Hi Chris
Welcome to Poms in Oz.
The POPC are very, very accommodating and absolutely charming to deal with. If your CO is in the building, they will grant the visa within hours of receiving the final payment if eerythig else is in place. If the applicant would prefer to take things at a slower pace, the COs seem content with that too.
Quite a few British Parents have grown tired of waitng around in the UK. They have sold up here and gone out to Oz on long-stay tourist visas, which permit a stay of up to 12 unbroken months in Australia if requested because CP visa applicants are treated as special cases. Once the CO says that s/he will be ready to grant the visa when the applicant is outside Australia, the Parents concerned have nipped to Auckland, Bali or similar for a few days.
For more information, you could try chatting with some of the other Parents on this thread:
the ALL NEW SPARKLY contributory parents visa thread!!! : British Expat Discussion Forum
Does this help?
Best wishes
Gill
