[natalieandiain]

I (Natalie) and my OH (Iain) are new to this forum so I thought I would introduce us and say hello to you all.

My husband & I are seriously considering the move to NZ although we have not yet visited the place. Iain works in IT and i am an auditor although Iain will be the main visa applicant. We have 105 points (paid an agency for what turned out to be just to calculate the points!) and want to start the ball rolling.

We were thinking of continuing to use the agency but from what i have read so far everyone appears to do the process themselves.

We have two children (2yrs old & 10 mths old) and time is something we dont have a lot of!

Has anyone used and agent and have they found them good value for money?

Any advice would be appreciated :)

Natalie

[benandclare]

Hi guys and welcome

Think you've already found out that Agencies charge very large sums of money for doing very little, our advice would be, this is free :D , is ditch the agency and DIY.

Understand that 2 ankle snappers take a lot of looking after but even if you employ an agent you still have to do all the leg work yourself so to speak

:cheers

[Moorf]

Hi Guys

Welcome to the forum! :nice1

My family all live in Worthing and they're all emigrating here this year!! They're on forum too - (Andy141 (Dad) and Moorf Junior (bro)). Parents used to live in Lancing and both my father and I worked at Singer Link Miles at various times!

Maybe a Sussex meet is needed? :yes

Welcome aboard.

Moorf

PS: Has anyone used and agent and have they found them good value for money? No we haven't/didn't and... no!

[StevieD]

Welcome Natalie and Iain. Ditch the agencies, fleecing swine that they are. All the info you need is on here anyway or the many pages of help on the immigration website, don't have to go to an agency if you can type, do a bit of research and fill in forms by the ream :laugh

Good luck guys

Steve

[Mickstim]

Hi guys and welcome to the forum! A Sussex meet is a brilliant idea - we have already met Moorf's parents but would love to meet everyone else and Shoreham/Worthing would be great. Any takers???

B xx

[shakyle2906]

Yes, as Moorf and the others say, ditch the Agency.

We paid an Agency best part of £4k 6yrs ago when we decided to move to Australia and found we were doing all the work! We then pulled out when i fell pregnant with our son and lost it all.......

We did all our own paperwork for EOI and PR and found it very straight forward i have to admit, and as the others say, theres always someone on here that can help!

Save yourself some money!

Sharon
xx

[natalieandiain]

Thank you for your welcomes and advice ..... like the idea of a sussex meet. Hopefully at both sides of the world!!


We think we need a job to go (not sure if Iain's diploma will count) so the first thing we are unsure of is how do you get the timings right? Sell the house first and then look for work or get the job and then wait and see ????

I take it the first thing is the EOI but without a job we may not have the points?

I think we just thought the agency would give us the time lines and step by step instructions...... ?

We are finding it quite daunting on where to start and what order is best....any more good advice?

[Belmont Babes]

Hi Natalie, another Nat here,

Did the agency indicate what chance of success there would be with 105 points? Have a look to see if anyone was selected with this amount of points last time a selection took place. We too paid an agency to calculate points for us and they got it wrong. When I put in the EOI it came back with 10 points more. I too agree that you save your pennies, god knows you will need them for the process...:yes

This is what we did:
Put in EOI Jan
Got selected Jan
Received ITA March
Sent in ITA (invitation to apply) Aug
House up for sale May and has only just sold Feb 08.

Not sure it will help as I think everyone takes a different road but you have to start somewhere. Good luck and just ask away.

[Pip]

ditto with ditching the agency, its not that difficult. if you use the search function on the forum you will find many threads on whether to use an agency and its normally a resounding no. pretty much anything you can think of has already been asked on here (its normally a case of searching for it) and if not, ask away and someone always seems to know the answer!

You could always put in your EOI (and use the free points calculator on the NZIS website to see if the agency got it right) and then look for a job. If you get a job offer, your application will be prioritised and also I think you then get more points if you have a job offer. (you can amend your EOI once you've submitted it if you then get a job offer to get the extra points). We put ours in based on me as the principal applicant and then worked out OH would get slightly more points, so after a month in the pool with me as principal, we swapped over and got selected in the following draw.

Hope that helps! - best of luck

[JandM]

Hello, Natalie and Iain, from two more newbies.

[Peter&Liz]

Hi Natalie& Iain,

We are from Sussex as well and we would definitely be up for a Sussex meet.

As others have said there is no reason to use an agency, the information you need is readily available on the NZIS website or here.

You can double check your points here…

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/pointsindicator

If it is still showing 105 points then I think Pip’s suggestion of putting in your EOI and then looking for a job might be the way to go. If you get a job offer you would get a lot more points and your application would be prioritised.

Also it is relatively cheap $400 to apply and shows to prospective employers that you are serious about moving.

Best of Luck

Peter