Hi,
While I am not in the UK I did go through the 139 visa route, and even had my qualifications buttessed by IEAust as well. I applied from the US, so probably very similar issues-timeline to the UK as the US would be considered a "low risk" country. In my case my brother was both my sponsor as well as butturer. I did not use an agent and everything went fine with the exception that my CO seemed to lose the copy of me and my wife marriage certificate I sent in with the initial application and a small glitch in the medicals where the Dr. forgot to fill in a page of my daughter's medical form and failed to sign their photos. All these things were easily fixed and didn't seem to cause any delays. The biggest delays I saw were the CentreLink delay in my brother doing the AoS in Melbourne (2 month wait for an appointment!) and a delay of about 4-6 weeks when DIMIA ran out of visas in June 2005. This last one meant I had to wait until the new quota came into effect on July 1st 2005.
Doing the application without an agent was pretty straight-forward but it's a lot of paperwork, which can be overwhelming at times. I thought it was worth it for the amount of money I saved and I'm pretty organized about those types of things, so it wasn't too difficult.
You are correct about the changes coming to the 139 visa clbutt. The current view is that it will be eliminated as of July 2006 and replaced with a temporary resident visa which will require that you live in the designated area for 2 years before getting PR status. According to the agents on here you should get your application done and submitted ASAP as the July date is not set in stone and it might change sooner. Once your application is submitted though you are OK as it will still be processed as a PR 139 clbutt visa even if that goes away before you get your grant (at least that's what the agents have been saying!).
Good luck and let me know if you have any specific questions!
Cheers! Brian
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