Migration Agencies
 

Hi all

This is my first time on here and I hope that I will receive some helpful comments in relation to migration agencies.

My family consists of me, mum, my husband two boys aged 4 and 5. We have just sold our property and are moving into rented accommodation until we decide what we are going to do. We are a little confused. We are receiving alot of positive feedback in relation to using an agencie to emigrate to New Zealand and I personally feel that this would make me feel more comfortable in relation to the children, but we are also thinking of taking a risk and going out there for six months, getting jobs, permits and trying that route.

I have contacted a few agencies and have come across one called Migration Bureau who have a few agencies. We live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and they have quoted us around £3000 for full residency.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.:huh:

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi
I also live in Huddersfield and have just returned from NZ after being on a work visa for 7 months. We hope to get residency after a medical problem is sorted. I have worked in New Plymouth and Gisborne so I you feel we can help you in any way, feel free to contact us.

Best wishes

John:)

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi

Many thanks for that. We would love any advice that you can give. As you had a work visa did you have to get the job before you left the UK or did you go to NZ and get the job there.

I find this way a bit scary, because of the kids so an agency seems much more appealing.

Where abouts in Huddersfield are you? We are in Kirkheaton until the house contracts are signed and then we will be based in Netherton

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi

I'm on Wakefield Road at Dalton. I have many immigrant friends in NZ and they would all tell you not to use an agent, at least for healthcare. Apply for jobs direct. The immigration paperwork is very simple and straightforward but takes time. Also the agency will charge your future employer for finding you. By going direct you can negociate a relocation package. What area of work are you looking for? If you PM me I will help you all I can.

Good luck

John

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Honestly don't use em. Trust me if I can fill the forms in anyone can!

Re: Migration Agencies
 

I kind of agree with Dustry - if you are good on points then it should all be pretty straightforward and it's just a case of form filling and paper work. Hell - if *I* managed it (we just on the cusp of PR) then really - anyone can.

However, if your situation is tricky in the way of borderline points/ medical situation or similar, then an agency can help to 'package' you in such a way that you are seen in a different, more positive, light.

I think you may need to look closely at bringing over your mum on your application. I only say this as we recently looked at bringing my mother-in-law over once we had PR and it was a 3 year process after we had PR. That was after the PR was granted though, so if she is included in the process from the start this could be different.

Can anyone here advise on that side of things?

Good luck with it all - if you need any thing there is usually someone on here with the answers or who can point you at where to get them. :thumbsup:

Re: Migration Agencies
 

We used an immigration agent. Cost 1,500 GBP and at the time it was brill to have someone else advising and guiding us. And as those of us here already know, its often who you know not what you know that helps and using a reputable, well known agent can be very helpful and take a weight off. You still end up doing all the paperwork and sourcing the evidence :sneaky: but sometimes an agents know how can help. When we first applied for our WTR visas, we got them back within a week. We received our ITA returned it complete in a couple of days and got PR the week after. Can't say for definite whether using the agent we did helped play a part in that or not.

We looked into bringing the in-laws over too. No retirement visa available for NZ. They don't want too/are too old to wish to work again - so not possible for them to gain work visas in their own rights. Only solution is to wait until we've been PR for 3 years (starting from day we were granted PR - not when we arrived in NZ on WTR visas) and then go down sponsoring route.

I think in rare cases it may be possible to have a parent move over with you but you would have to prove that they had been and would continue to be solely dependent on you; or say they have previously been living with you and were your child care provider. There might well be other cases but those are the only two scenarios I've heard of that have been approved after some lengthy debate with immigration.

If anyone does know of any other route, I too would love to have any info

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hiya

We, as many on here, did all the work ourselves without an ageny. As said before, if everything is straight forward do it yourselves.

Have you done the points test on the NZ Immigration site to see how you are placed? If your points don't add up, or there's something not straight forward with your application, then go for advice off this forum as to who you can trust to do the job right for you.

Flippin' 'eck, at this rate half of Huddersfield will be over here!! We moved from Huddersfield, landing Jan 1st this year. There are also others from and near Huddersfield who are here too!!

Good luck

Catkin

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi everyone

We got about 95 points on the EOI assessment as we are not sure if the NVQ 3 is worth anything in NZ as a basic qual. We have looked on line and every advert we have seen says that the applicants must either be resident or citizens of which we are neither.

Still very confused and so ready to go it is untrue.

Please any more advice would be soo grateful. Don't know how to get onto the personal message thing so advice on that would be good too.

Cheers

Lass from the North

Re: Migration Agencies
 

teamembo, any advice on which immigration agent to use as £1500 sounds pretty cheap from what I have researched.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Welcome to this NZ forum awillcock22.

Some info please :-
What occupation you and your partner are in & what the NVQ3 is for please. Also , a breakdown of those 95 points.
Are you an only child or do you have siblings in the UK?
How old is your Mum . Her occupation.

If we have more info. , we all may be able to help a bit more.

Whether or not you go with an agent to fill in your NZIS forms is entirely up to you. If you are a straightforward case, then you really should try to save your money and do this yourself. Many collect their paperwork & do the forms themselves. In any case, it is wise that you understand the process properly first before engaging an agent. At least you will know what you are paying for. The good people of this forum can tell you how it was for them and what they had to do.

Please do be wary of those agents that offer you something of an 'all in' package & state they can get you an NZ job offer. You should NOT be paying to be offered a job . There are recruitment agencies that can possibly help you there. These agencies are paid by the employer to find employees & that is the way to go if you can't find a job yourself through other means. It , of course, depends on what your occupations are.

Come back to us with a little more info & then we will all pitch in to offer our thoughts.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi to all

Firstly I think I made a typo error, mother not coming just me, my husband and two boys aged 5 and 4.

Qualifications, I have an NVQ 3 in Business Administration and working towards an NVQ 4 in the same subject. I am an office supervisor for Kirklees Council as an Administrator and Finance Officer. My husband has a HND in Leisure Management and some BTEc qualifications in the same subject. He has worked with behaviour children for about 10 years and is a Behaviour Manager within a High School of around 1500 kids. He has all management skills and also works for the local authority.

We have currently sold our house and are moving to rented accommodation. I am going to try and get my NVQ assessed but any advice would be so helpful. Thanks for everything so far.

My brother has lived in Auckland for 4 years, but is now back in the UK hoping to return at a later date.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

My advice is do not use an agent, you will be paying lots of good money for something that you can do relatively easily yourself.

I checked out some agents when I started the process but did it all myself in the end and its not as difficult as you think its going to be. Its just a case of filling in some relatively easy forms (although lenghty) and providing the supporting evidence and you will have to do all of that anyway, all the agent will do is tell you which forms to fill in and post them for you! They will make it sound difficult but its not.

Cheers

Re: Migration Agencies
 

This was from January 2007 so may well have gone up since then. They were not a recruitment agency, nor did they assist with accommodation, they purely helped with getting visas and PR for us. The guy we used was Peter Croxson at E-Migration, Kilmore Street in Cch. He is a man who likes all 'i's dotted and 't's' crossed so is very methodical and reassuring and looks at all possible angles of best route to go depending on your personal circumstances. He gets no favouritism from Immigration so can't magically get you a visas if you don't have the right experience/qualficiations etc (like in our case we needed a job offer as we didn't have enough points) but being in daily contact with Immigration he is able to explain things in a NZ way and find the best way to put your case forward.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend using an agent - if yours is straight forward, you have enough points, etc do it yourself - but if you are going to use an agent then I can highly recommend Peter Croxson.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

I have heard of Peter Croxson. He is currently helping some friends of ours who have a case outside of the normal parameters.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

Hi
We came to NZ last year (me, wife and three kids). We did the points test at like you were short of the magical 100 points. We couldn't see anyway of getting to NZ and was thinking of giving up and looking at Australia. While browsing on the internet I filled a form out for a migration company goldensandsmigration. They got back to me and advised they would take my case on and get the PR visa with a money back guarantee, (you don't pay it all up front either).
Part of the package they do is activley look for employment options for you and yes once I had confirmed a date I was planning on arriving in NZ they had got me telephone interviews which led to a job offer. I actually got offered three jobs (work in IT) and didn't accept the one they got me but at least they did what they said. They do not charge any extra for this service as the fee quoted is what you pay and I'm sure it was less than the 3000 you were quoted. Also, if your PR will take to long the fee also covers temporary work visas.
Yes you can fill the paperwork in yourself, it's not hard, but a professional does word things nicely. We also had an issue with my sons medical which they helped sort out with immigration.
For us it was nice to have someone to "hold your hand" and talk to about things but I can understand why people say don't use agencies as it's a waste of money. I believe that is a decsion you have to make yourself.
Well we got our PR soon after arriving and everything here is great and believe we made the right decision.
Well I would recommend the migration company we used, even worth just dropping an email to find out where you stand.
Good luck in what you decide.

Re: Migration Agencies
 

HI There

We were a fairly straight forward case too but I got a bit confused with which categories our qualifications fell into and whether or not they had already been approved by NZQA etc and a few other things with my OH's job offer; so just for the peace of mind we opted for a consultant. We managed to get him to negotiate down his price a little. He was reasonably efficient and we had no problems. You do still have to provide all the relevant information and paperwork yourselves but they just tell you where to dot the i's and cross the t's and when to submit it and sort out the category stuff. Then when its all in one big package they send it off. You are still free to contact NZ Immigration yourself, as they allocate everyone a case officer. Ours was Rebecca Olliver and she was very reassuring and good to deal with. The Consultant we used was a guy called Dion Smart and he works for e-Migration New Zealand Ltd
PO Box 13625, Tauranga, 3141, New Zealand. His contact info is Tel: +64 7 579 6224 Fax: +64 7 579 6225, Mob: 021 713 332 and web site is www.e-migration.co.nz in case you want a second quote to compare the other consultant's fees with. Good Luck whatever you decide. :thumbsup: