[Helga]

Hi guys,

I haven't posted before but have browsed for a while - to be honest I've never felt really qualified to post for some bizarre reason but things are kicking off quite fast so I guess I am now. We had our EOI selected on 13th October and OH is now in NZ job hunting - he's been away for a few weeks and it seems to be going well though no actual offers on the table yet - needs to do some chasing up before he comes back early December. Meanwhile I am looking after our littlies (two of them - quite small(ish)) and twiddling my thumbs, wondering what on earth we'll do if he does get the job offer - house is on the market but not much happening, I'm working and bringing home the bacon (sadly not enough though...that's life!). I have arranged a couple of moving firms to come and give us quotes, have sorted out letters from ex-employers and got the forms for police checks etc etc. I just find it very hard to imagine how we would put everything into action if we had to be off very quickly - I guess we would get a work permit pretty fast and would maybe have to rent out the house. It's a strange thing, but with him being that far away you do start to think about how very far it is (obvious I know but it hits home when it starts to become reality). To make things worse a nasty and suspicous looking bill arrived from our "migration agents" this morning - I shall be disputing most of that for sure!! I have been charged for phone calls to them when I was pointing out that they had not enclosed forms that the NZIS state should be included and they didn't even seem aware of it (like the forms to include our two children)!!! Does anyone have experience of dumping an agent part-way through?? Now that we are going through the actual process it doesn't seem nearly as daunting as it did to start off with - we got more info from the NZIS guys at that Expo in London than from our agents...hmm. Incidentally we also got really good employment leads and contacts from there - hopefully one of these or one of the results of our mad month of networking before OH left will come up trumps. It just all seems a bit overwhelming at times and scarey - but staying here is overwhelming and scarey too with very little job opportunities in our sector so it's better to be overwhelmed in beautiful surroundings eh?!

Helga :? :hopeso

[veronica]

I can't answer much for you there except that for most of the people on the forum the general feeling is that if its a straightforward application agents are to be avoided. I am sure Timbo can put you right on dumping agents porcedure.
It is a long way away and it is very hard to be stuck at home with the littlies wondering what is going on, specially if you are working too. What line of work is your partner in and whereabouts in essex are you from.

[Timbo]

Veronica, I would if I could, but the agent dumped US not the other way around. I am just waiting for a date for court hearing.
I guess it is a case of scrutinising the small print in your contract Helga, and see if you have a get out clause.
As Veronica quite rightly says, if your application is reletively straightforward, it is probably best to avoid using an agent completely. There are plenty of folk here who will be able to point you in the right direction if you hit a snag, I`m sure. The only reason we were using an agent was because (at the time) the only real option was the Long term business visa, and help was needed to draw up business plan etc. etc. With hindsight, there was nothing that the agent did that we could not have done ourselves.
Good luck, and welcome aboard.

[Helga]

Thanks guys - I'll have to have a look at the small print - I'm pretty sure we didn't sign up for anything major but there again, they are lawyers - apologies to any lawyers who may read this (of the nice variety!).

Timbo your experience sounds a bit drastic - hope it works out ok. With the benefit of hindsight it would have been simpler to do it ourselves but on the plus side it did get our EOI in quickly and we did get selected in the first draw and maybe it wouldn't have happened if we'ld filled it in ourselves because I think I might have made a few errors - a lot wiser now thanks to reading forums and anything else we can get our hands on!

Veronica, my OH is in the agricultural sector - from farming stock and had his own agri-business here which sadly didn't survive the rather monopolistic effects of the large supermarkets....- obviously agribusiness is very much healthier there than here and he is having some amazingly positive experiences out there. We are near Halstead in Essex - where were you based before your move?

Helga