My 2c from having been on both sides of the coin - doing my own application and starting this site so others can also do it themselves and also having been an agent for a while handling applications for folks that have paid me their hard earned cash to do it for them.
The immigration law is a LOT more complex that what most people realise. It took two reams of paper just to print the operations manual and the act, both of which you need to know intimately to be an good agent or you are gonna mess up big time very quickly. I had been helping folks here on a daily basis with their applications, an answer here and an answer there, but when you have to handle the entire application it is a completely different ball game. You really have to keep your wits about you because one small mistake could cost that family their future.
INZ only know you as a pile of paper on their desk. You could be a stunning bloke or a serial killer and they only have that pile of paper to figure it out. That is why they have such a thick manual and follow it to the letter. There really are many twists and turns and each persons case is different even though they, at face value, look the same. When dealing with immigration you have to dot all the i's and cross all the t's before they will give you your PR sticker. If they have only the slightest doubt, you have a problem. I don't know of anybody that didn't have comebacks or extra requests before their application was approved.
Having said all that, here is my personal opinion and as we cannot give immigration advice by law, i add a disclaimer here - this is not immigration advice, it is simply my opinion of whether to use an agent or not, and then go and do your own research and make your own informed decision :
If you have a straight forward case, ie., no health issues, enough qualifications, no criminal record, and all the things that INZ wants from you, plus you have lots of time to study all the parts of the law that pertain to your case, then it is possible to do it yourself. You take a huge risk doing that.
On the other hand you have a double edged sword called an agent:
An agent has the difficult task of figuring out who you are and your whole life history without knowing you and then he needs to be able to tell you what documents he needs from that info. Try doing that with one of your immigrant buddies just for the fun of it and you'll soon notice it isn't an easy task.
Bad agent - will take on any case thrown at him, doesn't know the law, doesn't take the time to ensure that he has asked you for and submitted all the documents for your case and doesn't have a 100% money back guarantee for when it all goes pear shaped. There are still too many of them out there, despite the new IAA law unfortunately.
Good agent - will only take on a case he knows he will win and will tell you if you ain't gonna make it or what other options are available to you. A good agent knows the law and will double and triple check that he has everything in place before sending in your application. A good agent also brings another important factor to the table that you can't - experience. He will in all likelyhood have dealt with a few cases similar to yours, plus many others that are not so will know what is required to get your application processed smoothly. He will know what INZ is pedantic about and ensure that you supply enough information in that area. He also has his finger on the trigger as far as all the little changes that INZ constantly make, and believe me they are CONSTANTLY changing the rules. Changes that you can easily miss if you are not "in the game" every day.
INZ themselves are also not that jacked up either - I had one case which was textbook guaranteed success where the CO rejected the application off the bat, even quoting from the manual why the application was rejected and I had to use all my experience and knowledge of the law to prove the CO was wrong. If the person did it themselves, they would in all likelyhood have thought they couldn't apply and would still be in SA today. I had another case where a customer came to me after their application had been rejected. I put in a new application for the customer and it sailed through - the difference between it sailing through when I did it as opposed to the previous time was a single word on the employment contract that made the difference between approved and rejected.
Before going the DIY route you need to ask yourself : do I have the time and ability to trawl through the law if something goes wrong.
Before going the agent route you need to ask yourself : can I afford the agent and am I not just too lazy to do this myself. Then you need to ask the agent what he will do for you when things go wrong like does he have a 100% money back guarantee, does the fee include an appeal if your case is rejected or is that extra. Those are little tell tale signs that the agent may be in it just for the money.
Agent fees - Agents charge a lot of money yes, but if they are good, it's for a good reason. Just like a lawyer, you are not so much paying them for the physical work they do, but for their experience, knowledge and their ability to apply that knowledge. Handling somebody's immigration application is so much more than just collecting a few documents from them, filling in a form and posting it off, believe me. Just the stress of knowing that you have a families future hanging in the balance if you make a single mistake is no fun and in my opinion not worth the money.
If you are up for murder you won't plead your own case would you? You would find the best lawyer you can afford.
Why plead your own immigration case when your whole family's future is at stake?
The only reason is usually because of the money, i know that is why i did my own application as opposed to paying an agent. If i had the money i would have happily paid an agent. Would I have complained afterwards that he did nothing, yet I am sitting with PR in NZ? Probably yes
