A former client of ours, Byron Coetzee, recently started a blog summarising his experiences as a new migrant Down Under.

Titled 'Immigrating to Sydney', Byron's blog already has a number of posts that are sure to be of interest to anyone considering emigrating to Australia, with topics ranging from his experiences upon first arriving in Australia to a breakdown of how much it cost for him to complete the Australian visa process.

One of his recent blogs focussed on his experiences as a Visa Bureau client, which he's given us permission to run here as a testimonial:

How did I get my Australia visa?

Well for me I had looked into going to Australia a number of times. At first I did not make it points wise, but this changed after my experience in certain computer languages increased. Actually, my wife did the check and excitedly told me that we could go to Oz now. (We qualified for the 175 visa - which is the best one IMO.)

I did not want any hassles or uncertainty, and to be honest, I have reached the age where I really would rather pay someone else to take care of any research or expertise I might need to immigrate.

We looked at a number of forums and one company seemed to be recommended.

After an initial set of calls to a very friendly lady called Bronwyn Murphy, we were assigned a caseworker after a very friendly and efficient analysis of our visa points.

The caseworker was a guy called Marek Starke who worked with us for a period of about a year and a half.

I cannot have received better service anywhere. Every email or call was answered with in depth knowledge and courtesy. I would highly recommend them as a visa application service with a solid set of staff and expertise.

Hats off to you Marek, as I am by nature grumpy as hell, and I never needed to be irritable ever!

If Marek's bosses every read this... give Marek and Bronwyn a bonus for me!!

Oh yeah, he's a fellow South African..

Anyway, that's how we got our visa.

The bureau we used can be found here: Visa Bureau. 

- Tom Blackett is Online Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.