My Experience with Immigration Network Services (INS)

lolacarlota · January 2015

I am a Filipino professional aiming for an overseas job in 2015. Just like any other job searcher, I submitted my cv and resume online and IMMIGRATION NETWORK SERVICES is amongst the company where my application landed to. Their advertisements are noticeable on websites such as on jobstreet, jobsdb, indeed.com wherein it is indicated that they are immediately hiring abroad for Filipino nurses, engineers, accountants, computer specialists, but based on their website, they are claiming that they are just an immigration consultant, not an employment agency and do not guarantee employment abroad. I searched for reviews or comments online regarding INS but there is nothing available despite the fact that INS is existing for more than 20 years now.

After few weeks I received a text message from their office inviting me for an interview / seminar in their main office located at 301 Madrigal Bldg. Makati City (beside PBCOM), requiring me to bring my updated resume, passport size picture and P800 fee.

Upon arrival in their office, we were asked to go to their conference room as they play old videos of various consultants interviewed by news reporters such as Dong Puno, Noli De Castro and some newscasters that I am not aware of. Most videos were dated 2005 which I think are quite outdated compared to often changes that are happening on employment processes and demand abroad.

*By the way, the INS focuses on top countries destination such as UK, USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

After we watched those past interview videos, their resident speaker presided the “seminar”. The information discussed where actually mostly of common knowledge I think. Information / trivia shared were basically available on the internet. Generally there is nothing special on the discussion. The discussion lasted for about 20minutes then we were called one by one for an individual interview by their migrating specialist. It is not a formal interview actually. You will not be asked to tell something about yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, your goals in life or why you are planning to go abroad. Instead they just had some sort of quick review on the resume and discussed if you are qualified to go abroad (everyone of us who attended are qualified though). After the one on one interview with their migrating specialist, I was transferred to one of their staffs where fees, processes and requirements were discussed.

This is basically their process presented:
1. Signing of Contract
2. Submission of Documents (TOR, Diploma, Job description, Course syllabus)
3. Skills Assessment
4. Expression of Interest
5. IELTS
6. Invitation to Apply
7. Lodging
8. Medicals
9. Visa Approval / Release
10. Landing

The overall expense is P400,000.00 which includes the professional fee of P185,000.00. They also offer some promo such as If on that the same day, if I will pay P20,000.00 as reservation fee, the review for IELTS will be free of charge. I told that I do not have money with me since I wasn’t informed early about this. They said that they accept credit card or pdc and effortfully encouraged me to reserve on the spot. I just made some alibis since I wasn’t sure of their company.

According to INS, they are committed up to the visa approval only and the applicant will be in-charge of booking and expenses for accommodation as well as job search upon arrival to the country of your destination thus additional expenses.

The company claims that they are immigration consultant and not an employment agency. I was just wondering why do they have tons of job advertisements on various legit websites claiming that they are immediately hiring for nurses, engineers, accountants, computer specialists, etc. which they also included the qualifications that they are requiring of. Quite misleading huh!

The office setup is quite disorganized as well as their personnels.

ChaLiBee · January 2015

Check if they are registered with MARA

https://www.mara.gov.au/

ava_garde06 · January 2015

Ugh! Ang mahal nila ah!

lolacarlota · January 2015

yup costly nga. mahirap maglabas ng ganyan kalaking pera especially if you are not sure kung quality service ang ipprovide sayo. some companies kase kahit complete pa sila ng legal docs hindi pa rin quality service ang pinoprovide nila to their clients.

additionally nanotice ko sa office nila most or halos lahat ng employees nila sa main office mga jologs. excuse me. pero yun yung nanotice ko. i mean diba sa employees magrereflect if anong quality ba meron ang isang company. disorganized yung mga employees nila. yung iba hindi alam ang gagawin, lakad ng lakad, may naghaharutan, may nagchichismisan, walang proper office decorum. tatawagin yung isang applicant for one on one interview then pababalikin kasi mali pala, halos lahat na natawag. everyone is not perfect pero there is an appropriate behavior lalo na if you are in an office considering nasa harap ka ng prospective clients mo. if on basic and simple things like this hindi nila masystematize, what more pa sa processing diba?

plus yung fact na ipupush nila yung appplicant to make P20,000.00 reservation on the spot, mejo alanganin yata yun. for me it just created an impression na baka they will just make money from us.

i shared this thread to give ideas na rin sa mga kapwa ko applicants. tadtad kasi sila ng ads sa ibat ibang websites and before ako pumunta sa office nila, i searched for reviews regarding this company pero wala akong nakita.

joan · May 2015

i am also a victim of this company.... marami ho sila nagrabyado dito sa Cebu.. hindi ko nalang ma contact yung iba kasi nag OFW na... so kung sino ho may reklamo sa agency na ito...organize tayo ng group then we will file legally para makuha natin ang nabayd with them...

maangel · July 2015

Ay sayang @ lolacarlota bakit hindi ka nagtuloy. Ako sa jobsdb dn,paalis na ako. Ang nagprocess ng application ko, Immigration Network Service (INS). In life there are risks involve, sana nagtake ka ng risk, malay mo may visa ka na rin sna ngayon tulad ko.

Michelle07 · July 2015

Galing din ako sa Immigration Network Services and I want to thanks them for all the hard work and patience. All the sleepless night have really paid off. I am very lucky my mom spotted their ads from a newspaper a few years ago Now, I have my Visa It's all worth it.

Admin · August 2015

Beware of the maangel & Michelle07 , they are multiple accounts created on the same IP address. INS is not in the list of registered agent in MARA. check our page for recommended migration agents http://pinoyau.info/plugin/page/migration-agents or visit https://www.mara.gov.au/ for a list of registered migration agent.

*Just ask yourself guys, will you spend a huge amount of money on a non registered MARA agent? if you are, please proceed with them at your own risk.

maangel · August 2015

Talaga? syempre i made my comment when i visited their office last july 29 to get my visa because they showed me what was happening here in this forum and as one of their successful clients i have to stand what i experienced with them. Anyway i dont need to explain myself, all i can say is im thankful with them in a matter of 3 months after i was lodged, I got my visa, if u have personal problem with them, deal them personally. am i not entitled to my own opinion? Is this forum for bashers only? Am i not allowed to say positive things to those people who helped me achieve what i have been dreaming of? Costly sila yes, but its worth it. I am not going to entrust my future to those neophyte. Mabuti na yung cgurado. Salamat for allowing me to post. GOD BLESS YOU.

Admin · August 2015

Cool so INS asks favor on their clients for positive feedback (in their office)? It wont change the fact that they are not a registered MARA agent. Entrusing your future to neophyte you say? People are not dumb. A registered migration is more credible than those who are not. And if you are truly a client why are you so affected, and telling me if I have personal prob with them, deal with them directly? It's very obvious who has a personal problem. Well, ill leave the judgement to the readers.

maangel · August 2015

Good morning. As a client, i have to make sure that the hard earned money i paid for them will be in good hands and that my future will be secured. Don't u think i dont ask for their agent? Sir, i did, kung may kailangan mn akong cguraduhin, yun ay yung hindi ako maloko at legit ung company na pagkakatiwalaan ko ng investment dahil unang una future ko po ang at stake, pera ko. Salamat sa concern sir pra sa ibang tao, aprreciated much, pero unfair dn nmn po sa knila dba? Theyre judged already. As a successful client po, proven and tested ko ho cla eh.

Admin · August 2015

They were just judged based on the number of anomaly they did, plus the multiple accounts created in this forum.

filipinacpa · August 2015

Agree with Admin. The mere fact that they are not a registered MARA agent, then everyone should think twice in engaging them plus the fact that their service fee is very expensive. Yung 400K na professional fee nila is pang visa fee at pocket money ko na rin yan.. Sayang yan.. Nag student nalang din sana ako kung ganun din kamahal..

dhey_almighty · August 2015

@maangel saang state ka po at ano po ung nominated skills niyo po?

and also, can you just post ur visa timeline application, plus siguro ur CO's full name...thanks :-)

its · August 2015

Hi, I'm a client of INS po. Yes, I agree that they're too costly compared to others and their customer service is terrible. We never received any text, email or call since we filed our papers. I know that we have to wait for updates from the embassy but they need also to inform us every now and then of the status though there aren't any news yet so we won't get worried that we might have fallen into a scam. The worst thing is, they get irritated and it seems they are avoiding our calls whenever we contacted them for updates. Anyway, after almost a year of waiting for the status of our application in silence, finally they called informing us that they have some updates from the embassy that we have a notice for medical examination BUT then the embassy has some questions on my husband's employment daw and some information about me also. INS said that we can give our answers through affidavits that their own lawyers need to make. Their PF is PhP10,000 per affidavit so that would be PhP20,000 for both me and my husband. We asked if we can have our affidavits done by our own lawyer since the PF is cheaper and we are so drained financially by the costly fees we paid to INS. They just have to give us the questions that the embassy requires but the person in charge of our case (Violy Rosario) said that they can't disclose information to us. That's how I really started to doubt. Why wouldn't they disclose the information to us? They're suppose also to forward to us the email of the embassy regarding our status because we are the clients/applicants. I think we have the right to have a copy of the embassy's email. We have paid all the fees INS required us to pay. What else do they want? I heard that medical exam is the last step in the visa process which means that your visa/s have been approved, right? If that's correct, then why do they still have questions on our employment yet requires us for a medical exam? I don't want to think that INS is making stories just so we will pay them fees for their expensive affidavits when in fact it's not necessary but I'm starting really to have doubts. Please advice if anyone here has some knowledge on immigration visa. Is there a way also that I can verify this information with the embassy? Will they entertain questions of applicants through a consultancy, a third party?

My family and I badly need help. Thanks.

its · August 2015

Oh by the way, we applied for the FSW visa to Canada...

sophia01 · September 2015

Hi po! I'm one of the applicants din po. I was in saudi when my mother encouraged me to apply. She was convinced dahil sa mga adds nila on tv at may kakilala siya na nakalabas, but tourist visa. Since I'm a nurse, I applied for their quebec program for nurses. They said mabilis lang kaya pinauwi ako. To make the story short, I ended jobless. Mahirap pa naman mag-apply dito sa pinas. Anyway, I lodged my papers on October 2013. They told me na 6 months lang. Sa kasamaang palad, dumating ang 6 months na walang nangyayari. Lahat ng kinita ko saudi sa kanila na punta. 6 months- 1 year since i lodged my papers, (November ata 'yun) may tumawag sa amin. staff daw siya ng INS named Tina. She was asking for payment kc daw I changed a program. Nilipat kc nila ako from another program to quebec kc daw I qualified and mas mabilis. Since I had no money, I decided na magsangla para may mabayad lang sa kanila. Thank god hindi natuloy 'coz my mother called. We decided not to give further payment until proven na talagang processing ang papers ko kasi nga in doubt na kami. We asked one of their employee at sabi niya wala daw silang kasamahang Tina. We asked another sabi naman niya kasamahan daw nila 'yun. As a client, Hindi talaga namin maiwasan magduda lalo na ngayon big amount na naibigay namin sa kanila. I needed my original documents but I can't take them kasi they will still need them. Now, After 1 year, bigla ko naalala na i have applied wala with them. kasi nga sa sobrang tagal, kahit isang beses, they never informed me about the progress of my application. In my opinion, Kahit na matagal ang processing, May obligation sila to inform us about the steps they did at progress ng papers namin. I asked for my file number. Kung hindi pa pala namin sila tinawagan, hindi namin malalaman na wala pa akong file number at hindi ko malalaman ung mga steps na ginawa nila sa embassy. They sent me an email about there is always time for everything. duh? It is my right to now as a client kung ano ang takbo ng papers ko at kung ano mga steps na ginawa nila. Kahit na ganun, I still waited kasi wala na ako magawa. ngayon, 8 months na since I called them, wala pa rin akong file number. nag-email na ako this week 4x na ata but they never replied. weeks before, they sent me an email about if there are any questions pwede doon mag-email, which i did. I sent them an email saying na SANA KUNG GAANO SILA KABILIS HUMINGI NG PERA SA AMIN AT KUNG GAANO NAMIN KABILIS BINIGAY ANG PERA SA KANILA, SANA GANUN DIN SILA KABILIS MAGREPLY AT MAGING ATTENTIVE SA AMIN.

My caseworker is christine.
Do you know ma'am miles?
And, i know Mika.
Nagdududa na talaga ako.

leftleadpunch · September 2015

gastos naman.

IslanderndCity · September 2015

So kumusta na po kayo now @lolacarlota, @joan, @its, @sophia01?
So ikaw lang its ang for Canada? May reklamo din kasi friend ko about agency niya for Canada pero sa PinoyCare siya.

gfalconx · October 2015

Hi

Mukhang scam nga to and sadly napa sign din nila kame. We found out na hinde sila registered sa POEA as immigrant consultants. Ang registration daw po nila is for tourism lng! Hinde ko na balak tumuloy sa knila after namn magbayad ng mga paunang bayad.

Question:

Pede ba lumipat ng agency without them knowing and meron na po naka experience dto ng same scenario pero ibang agency?

Give me tips namn po. Sayang ung pera d na namn marerefund un pero kung tutuloy namn mas malake kce mawawala sa min pera and time.

Thanks

Admin · October 2015

gfalconx konting ingat, may INS staff dito na nag papanggap na member. hmm hindi pala sila registered ng POEA. tsk tsk tsk.

hindiakosidarna · November 2015

Just a piece of advice. If you love your hard earned money, get someone better. We used to have them but bye bye money.Simpleng info di marelay ng maayos. Giving up on them is one of the best decision we had in our life

This Forum is the best "AGENCY" you could ever have. Makakasave pa kayo ng money

jkk32w · November 2015

Just a piece of advice. If you love your hard earned money, get someone better. We used to have them but bye bye money.Simpleng info di marelay ng maayos. Giving up on them is one of the best decision we had in our life

This Forum is the best "AGENCY" you could ever have. Makakasave pa kayo ng money

agree libre pa consultation dito sa pinoy au

...and all consultants are migrants, soon to be migrants

mas mrami kapa matutunan if u process by urself. actually indi na need ng migration assistance other than f u insist u have d money and u dont have the time. if u have qualification issues and want to seek advise then u can seek 'advise'..then process by urself

either way kelangan nman tlaga pag laanan ng time else bye bye money ka

all d best satin lahat!

se29m · November 2015

+1

Just a piece of advice. If you love your hard earned money, get someone better. We used to have them but bye bye money.Simpleng info di marelay ng maayos. Giving up on them is one of the best decision we had in our life

This Forum is the best "AGENCY" you could ever have. Makakasave pa kayo ng money

gfalconx · November 2015

@hindiakosidarna hello po ano po ginawa nyo para iterminate sila? nababagalan din kame sa service nila tapos parang wala pa silang alam. thanks!

Admin · November 2015

HI gfalconx, ingat lang po tayo when you decide to terminate their service. make sure to pull your docs with them ng maayos.

IslanderndCity · January 2016

@hindiakosidarna hello po ano po ginawa nyo para iterminate sila? nababagalan din kame sa service nila tapos parang wala pa silang alam. thanks!

Kumusta po? If nagterminate na kayo sa service nila,, how about your documents & money?

RheaMARN1171933 · March 2016

I am hugely appalled by what I'm reading in this thread. I don't understand why such business intend to capitalise on vulnerable people pursuing a better future. I have long emigrated to Australia and not quite in touch with Philippine currency but charging P185k seems a lot of savings to make! This is the exact reason why I studied the Australian immigration law and practice so I can make a difference and genuinely assist people to Australia. I just need to comment on seeking other migrants die advice...it's good to exhaust resources as I've done this myself years back but if you want the assurance that you are in the right track, it is still best to consult an expert as visa eligibility is very individual. I also ended up using a migration agent but mine was cheap, fortunately. You just have to be careful in finding one but there are still agents around who don't charge too high.

RheaMARN1171933 · March 2016

Please refer to this link for fees
https://www.mara.gov.au/using-an-agent/working-with-your-agent/agent-fees/

rebelde · May 2016

Good evening po, agency ko din sila. Lumagpas na ng 1 year sa kakakulit ko sa kanila until sinabi nila na sinubmit na daw iyong application sa assessing body na aabot daw ng 3 to 6 months ang process? Totoo po ba na aabot sa ganyan kahaba ang application?