Do it yourself or consultant??

nickbraddock · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 13 Aug 2004 Posts: 10

Hi,
as I am new to this, can anyone give me any advice as to whether I should look into doing it myself or using an immigration consultancy? Has anyone gone down the DIY route that can give me any tips / advice as to how easy / hard it is? Likewise, anyone that has used a consultant to do the immigration for them, can you give me an idea of who to use, how much they charge, how good they were and if they were worth their money?? Also, do they find you work or is it easier to do that over the internet? (Basically any advice/experiences in either would be useful)
Thanks
Nick

Timbo · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:28 pm Post subject:

Hi Nick. Right, here goes with my pennysworth.
We started looking into Nz just over a year ago now. Wecontacted several consultants, and one of them just seemed better than the others, so we bit the bullet and engaged them to help with our application. They advised us after careful consideration that our best bet was the Long term business visa (Ltbv). This is aimed at the self empoyed, like myself, and people wishing to set up or buy a business in Nz. It is quite complex so we thought it best to use an agent to help.
We started the process in July 03. But in Nov. 03 the agents wrote to us, saying that they had been advised by Nzis that because we had never employed anyone in the u.k, we may not meet the criteria. They then proceeded to encourage us to strenghthen our position by visiting Nz for further research. This we did in March 04.
Two weeks ago the agents e-mailed to say that they would not proceed further as they considered it would be unethical. However they think it fair to keep 50% of what we have already paid. This would amount to aprox. £700.00.
Needless to say I will fight them on this.
The fees overall would have amounted to £3000.00 (yes THREE THOUSAND).
I think that if you are intending to apply under the skills stream or put in an eoi, you are probably better off doing it yourself. There is always someone on the forum who can answer questions you may have. You can also get loads of info. and help from the nzis web site.
Save the money and spend it on a nice house downunder.
By the way, we are not giving up. Will probably just go out and chance it on a visitors visa.
Good luck.
Tim

Timbo · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:33 pm Post subject:

Sorry folks, I am still half asleep and hung over. That last post was intended to be a pm to Nick.

veronica · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:50 pm Post subject:

we did it ourselves too, Long term business visa, just used The emigration group to check ours before sending, still cost us £1000 but we decided it was worth it before submitting for peace of mind. (it was fine and they couldn't offer any suggestions to improve it, best form of insurance though)

michelle · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:04 pm Post subject:

Hi Nick

We have done it all ourselves, I got a job offer as a nurse and submitted work visas and EOI afterwards.

I think it depends on what area you work in and what visa you are applying for. If you are in a skill shortage area such as nursing its relatively easy to obtain the necessary job offer and the employers are aware of the process, forms needed etc . I'm sure there are others out there who may well disagree but thats my experience and thats the good thing about this forum that you can read and learn from others experiences good and bad.

We didn't consider using an agent but ours has been fairly straightforward ........ so far.

If you do decide to go it alone there is nearly always someone on here who can help you out if you get stuck

Good luck

Michelle

Tara Sage · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 6:13 pm Post subject:

Hello All

We are her on a work visa as I am sure you all know by now and yes we paid a consultant to help us get PR. However even though our consultant has been very good and is there to assist with the eoi etc knowing what we know now we would do it ourselves. However if we could all see into the future these decisions would be easy wouldn't they!!

I submitted our eoi online, so really our consultant hasn't done a great deal although he is there for peace of mind.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying he isn't any good just that we probably could of saved our money and done it all ourselves.

petersmit · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject:

With all the information available in the internet, it is difficult to justify the expense of a consultant. It may make the process slightly more efficient but still does not justify the cost in my opinion.

karltsmith · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:56 pm Post subject:

Hi Nick,

For the SMC route a DIY job is just fine...no need for a consultant unless you have a marginal case. For LTBV route, a consultant is very useful in making a strong presentation to NZIS in a format that they are used to.

Most of your questions can be answered by forum member's whose knowledge is wide, free, helpful and informative. Also make use of the search function on the board to read previous posts. A great resource has built up on the site over the past year and the issues covered are up-to-date!

Good luck

Karl Nice One