One of the first choices we faced after we decided that we wanted to apply for a NZ visa was how to do it. The INZ website is actually pretty user friendly (especially compared to other countries’ immigration sites) and has some easy-to-use tools to help determine if you’re eligible to migrate, and which visa is appropriate. After using the tools and finding that we might have enough points to qualify under the Skilled Migrant Category we faced our first big decision – we needed to decide whether to try to do the application on our own or to use an immigration agent to help us through the process.
We ultimately decided that we were going to use an immigration agent. While we probably could’ve navigated the application process on our own, we decided that if we were really going to go for it, working with someone familiar with the process and pitfalls would give us the best chance, since without a job offer our application isn’t a slam dunk. The downside is that it’s pricey.
Once we’d decided to use an agent, the question became which one? There are hundreds to choose from, so picking one from half a world away isn’t the easiest thing. We found sites here and there that had some reviews, but for the most part there wasn’t much to go on. One of the big things we ended up using when evaluating agents and companies was descriptions of the agents themselves. If the site didn’t have an ‘about us’ section it was automatically out. Several of the sites had points calculators where you could enter your information and they would provide you with a basic assessment so that’s what we did. Surprisingly there was some discrepancy between agencies as to how many points we could expect to be eligible for, though they were all close. Eventually we narrowed it down to four firms, one of which we ruled out because their quote was higher than the others. Much, much higher. The cheapest one was also ruled out just because the correspondence we had with the other two was much better and made us feel much more comfortable with the process. Of the final two, one was larger and one was smaller, and I suspect we would’ve been happy with either, they were both capable and friendly, but we chose the larger one mainly because of the helpfulness of the agent in answering our early questions, even though we hadn’t paid them any money yet. We finally settled on Pathways NZ.
And the big question: was it worth it? Well I’ll tell you in another few months when we either have a sticker in our passports or we don’t, but so far it feels like the right choice. That could just be rationalization, but so far it feels like we’ve gotten a lot of advice that we might not have known about otherwise. Without the agent I don’t know that we would’ve put so much effort into the employment verification letters and relationship chronology. But if it makes it easier for INZ and our case officer to process the application and say yes to our application it’ll have been worth it.
Kiwi Bound 