brightie

Sorry if this has been covered before its just that we are new here!!
I am looking to emigrate with my family and have recently been dealing with a immigration consultant in New Zealand for the visa and PR they require just over £1500. It was £2000 if they found me work and PR.
I am currently a serving Prison Officer of 7 years so would very much like to become a correctional officer in New Zealand to give my family a better quality of live. I decided I would actively seek a position myself saving myself £500 but since looking on net i have found that there are conflicting views on whether to use an immigration consultant or DIY.
I have recently completed an online application for position as CO and also have sent my CV to another.

Can you advise?

Thankyou Brightie

danny.f

Tis the trickiest of trickies. We used an emigration firm and have regretted not using the money better since.
Having said that,when we assessed how many points we had ourselves-120. When they did it-215! So I would say if you can afford it-do it,but if money's tight-rely on sites like this for help. NZIS are themselves a good point of reference,and it's easy enough to apply for jobs to here on t'internet.

See what others say. Good luck,wherever you reside!

TeamEmbo

We used an agent too (E-migration), approx. same cost as you've been quoted. We were confused by the process and didn't have as many points as we thought we did and for us decided that was the best way to go. They know the immigration department and process better than us and can contact them when we couldn't. It would have been nice to have used that money towards something else, but I don't think we'd be here now if we hadn't used them!!! They took a lot of the stress and worry out of the process. We got our WTR visas back within a week and have since gained PR, which again was really quick. We've been here 4 months now.

The majority of people here I don't think would recommend using an agent, but like I said, I liked having their help and guidance and left it to them to get it all sorted one way or another.

brightie

thank you both for your advice and help. going to take the plunge.

brightie

danny.f

Actually-we were the same! Don't think we'd be here,certainly as quickly. For some of us,it was a necessity. Good luck anyway!

mickey_d

DIY, it's easy, don't waste your money.

P2L

We didn't use one, we worked our way through it with a little help from Expats.

My inlaws on the other hand, did use a consultant, more because of their age than anything, and have just got stamps in their passports.

So it really is 'horses for courses'.

Have you looked at the EOI? You can register on NZIS and make a start on it for free. You also don't need to fill it in all in one go. Worth a go and see how you get on. If you get stuck SHOUT and we'll all help you

Good Luck

hamiltons

all the people who have used an agent for these purposes who would you recomend ,as we is really confused and the eoi , online form keeps doin its own thing .
thanks

brussels_sprout

It is VERY easy to do it yourself, it is not like solicitor or anything like that.
If you have plenty of money , maybe it will save effort and hassle to use an agent.

Yes, NZ does offer a better quality of life, not sure about the standard of living though, you pay tax from first dollar, and houses are way too high in price for new immigrants .
I spose that you know what your salary might be ?

mitchuk

We started using an agent .."migration Bureau" and without going into detail we were lied to to get us to sign up and pay a £1000 deposit.

We were then asked for another £1000 to get things under way !!

to cut a long story short they denied what they quoted and stitched us up because they refused to return the deposit after i told them i no longer wanted to use them.

I have heard similar stories from other people.

Just go to the official NZ immigration web site and you can get all the help you need.
You can even phone them between 7am - 7pm nz time

sarahw

I'd suggest the DIY route.

There's a lot of paperwork to work through but it's not complicated, just a lot of it! If you can get a free assessment from an agent first that might start you off on the right foot.

At the end of the day, if you get stuck, there's lots of us who have filled in the forms and succeeded with their migration who can give you a helping hand.

Good luck!

hamiltons

would it be possible to do your own eoi and if it is not appcepted then get a consultant to do it afterwards or is it a case of one bite of thecherry
ps ,thats terrible that mitchuk

sarahw

I think you can but firstly it's worth calling immigration and asking them to confirm it and secondly it's probably an expensive way to do it!

brussels_sprout

the eoi is not rocket science, just a series of questions, if you can afford to pay someone good for you, but most of us do it ourselves , it is very easy

hamiltons

i am not finding it easy but am getting there ,no i dont have the money to waste brussels sprout but on the other hand if it was the difference between getting there or not or getting selected then it could be worth it spending the money one thing glaringly obvious is the extra points attainable for having a job lined up there is there a way to apply for potential jobs kinda difficult when you could not get there for months
someone must know of a good trustworthy agent/ whatever