New Immigration Adviser

About 5 months ago I was looking for an accredited immigration adviser in Manila who could help Wheng and I with her New Zealand visa needs.

After a short search I located an adviser in metro Manila and we provided him with all the necessary details. Unfortunately, he's never been prompt with his replies to our email inquiries and this has been especially obvious over the past 6 weeks.

I sent emails requesting meetings with him (I'll be in Manila during February) and Wheng rang his office on many occasions.

Only recently did we discover that our adviser has been ill and in hospital. Further, his license will expire in mid-February and he has decided not to renew it. All of this means that our current immigration adviser cannot legally offer assistance on behalf of NZ Immigration, so now I'm stuck with the task of finding a new adviser.

So a few days ago I did a bit of searching and found 4 potential replacement advisers - ie, those with a current license and close to Manila - and I sent out an email asking for assistance and a quotation for their services.

Only two advisers/organizations bothered to reply which is disappointing, but they already seem one hundred times more organized than the first guy we dealt with.

They were super prompt with their replies and answered all the questions I had.

So Wheng and I already have a meeting arranged in the first week of February with one adviser who is going to assess our 'proof of relationship' documents, and we will aslo have a web conference with another NZ-based adviser while we are in their Manila branch.

The only problem is that good service comes hand-in-hand with higher fees. Their professional service fee is twice that of our first adviser.

Hmm....lots to ponder.