful elsewhere.

And obviously there is loads of advice on here.

Good luck,

Anne

paul nd steph

thank's ann, yeah iv been to many seminars etc etc and talked to loads of agents, but then found out that were not not fully registered ,

so looking for a legit agent to discuss with.


when you say straight forward , what is it you mean ?

yeah wish i had found this site a while ago, would of saved me a lot of time iv wasted.

thank's again ann.

travelling_annie

I mean occupation is definitely on the list, no major medical problems, criminal record etc.

If you can obtain a positive skills assessment you will probably be able to do it yourself.

Anne

paul nd steph

yeah if that is a straight forward case ann , then i have a straight forward case.


but i still found it a lot of paper work. etc etc which i do not like.

Jamie Smith

Hi there

Here's a map of UK based agents, is mostly up to date. Make sure to assess them before signing eg prior migration experience, MARA registration, years in business etc

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl...753418&t=h&z=6

PM me if this doesn't load properly.

moneypenny20

You will still do the vast majority of the paperwork, they just tell you how to do it and when.

Jamie Smith

Plus what to include, what to exclude, how to deal with difficult circumstanceswith ex-partners, pros and cons of different visa options, likely processing times, overall risk assessment, timing of different stages to avoid wasting money on too early steps, presentation of information eg bagged or stapled, folders etc etc

All of which can have an impact on processing times and case officer attitudes to the whole application.

SD_MOA

Hello Paul and Steph,
I just had a look at Jamie's map (Thanks for that Jamie it is a good tool). It looks like the North East has a lack of Migration Agents.

Unless you are the type of people who like to pop into someone’s office (which it looks like it might be difficult to do) then I would say the physical location of the agent is not important.

There are pro's and con's to working with UK or Australian based agents.

If you use an Australian based agent then you do not have to pay VAT or GST but it is not easy to contact them during your day. Conversely if you contact them during your day by email you would typically have a reply the next working day.

My advice to people is to get a couple of quotes from Australian and UK based agents and then do a bit more research on the agents whose quotes seem reasonable to you.

Good luck with your choice.

Regards

travelling_annie

In that case it is really up to you and how comfortable you are with paperwork. Personally, I loathe paying somebody to do anything I can do myself.

Whether you use an agent or not you will still have to pull everything together and source all the evidence required. In our case we had to prove de-facto and the right to remove a child and I was able to do it myself. However, I am pretty comfortable with administration.

My advice would be follow whichever route you are most comfortable with but be sure to use a reputable and recommended agent and not just the closest geographically. There are plenty of resources on here for recommendations.

Best of luck,

Anne

paul nd steph

all i can say is thank you all so much, very very grateful for the very informative helpful reply's


will 100% keep all this in mind when looking.

but would of been grateful for maybe a point in the right direction, a tried and tested agent maybe ?

so 1 that has used and had a successful visa from using them

i know its not them which dictates whether you get a visa , but if they have got you a visa then they are more likely to get another due to them getting every thing correct ?


again thank you all so very much for the infor/help/reply's

hull2perth

Im using Ian Harrop, which is based in Oxfordshire for my girlfriends defacto relationship visa..
im also from the North East!! seems like a good choice and they are definately better then the agent i used from Australia to do my skilled migration, replies to my queries were not always answered on time because of the time difference! good luck

rozellem

Paul nd Steph,

if you decide to go with a agent, you can rest assured that SD_MOA, aka Stephen Dickson, is worth his weight in gold.

paul nd steph

thank's for the reply's iv been very very busy looking up all the infor i have got from this site , my head hurts haha

iv got a 5 year plan so do want to get to carried away