How much will an Immigration Agent cost you?
One of the good things to come out of the IAA’s existence (indeed – if they spent their time doing this I would be more supportive) is that agents (sorry – “advisers”) need to tell the IAA their range of charges. The IAA then publishes these. They show the minimum fees if applicable, the average (mean), median (New Zealand is obsessed with using the median rather than the mean – it’s silly but there it is), and the maximum.
The maximums are truly scary.
Note: these fees do NOT include 15% GST, so remember to add that when planning your emigration. Also bear in mind that if you use an onshore adviser from abroad (because for example you are in the USA and there’s only two in the entire country) then they should not be charging you GST, as exported services are rated as 0% GST.
Bear in mind that it has been know for agents to charge for a Work Visa when they could have (and probably should have) applied for a Residence visa. You can see why.
Now – the notes don’t specifically state whether these fees include the amount of money you need to pay to INZ for the applications, but as our fees came out at about $3000 to INZ, I would assume not. I suggest anyone who is thinking of using an agent gets a very clear list of fees, and what your costs actually include and what they don’t.
The maximum charges – well – what can I say. I would expect that the Visa would be hand delivered by horse drawn coach, and written by hand in gold inked calligraphy. It is worth remembering that some agents are working on behalf of companies like IBM – who know very little about the immigration process, and do not know or care that they are being right royally ripped off, and could potentially be charging more. We know that a licenced agent has been doing this – and it formed part of my letter to the minister on the while issue of the IALA. They charged for a 6 month work visa, when the applicant had a 2 year contract, and then charged again for a renewal. All the time the applicant was actually capable of getting a Residence Visa – but then that would have prevented a third charge to the agent.
Sorry – but my thought is this is still way too expensive and a waste of money bearing in mind that from what I’ve heard, most agents do very little for the money they charge. There would have to be a VERY good reason for someone to need to spend that kind of money – given how much you will have to spend on emigrating anyway.
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Related posts:
- Immigration agent / adviser / lawyer or none of the above.
- Either Licensed Immigration agents are lying – or INZ are corrupt.
- When will INZ and Immigration Advisers be held responsible for their stuff-ups?
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