Agents - to use or not to use

SO heres the deal with agents.

Some prefer them some do not.

In our case, we knew absolutely nothing of the process and were far too busy with our careers to bother going through every nook and cranny of the migration process on DIAC's website www.immi.gov.au

All i knew was that i wanted to migrate and permanently live in Australia using my qualifications.

So i did a google search - got a list of websites. Was i sure they were the real thing?

No- how could i be? o

The only way to be sure is to check the MARA website- do a check on the said agent. If his/her name and number is in- by all means go ahead.

But a word of caution - try communicating with your agent - physically on phone or skype.

As you proceed you will find that it is essential that you both are on the same page and both of you understand each other perfectly.

We chose a global migration agent - so far no major complaints - i did have a few but the company or rather my Customer Service Agent did a fine job of sorting it all for me.

But for those of you who would rather do it all yourself and save a lot of money in the process, please do so.

We paid our agent 1200KD for their services.

The cost implication totally is as follows:

Agent Fees: 1200KD

AACA Skills Assesment : 300KD (1000AUD)

IELTS :69KD

Visa Application :1000KD (2960AUD)

This is about it. There will be other fees later during the medical checks PCC etc.

But since i have not yet done them I will leave it for later.

The IELTS

So what's the big deal with the IELTS?

I mean I know English and I really don't need anyone else to tell me whether or not I can communicate and understand the language!!

Anyways, as it goes DIAC won't take my word for it- and gave the IELTS I did.

I could not give it in Jan as earlier suggested- but that's a long story.I ended up giving it in the last week of March.

Do i really need to
prove my English proficiency!

The process itself was easy enough.

First things first :

Please Register.

In Kuwait atleast, there are lots of people appearing for the IELTS- I had to wait about a month after registering for the first available slot.

The IELTS is conducted every second week n Kuwait. 

Having registered online through the British Council, I was given 3 days to make the payment and complete all the registration formalities.

Having done that I decided to take the bull by the horns and took my IELTS preparations quite seriously - its a good thing I did.

Listening is not so much about understanding what is being spoken as it is about concentrating.

(I lost my concentration for about a couple of seconds during the real test itself - and lost 4 answers in the bargain. I guessed the answers and wrote them anyway (there are no negative marks for the wrong answers) - lets see how that goes- assuming i got all four wrong , i should get a 7.5 for listening hummmphh!!!)

Reading for some crazy reason was not my strong point- I read a lot , am an avid reader- but I just could not manage getting more than a 7.5 at all my practice tests. Well we'll soon find out how I actually did the real test!!

Practice, Practice ....

Writing - that was the easy part

Speaking - not bad just don't get nervous.

In all, it is pretty good and not that hard- but there is such a thing like over-confidence.

As and when you do give your IELTS here is my word of advice:

Practice :)

Until next time - Cheers!!