Hi Caroline
My mother has a Contributory Parent Visa which was granted just shy of two years ago now. Like you, we did it ourselves without the help of an Agent, so if you want a hand with any of it, please just give me a shout.
I was in exactly the same boat as you with Mum's tourist visas. When I looked at her current and previous passports, there were loads of date stamps for Oz and for several other places as well. I battled with it for an hour but gave up.
In the end, I took complete photocopies of Mum's current and previous passports and had them both certified as true copies. On the form, I put "Passports enclosed." In Q 57 orwhatever it is - the one at the end of the form where you can put additional info, I said we couldn't work out the exact dates, visa numbers etc but that cert copies of the passports were enclosed.
The truth is that DIAC can search their database and get all this info for themselves in 5 minutes flat anyway so it is NOT worth spending a lot of time on it. The CO didn't even ask about Mum's earlier visits.
If you need to know something, don't waste time trying to ask DIAC in London. Instead, send an e-mail to
parents@immi.gov.au That goes straight to the POPC (Perth Offshore Parents Centre) who know more than anybody else does about CPVs. They are incredibly helpful and will reply within 24-72 hours. They are also very helpful if you need to phone them for anything:
Contact us - Department of Immigration and Citizenship
They are not at all stuffy and they are not keen on the enquiry form. They prefer it if you e-mail them as above.
Here's a tip: The application checklist says nothing about Form 80:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/80.pdf
The POPC used to leave it to the COs to request Form 80, months after the application has been made.
However a friend's parents have just submitted their own CPV 143 application. They were so thrilled when their daughter in Oz sent them a copy of the acknowledgement letter, which the POPC had sent to her, that the Parents sent a copy of it to me!
The acknowledgement letter is dated 11th August 2008 so it is very recent. It says that the application was lodged on 1st July 2008. It gives the link to Form 80 and asks that the applicants should complete Form 80 and send it to the POPC "at your earliest opportunity."
They are working out ways of streamlining the process and minimising delays with it. Somebody has to write and send the acknowledgement letter. It does make perfect sense for him to ask for Form 80 at the same time.
Therefore my advice is to get your Mum to complete it now and just enclose it with the main bundle of documents, so save her another task in a few weels' time.
Important Tip: The 2nd Instalment for the CPV ws not increased on 1st July 2008, which it normally would be. It was delayed this year because of the increase in the quota of CPVs. The POPC have now confirmed that the 2nd Instalment will be increased with effect from 1st October 2008. The POPC say that the increase is "significant" but they can't give the new amount yet because it has not yet been officially announced. However they are advising everyone who is currently preparing a CPV application to make every effort to make sure that it reaches the POPC "Well before the end of September" so that the families can make every effort to ensure that they can avoid having to pay the increased fees.
The other thing they mentioned in the application that I saw is that currently it is taking about 12 months from the official lodgement date before a CO gets in touch to start the final processing.
Best wishes
Gill
