Beware of Immigration Agents Playing on Fears For Profit

John Miller

Migrant quoted $15,000 for work permit costing a few hundred dollars

A Welshman who wants to start a new life in New Zealand with his Kiwi girlfriend is warning people off using immigration consultants, after he says he was quoted $15,000 for a job a lawyer later did for several hundred dollars.

Russ Thomas, 28, and his New Zealand partner Lara Wheeler, 22, were horrified when Auckland immigration consultants Malcolm Pacific quoted $15,000 to help him get a work permit but would not guarantee it would be issued.

That was fees only and did not include expenses such as the application fee and other costs, Mr Thomas said.

He said the consultancy also told him a residency permit could cost another $5000.

He paid $8437 to the consultancy but had second thoughts and went to a specialist immigration lawyer and a work permit was issued several days later.

Now Mr Thomas wants his money back but said he had been offered only half by Malcolm Pacific. The company was set up by former National government immigration minister Aussie Malcolm.

Mr Thomas said the consultancy had told him he was an overstayer and would be deported and the consultancy could only work on his application if he was back in the United Kingdom.

"They made us work in fear and said they couldn't offer any more advice until we had paid half the $15,000 plus GST by the next day."

He said he had been refused a work permit by immigration authorities on the grounds of a job offer he had.

However, when he approached an immigration lawyer, an application was lodged and he had his permit within a few days.

The couple had borrowed money from Ms Wheeler's family for the application and now wanted back the money they paid to Malcolm Pacific.

Ms Wheeler said all Malcolm Pacific had done was provide a pack telling them how to fill out the work permit and residency applications.

"We haven't touched or filled out the forms. They said they would give us half back -- $4000. They want to keep the other $4000 because they say it is their intellectual property."

Malcolm Pacific had refused to take back the untouched forms, she said.

"They are just big bullies. They gave us false advice and didn't have our best interests at heart."

The advice was shown to be wrong because their lawyer did the job virtually overnight, she said.

Mr Thomas said the company had since refused to speak to them and discuss the money they had paid.

David Cooper from Malcolm Pacific said he had no comment and was expecting to negotiate with a third person nominated by Mr Thomas.

When it was put to Mr Cooper that $15,000 was a huge fee compared with the several hundred dollars charged by the lawyer, he replied: "In your opinion."

He refused to say if Mr Thomas would be refunded the money.

"I couldn't comment. As far as I am aware Russell has indicated I am to be negotiating with a third party and I have left several messages for that third party."

Mr Cooper refused to identify the third party.

He said there was no average fee for a work permit application and it depended on the work involved.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3566004&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

susanlin · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 7:20 pm Post subject: immigration consultants

Unbelievable. How can Malcolm Pacific justify $15,000 to secure work permits? I hold a very cynical view of all migration consultants - they are taking advantage of desperate people and their behaviour is immoral. It is possible to apply for work permits/residency without their help. I know 'cos I have done it and been through the whole process without any help from any outside agency. Yes, it was time consuming and at times frustrating - but it wasn't brain surgery! There was no way I was going to pay a load of money to these migration consultants for completing forms! Nice work if you can get it! They are laughing all the way to the bank!
I have just been granted PR and all through my own endeavours.

You can do it alone! Don't go to these people!!

Jamie Smith · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 7:31 pm Post subject:

Yes, well, perhaps the fact that Lianne Dalziel opened Malcolm Pacific's job search service gave MP the idea of charging very exclusive fees Razz

I would have thought that for fees at that level it included job search service, but it was not made 100% clear whether or not MP were to source a new job or just fill in the forms.

If it was for form filling only I would be encouraging the applicant to lodge a complaint with NZAMI. whip

veronica · Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 8:36 pm Post subject:

would just like to add a note on Malcolm Pacific consultancy. We phoned several agencies for quotes on checking our LTBV once we had done all the work ourselves. the above company told us quite catergorically that "No one" could possibly get in on a home done LTBV and even with them doing it it was only a very small chance of success. The Quote they gave us was well in excess of £5000 but I've forgetten the exact amount.
We did get The Emigration Group to run a check on it after negotiating a price and although they could add nothing to the application we felt it was worth spending the money to be told we had got it right. We submitted our papers ourselves and 4 months later we have our visa. So Malcolm Pacific were talking through a different part of their anatomy and for a lot more cost than the other consultants we spoke to. They would be a very long way down the list of people I would be comfortable dealing with.

richsadams · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 3:01 am Post subject: Malcolm Pacific

Hi All

I have to come to Malcolm Pacific's defense...at least in our case. The services they've provided us were not inexpensive; however, they have fully lived up to their promises.

Our situation is very much like that of a lot of other folks here. We visited NZ several times, fell in love with it and wanted to move there. However, we were in the "Catch 22" situation...lots of desire and no job, thus our points were no where near high enough to meet the current SMC passmark.

We considered lots of options. Ultimately we could have quit our jobs, sold our house and gone in as visitors hoping to find work. The cost of that alone would have been very high and no guarantee of anything to show for it. Anyone that's walked into a company with nothing but a CV and a visitor's passport knows the look you get. They are courteous and polite, but generally have little interest until you prove you are sincere and can immigrate. Who can blame them?

After doing our homework and interviewing several agencies, job services (head hunters) and the like we hired Malcolm Pacific for several reasons. We met with one of their Senior Consultants here in the U.S. He was professional, knowledgeable and very informative. He was clear they wouldn’t take our case if they didn’t believe we could gain residency. (Others were clear that there were no guarantees but they’d be happy to take our money.) Being operated by a former PM of Immigration it was obvious they knew the system inside and out. They have a large staff including a number of immigration attorneys. (Anyone that’s hired an attorney knows that $15k is pocket change!) Finally they guaranteed residency or our money back. That’s a pretty strong selling point for us.

Of course getting residency naturally involved finding one of us employment. They didn't waste our time nor did they scare us or tell us that we couldn't do it ourselves. They were very honest and up front about the cost, the process and what they could offer. They did a complete background check on us; education, employment experience, etc. (including sending our medicals to NZ doctors/specialists for review as we had a couple of issues) to ensure that we would qualify...all of the same things the NZIS would eventually do for a Permanent Residence Visa. This gave us peace of mind that nothing unexpected would come up later. They gave us the confidence and credibility we needed to move to a foreign land.

Within a fairly short time period they presented us with a list of employment opportunities. One was ideal for my wife and after several conference calls an agreement was made for her employment. With the job offer in hand we had 165 points and they filed our EOI application. The NZIS confirmed our points immediately, no wondering about any mistakes, etc.

Since the draw hasn't quite hit our range and we wanted to move now we could have gone two ways; Work to Residency or a simple Work Visa. Since our EOI will likely be pulled before year-end Malcolm Pacific filed for a two year Work Visa on our behalf. Now we can immigrate immediately and get permanent residency sooner than a WTRV. (If needed, they will continue to file EOI applications on our behalf and handle all of the paperwork, etc. until we gain residency at no further charge save the application fees).

So consultants are not for everyone. The more basic your situation, the less you should probably have to pay for services rendered. If your case is simple, straight forward and you’re lucky enough to have a job offer you can certainly do it yourself. If someone couldn’t handle the basic paperwork they probably shouldn’t be thinking about moving to a foreign country! However in our case we were not prepared to quit our jobs and possibly waste our time on a dream that might not come true…the cost would have been much, much greater than what we paid Malcolm Pacific. In the grand scheme of things, everything being relative, to us it was a reasonable price to pay for all they’ve done. Nice One

With regard to the fellow that claims he only needed a Work Visa, there are always two sides to a story and I suspect there is more to tell. I feel badly for him, but the people at Malcolm Pacific I’ve dealt with aren’t the type to take someone’s money for nothing. Professional services come at a price and there is always someone willing to do things for less…you usually get what you pay for. Doing your homework doesn’t stop when you leave school.

We are fortunate enough to have made this part of our dream come true and Malcolm Pacific was instrumental. And so were all of the great people on this forum…what a treasure and wealth of good will and knowledge! I truly hope we can continue to repay our “debt” to everyone here. Thank you for your support and insight! Clapping

We board our plane to Auckland May 30. We’re excited, happy and can’t wait to start our new lives! Mr. Green

richsadams · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 3:55 pm Post subject: Consultants

Hi Again!

Just found out that the NZIS in its wisdom lowered the passmark to 165...woo hoo! We're in!! Mr. Green

Glad we got the work visa so we don't have to wait for an invitation, but it shouldn't be too long until we have our PRV! Phew!

Best of luck to all...see you in Godzone soon!! Nice One