[themilkybarkid]

In respect on managing the whole immigration process I am keen to know what people thought of their experience of Doing it Yourself or using an Agency. A lot of money can be saved by not using one - but perhaps a lot of hassle can be saved by using one!

[Sam B]

Defo glad I saved the money and did it myself. It's a few hours of work, but not really difficult at all. In fact, most of the hard work was getting all my documents and proof together, and I would have to do this if I used an agency. I found getting a job easy too - just went on the Ministry of Education website and applied for all the speech and language therapy jobs advertised. I've got a feeling you're looking for a similar govt style job (think I remember reading you're in Social work or something?) so you can probably do the same thing?

[sirmamac]

Hello,themilkybarkid
We are still dealing with our move and not even near the flying to NZ(yet!),but my personal advice is-DIY.Agents are VERY expensive and you will have to pay every single fee on top of that.The hassle is not less-you are the one to provide all the documents and to have the qualifications for the job.Also you can find a job yourself,find all the info you need yourself and apply yourself.
I wish I had done that now,but it is too late.And then depends what kind of an agent you get to deal with it.Also NZIS states that applicants using an agents do not get preferential treatment anyway.
So my advise is -DIY-all you need is a Internet and a good forum(like this one!).
Good luck!!

[benhila]

Hi

We 'did it' ourselves and it wasn't much of a hassle. However, we found that obtaining documentation from overseas (Israel in our case) such as a police certificate can be time consuming and (as you all know) it is only valid for a limited period. So, some careful planning, reliance on forum-members’ advice and a bit of luck should get you there agent-free....

[peebles16]

This has been discussed on many threads but great to get a poll going :yes
I think there is a significant difference between getting an agent to sort out immigration side of it and actually working with agent or recruitment company to source you a job.

For us the immigration side was straightforward enough and to be honest if we had had any problems I'm at a loss to see how having an agent might have changed that outcome.... Maybe that's because I've little idea about what else they could offer me :confused:

However I do know some people who have had great success with recruitment agents, have got jobs and this had hurried along immigration :)

Karenx

[Moorf]

DIY'ers here

[themilkybarkid]

Thanks for the response so far - clearly on this forum it seems over 90% sorted immigration out themselves (without an Agency) and were happy they did.

seems good enough for me... especially with the great help, guidance and support available from this forum :clap


thanks!

[StevieD]

MBK, in a nutshell, the agents flash glossy brochures at you, fill your head with jargon and how wonderful they are and how they can swing things for you, then charge you huge amounts of money to do this, when in fact you still have to do all the groundwork yourself as per the documentation, medicals, etc.

Advice to anyone thinking of going through this process, read the immigration website, use this forum, and go it alone, it isn't difficult.