Using a MARA agent or doing it yourself

[gopsh]

Hi,

I am want to apply for a Skilled migration visa as PR for Australia.

Would anyone recommend doing this application yourself?

[Dewie]

Hi, I'm a midwife applying for a 190 visa and so far everything has gone ok without an agent, just applied for my visa after getting my skills assessment back and being invited to apply. If you need to register with a professional body they do generally have lots of info on their website to help you and this site is also very helpful. So if your case is fairly straight forward and you know you will have enough points I don't think its that tricky. Just make sure you do lots of research. X

[gopsh]

Hi, Thanks for the information. How long did you skills assessment take to process and is it easy to monitor the progress of the application?

 

Sorry for the million questions x

[LB1978]

I would say it depends on your occupation. Nurses/doctors etc might be quite straightforward to do without one. We're going through an Agent for the 189 skilled; hubby is a Business Analyst but not as technical as some BAs so we've had to have quite lengthy discussions with our Agent about what his skills assessment paper should have in it. We might have managed without an Agent but good to have some experienced advice I think.

[Nic964]

I did the whole process without an agent. Skilled migration tends to be easiest, as the criteria are clear. I had to do an ilets, just to get sufficient points which was fun, but overall everything was straightforward, and saved a fair amount.

 

I'm an engineer.

 

Nick

[verystormy]

I will post as someone who has been around a while.

 

I have seen seen far too many people rejected due to a simple mistake. Usually a mistake that would have been picked up by an agent but which they didn't know there was anything wrong at the time.

 

So, in summary, given this is one of the biggest decisions of your life, I would use an agent.

[benj1980]

I used an agent and in reality speaking to someone who could answer my peculiar questions was worth it!

[susanbro]

We're using an agent. The process looks pretty simple to do on your own but as @verystormy said it's so easy to make a mistake. We are coming to the end of a 14 week wait for our Skills Assessment back from TRA which we would have messed up by not sending them enough evidence (OH was self employed so loads needed to cover this). Yes £2k can seem like a lot for someone to 'just upload' your documents but they deal with the ever changing legislation and know what documents are required and what will and won't be enough to get a successful outcome. That said, I know lots of people who have done the whole process on their own and got a positive outcome. It's very much each to their own xx

[letsmove2oz]

Hi there, we have applied for a 190 state sponsored skilled migrant visa - we did this ourselves as I couldn't really justify the costs of using an agent - would rather put the money to good use in the moving process! It can be scary to do it yourself but at the end of the day, there really is no need for an agent if you are disciplined and organised. I've just started a blog to document our agent-free journey as I thought it night be useful for others - I can't put the link on here but you can search for us letsmove2oz - happy to help out of you need any direct help!