The choice to use, or not use, a migration agent for your visa application is one that only you can make and there are several factors you need to consider...

As a result of the Global Financial Crisis the Australian Government decided to restrict yet again the number of migrants it will accept. Consequently it is now much more difficult to obtain a migrant visa and changes are made regularly to the Skilled Occupations list and to processing priorities...

Unless your visa is a very straightforward one not affected by these changes, you may wish to enlist the help of a migration agent.

Home2Home does not hold a migration agent's license and CANNOT advise you  on visa matters.  We do, however, ask all of our clients which (if any) agent they used and what they thought of the price and the service they received.  We do not receive any referral fees from any migration agent and any recommendations (or otherwise) we may make are entirely independent and based on this client feedback.

If you are trying to decide which agent to use, it may help you to become a member of the main forum used by migrants to South Australia, www.pomsinadelaide.com, as you can ask the whole community for their experiences.  If you have a general visa query, you can post it on this site and you may find that one of the migration agents that use the site will answer your query or offer to discuss it with you via a Private Message.

When using this forum, like all of its kind, you should bear in mind that all information posted by the general membership is a matter of personal opinion and experience ONLY, unless, like registered migration agents, it is part of their professional services. You will see people answering posts with information that is out of date and downright misleading, and while they are trying to be helpful, misinformation in these matters can be costly and time wasting.  Migration guidelines change regularly and ONLY a Registered Migration Agent is in a position to be completely up-to-date with the latest situation.

Migration agents registered in Australia are subject to regulation via MARA and are obliged to attend regular professional development training.  They all have a license number which must be displayed on their websites and stationery.  Their fee levels are capped and there are strict rules about the circumstances in which you are entitled to a refund of the fees you pay them if a visa application is unsuccessful.  You will also not pay VAT on their fees.  Of course, there may be the inconvenience and cost of overseas telephone calls, but most migration agents mainly communicate with their clients via email and  you may wish to consider this as an alternative to engaging a UK based agent.

Remember that the fee that you pay an agent for his or her services is over and above the costs that you have to pay to Government Agencies such as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) for processing the application, the extent of which can be found on their website.

Some visas are straightforward and this should be reflected in the fee the agent charges you. Others are more complicated and the agent’s fee will be higher.  Each applicant's situation is likely to be slightly different, so we recommend that, even if you do not use a Migration Agent for the whole process, you take advantage of those who offer you a free initial assessment of your options, before raising your hopes of a successful outcome.

On its website, DIAC advises that you do not need to use a migration agent to apply for any visa and its website contains all of information and the forms you will need to apply, along with the relevant fees required for processing the visa.