sandch

Well thank you for the update Audie, but good grief you're not getting the breaks are you? I admire your tenacity but you could certainly have done without this, sorry these additional challenges. :sad:

Our best wishes for some sort of positive outcome to all this.

Cheers

Steve

I tried to register on the CPV tracker yesterday and duly waited for the email to arrive which allows me to activate my registration but am still waiting. Don't know if I have done something wrong?

 

In the meantime if Steve reads this, could you please update our details (DaveandLinda) with the date of our medicals: 29th March.

 

As we are going for the 173 initially we are waiting for the email asking us to pay the second VAC. We know our medicals arrived in Sydney on 4th April and our PCs and forms 80 arrived in Perth on the same day. We had reckoned on about 2 weeks before we hear anything. What do you think? Hubby is very impatient and thinks I should contact the PVC. I told him it's too soon. If everyone kept contacting them it distracts from the all important job of allocating visas!

Hello

I would make the enquiry. They tend to check files infrequently to see if the medical record has been updated, and your reminder could bring that forward.

The email may have gone into junk mail. I've activated your record (username Linday) but I am completely confused as to why you want to be on there twice! Probably because I've not read something properly. It happens. So you have one record for a 143 and one for a 173. Let me know what you want to do and I'll fix it!

All the best

Steve

I think Les is spot on Phoebe. Your SIL needs only to pass over the amount after tax, so there's no effect on his financial position. I can't see how he would be disadvantaged in any way.

If any of you and your offspring in Oz have an iPhone here is a great App.

 

Download VIBER takes 2 minutes to set up and you can make FREE phone calls and send FREE messages iPhone to iPhone anwhere in the world :biggrin: you will both need wi-fi or 3G :yes:

 

It actually works too I wanted to test it out first before I told you all (unless you already have it :swoon:) I've been useing it all week to ring my daughter and was surprised at how good it is I even heard the baby :jiggy:

 

Phoebe

Useful information, thanks Phoebe.

You can also get Skype for some mobile phone operating systems (Android etc) which releases you from your computer. Sadly my Samsung is not one of them!

Cheers

Steve

It's a good job that you are still not in the UK, according to the news today you shouldn't have more than 1 glass per day !!:biglaugh:

 

Katie

Now that's just taking austerity measures too far!

Anyway, going by that rule, by Friday I have 5 glasses to catch up on (feeling the effects now)

:goofy:

Why do I find the need to get a rope and look for a tall tree when some mentions country music?

 

Please don't tell me they have it in Oz. :cry:

Very strong Country scene here Les.

Have you paid the second VAC yet?:elvis:

Same here, we will be arriving in Melbourne just at the start of Winter - and Victorian winters are usually pretty wet! But they can have warm and sunny days too, a bit like the UK, slightly unpredictable, so a suitable assortment of appropriate clothes has to be packed.

Just remember - four seasons in one day - you get to hear that a lot here :SLEEP:.

Who said Marmite? Les? Was that you?

Ah Fridays. Red wine at 9:50am UK time. That's one good reason to move here. You can get going a few hours earlier.:wink:

Ah, but you are a model of efficiency Steve, Wanda's shoes would take up more space than that. :wacko:

Ah the shoes. I forgot the 40ft container. But apart from that.....

Ooooops :cute: I keep assuming everyone is heading for the Gold Coast that has winters like our summers :cool:

 

Phoebe

17 degrees max forecast here in Melbourne Sunday. 27 today, 27 tomorrow. We're now equipped for the daily fluctuations, unlike when we first arrived.

Cheers

Steve

My daughter still has 10 boxes in her garage that havn't been unpacked yet after 3.5 years she dosent even know whats in them :biglaugh: her advice was treat your packing like a suitcase on holiday, fill it with what you need then take stuff out you dont really need then cut it down to the bare minimum :goofy:

 

Phoebe

We came out here with 3 cases using the economy flight allowance. Everything else is still in England. Amazing, but we've survived!

Cheers

Steve

Hi All!

 

I have mostly been a lurker on PIO as we were waiting for NSW SMP before we started making any decisions about moving to Aus. Now that we know we can move we are trying to convince my parents-in-law to join us. They are keen on the idea but have all but given up on it as a reality as they are very put off by the steep cost of a 143 visa. Ultimately they can afford the visa and would have some money left to buy a small apartment and car but then they would have no savings left after that. What I want to know is how are you getting by once you have paid all that money out? My FIL has been self-employed for years and so doesn't have a formal pension. Do you work when you get to Aus and how easy is it to find work when you are over 50 as I hear that can be quite difficult?

 

I hope I am not repeating a question as I only dipped into the thread rather than reading the whole thing!:embarrassed:

 

I look forward to your insight as moving the parents may be a make or break feature of our decision to move.

 

Thanks!

We moved out here last year and despite a lot of anxiety my wife found work reasonably quickly (legal admin in Melbourne). I still work for my UK company, but I would not like to have to put equivalent local employment to the test at my age (late fifties).

The older you are, the more difficult it becomes, though I do think there is always something available if you are fit and depending on what you're prepared to do.

Australia is a very expensive place to live at the moment, and we would have only lasted a year or so at this stage of our lives without local employment (meaning dollars). We've no plans to buy property here and will take it a year at a time, slowly working towards return visas and who knows maybe even citizenship one day!

Best wishes

Steve

I've removed my misleading post in case it, well, misleads someone.....

Hi Les

 

Don’t use the Shippers Insurance, have a look at this:-

 

http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/favicon.ico

 

We used these and they are a lot cheaper.

 

Charlie

Hello Charlie

That's an invalid link by the way....

Perhaps: http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/emigration-insurance/

Cheers

Steve

Congratulations Phoebe!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeek

 

I know its the 1st April but our agent has just emailed us to say we have a Case Officer - time to arrange AOS, medicals, police checks ..........

And me the second!

I can see some of us have rather lost control of our Quotes.

Get a grip fellow CPVers!

Phoebe, that's really not fair, or logical. But we are dealing with bureaucrats remember, so the rules don't have to make sense out here in the real world.

As for houses, they give me the impression of being rather cobbled together. Yes, they are now wedged onto plots which are becoming ever smaller. On the new estates, in so-called "detached" houses, the side windows are a couple of feet or so from the one next door. Probably their idea of a cavity wall. Under construction they look like big kiddie sheds, then it's all clad with a slick finish that makes you forget what's underneath; a rather flammable stick building. As for aesthetic design....

We're renting one that's 3 years old. As the temperature drops now, the interior of the house follows instantly - that's right - what's "double glazing" again? Noise from outside passes through the glass and the "walls" which are of course uninsulated.

The prices, although they've stabilised, and interest rates, make property here a seriously bad investment if you didn't buy one a few years ago, especially if you have to sell sterling. However we've been through this in the UK.

No plans to buy then, but although we're comfortable, the Australian rental market is not good for tenants with too many investors in it for a quick capital gain, not the long-term rental income. This means that every now and then you're at risk of having the general public wandering through your house when it goes on the market, followed by a forced relocation when it's sold.

Is that the time? I can ramble on eh?

Best wishes all.

Steve

Hi Steve wondered if you had recieved my emails regarding updating the tracker?? Thanks Viv

No - but you're not the first one to alert me, so I've just been in and fixed a receive problem. Sorry about that. I do have it now.

Cheers

Steve

Hi Everyone

 

We lodged our CPV applications in May 2010 and are hoping that a case officer will be allocated by July/August.

 

Does anyone who lodged applications early last year have acase officer allocated yet?

 

chrisaus

Hello

Have a look at Australian migration, contributory parent visa, information and progress tracker

It may help to give you an idea.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks Steve the form worked perfectly ok this morning maybe it just needed the computer to reboot who knows.

I am only putting money in at the moment that we need when we go on holiday in September and my daughter owes us some money so the account will provide her a place to put it without being able to get to it.

 

Sue

Aha - makes a lot of sense then.

Cheers

Thanks for that i have emailed NAB aswell and hopefully they can tell me what is the right thing to do. I know someone on this site had a problem with the application form but can't find the post and not sure it was the same problem. If i haven't got a reply tomorrow i will try and contact the NAB man on here and hopefully he can help.

 

Sue

Make sure you can access your money Sue once you've put funds into it. As mentioned by others, some banks will only allow this once you've arrived in Australia, which could be very frustrating.

Try putting just a visa number in the field (leave out the "CPV") - that might work.

Cheers

Steve

I think everyone here is going to end up with BP problems before this is over :twitcy:

 

Steve.....please tell us we can 'chill' on the other side or the Aussie Government is going to make a fortune out of us with BP meds :cute: and thanks for those links :wink:

 

Phoebe

I find most things expensive over here, though at least we are now not having to fund ourselves from sterling, so it's less of an issue where the dollar is at the moment. Funding yourself from sterling - well we all know this is probably the worst time ever, but it won't always be like this.

Cheers

Steve

Hi Linday

 

Thanks for that :wink:

 

Could you point me to the link I seem to be going around in circles :goofy:

 

Phoebe

Hello Phoebe

Not sure which info you need, but with regard to Health checks see this page:

Contributory Parent (Migrant) Visa (from Subclass 173 to Subclass 143) under Health Requirements

and this checklist:

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/_pdf/173to143-checklist.pdf

And for character requirements:

Character Requirement - Applications & Forms

I hope that's of help.

Cheers

Steve

Hi Linday,

We too have our medicals booked for Tuesday - in London - where are you booked? Feeling a bit nervous about it to be honest - I know I am overweight and I have not been able to lose even a pound lately (winter, I think, staying indoors and not exercising enough) but otherwise healthy and fit so fingers crossed. Good Luck to you.

 

Steve - I did send you an e mail with update info but I don't think you could have received it. Could you update the tracker please - meds 29th March, Son-in-law AOS interview 6th April! and not using a Migration Agent.

Regards Gill

Hello Gill - No that didn't arrive. However I've updated the tracker - let me know when the AOS is finalised.

I've discovered that I cleverly programmed the input screens to accept only a Y in "agent used" so I'll fix that first then update your records.

Hope the medicals go off OK. We were very glad to get them over with as it was very disruptive. Even more so now I understand, at least we didn't have too far to travel back then.

All the best

Steve

On a further note to this reply (i.e. don't have to have another medical when you upgrade to 143 from 173) would this still be the case if we had had the 173 for more than 12 months :err: as I understood it the meds are only valid for 12 months :confused: or does this not apply if you already have the temp 173 :twitcy:

 

Phoebe

You don't have to get them done again Phoebe as long as you are upgrading - it's just the AOS really. I think the only caveat to this if if there has been a significant deterioration in health, but others may know more about this aspect.

Cheers

Steve

I believe that you only get prompts that there are messages on the forum if you actually post on the forum, ie after this post I will get a message but until I post again I will not hear more .................

 

I,too, popped into another site this week and was horrified by the meanness there - what is their problem and Matt how goes the new job?, and Phoebe I am still amazed!!!

 

audie

Hello Audie

Not strictly true, you don't have to post but you do have have to visit the forum and make sure you are logged in, not merely reading as a guest. I found out my problem was when I moved to Google Chrome browser, I was not logging in automatically, and did not realise I was reading threads as a guest. So no prompts! And I wondered why it was so quiet!

It's always good to hear from you by the way, you have avid followers out here!

All the best

Steve