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Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Old Jan 5th 2008, 10:20 am
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Default Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Hi..

We have employed a consultant company to assist us with the mine field of New zealand Immigration. This is still in it's early stages and i'd be very appreciative of your thoughts on what services you used form a consultant company and which bit you can do on your own?
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 10:27 am
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

I used four corners in Manchester, 1st class.

We moved to NZ and my cousin moved to Aus at the same time, the spooky thing is we did not tell each other and used the same company with the same consultant at the same time
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 10:40 am
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Welcome to this NZ forum. Have some karma for your newness.

We did not use anyone but did the lot ourselves. Just downloaded forms from the NZIS ( New Zealand Immigration Service) website or filled in forms on-line and then followed the NZIS instructions. We also found a couple of sites like this one and used these to answer our worries and questions.
My husband is a plumber so we came on the skilled migrant category.

If you like, post up more details about your occupations etc and then see what others have to say about the process. You may be happily surprised.
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 5:51 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

our advice would be save your money and do it yourself, theres so much advice on these forums and all for free!
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 6:12 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Thank you for the advice, consultant fees are quite expensive and its good to know you can get through on your own..
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 6:43 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

DIY unless you are
a)minted, or
b)lazy, or
c)clueless, or
d)have a really curly situation in which case you probably need to engage a lawyer, accountant and bodyguard, or
e)too busy to be bothered.

I assume you are none of the above.

The point is that all any immigration agency can really do for you is to fill in the forms, make sure your application is correctly assembled, photocopy it all and post it for you. You will need to do all the leg-work. Save your money.
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 8:15 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Originally Posted by happynz
DIY unless you are
a)minted, or
b)lazy, or
c)clueless, or
d)have a really curly situation in which case you probably need to engage a lawyer, accountant and bodyguard, or
e)too busy to be bothered.

I assume you are none of the above.

The point is that all any immigration agency can really do for you is to fill in the forms, make sure your application is correctly assembled, photocopy it all and post it for you. You will need to do all the leg-work. Save your money.
agreed - we didnt use one either.
any questions i had were answered by this forum.

you really have to be....................to not be able to fill out those forms without our help!!

i think the hardest part of the application is knowing which visa to go for. Again we can help.

Just start gathering all your paperwork, university certificates, qualifications, work experience, NI employment history, letters from all your past employers, P60s, evidence of marriage/relationship, christmas cards, statements from your friends and family, photos, valentines cards etc etc etc

it seems daunting - but you really dont need a consultant. FOrums such as this, and all the others, will help you.

how exciting for you!!
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 10:03 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Hi there,

I sent in my EOI ,skilled migrant category, just before Christmas and didn't use an immigration consultant. I found the forms to be quite easy to follow and there was plenty of help on the NZ immigration website for the bits I was unsure about. Other bits I was unsure about were answered on this site!
I live in London so popped into NZ House one day with a list of questions as well, though that was whilst I was a bit unsure about the best way to apply and needed some advice on the different categories. If you're near you could just do that, when I went they were very helpful , and no queues!

I'm not sure how much a consultant would cost but the forms are quite easy and logical so can't see what a consultant can do that you can't do yourself, and save yourself some cash. Just seen how much the ITA fees are so worth saving as much as poss!! :curse:

Good luck with it all

Sue
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 10:45 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

The agent I consulted in Chester cost about £100 for the advice session, which was excellent and showed me what categories of visa I should be looking at, what the probability would be of me getting one, the points I may be able to claim, etc. I came away happy that I had found someone useful.
I then went through the paperwork he had provided, especially the charges, and found that not only would it cost me about £3K, but if they successfully got me into NZ they expected another fee on top for doing their job. Like paying a builder again when the roof he's fitted actually keeps the rain out! And their 'helpful' offer of engaging a local company to help you find a job would cost me 10% of my first year's wage!!!!
Bearing in mind that you would have to provide all the documents and information so they can fill the forms in for you - what are they actually charging for? If you're in a specialised field, as I was, you can search the internet (and this forum) for places which are likely to have the job you want. Then blitz the companies you have identified as ones you'd like to work for and show them you're serious about applying for any upcoming vacancies. I did this and was offered a job with my first choice employer, where I'm now happily settling in!
The people who don't enjoy New Zealand are generally those who haven't done their homework, so go to all the seminars and research as much as you can about housing, jobs, culture, finance etc.
It's going to be a long, hard journey no matter which way you go - it took me 18 months of research and form-filling (and fee paying!) but I got PR before I left the UK and don't have to worry about having to come back.
Best thing I ever did, and the pain and hassle are (almost) forgotten after two months in lovely Wellington.
Go for it, all the best, and any questions - don't forget who you can ask for free advice!
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Old Jan 5th 2008, 11:12 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

We never considered using a consultant. They're expensive and IMHO a waste of time. The process is not that complicated, especially with this forum and others available to answer any questions you might have.

All you need to do is collect paperwork, fill in forms and be organised. It's not that hard!
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Old Jan 6th 2008, 2:37 am
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Originally Posted by happynz
DIY unless you are
a)minted, or
b)lazy, or
c)clueless, or
d)have a really curly situation in which case you probably need to engage a lawyer, accountant and bodyguard, or
e)too busy to be bothered.

I assume you are none of the above.

The point is that all any immigration agency can really do for you is to fill in the forms, make sure your application is correctly assembled, photocopy it all and post it for you. You will need to do all the leg-work. Save your money.
^^^ What he said.

There's plenty of free advice on here and other forums, plus I found the NZIS website actually pretty helpful, too!

I mean... the NZIS fees are high enough by themselves ($400 for EOI, $1,400 to submit ITA then $300 each for the blue stickers, capped at $1,200 for a family) so if it's just the two of you, then *minus* the cost of medicals, getting other documents, and photocopying a shitload of paperwork, you're already looking at $2,400 for your NZIS fees. You don't really want to pay someone to fill in paperwork for you, do you?

And welcome to the forum!
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Old Jan 6th 2008, 5:04 am
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

they smell...
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Old Jan 6th 2008, 12:18 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Lots of positive advice.. thank's.

Im a forklift truck service engineer and have applied for a number of jobs (no replies yet), I've put it down to the time of year! So now I need to secure a job offer which will be the key.. then I have no problem about completing forms and doing whats needed... No dout i'll be your picking brains for advice on the next stadge

Last edited by Emma-Jane and Matt; Jan 6th 2008 at 12:25 pm. Reason: add detail
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Old Jan 6th 2008, 12:27 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

I'd agree with most of the above posters, consultants are generally not needed unless you've got something that makes your case a tricky for whatever reason. Your money is better saved for other things such as medicals and shipping fees.

Good luck with the job applications.
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Old Jan 6th 2008, 6:20 pm
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Default Re: Your thoughts on emigration consultants?

Originally Posted by happynz
DIY unless you are
a)minted, or
b)lazy, or
c)clueless, or
d)have a really curly situation in which case you probably need to engage a lawyer, accountant and bodyguard, or
e)too busy to be bothered.

I assume you are none of the above.

The point is that all any immigration agency can really do for you is to fill in the forms, make sure your application is correctly assembled, photocopy it all and post it for you. You will need to do all the leg-work. Save your money.
Spot on!! We did it all ourselves too. It looked daunting but its not. If we can do it ANYONE CAN!!! As Happy states, unless you have a REALLY tricky situation might be a reason to use one, but if you are Joe normal like most of us...do it yourself..the satisfaction is immense!! the saving of cash even better...and whatever you save mulitply it by 2.5..because thats how many more dollars you will have when you get here cos you did it yourself!!!!!
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