dragonz

Thanks musmanasghar! Mate the city situation was playing on my mind as well and these guys did infact manage to conduct a mini-circus(like Rezasol said) with me. Thanks for sharing your experience, it was very well dealt with by you. I'll remember to put on my game face next time.:realmad::skeptical: Will be writing to CS shortly.

It was terrible, but a worthy experience!:wacko: The teller who dealt me at the Main Branch actually had been at Hill Park. Taking Mr.Know-it-all's word I assumed he was right, but in hindsight I kept asking myself why these morons are refusing a deposit that's tied to a verifiable SCB account! The bank was at least risk. I even asked him why they, well-known for their flexible banking procedures, couldn't accept the deposit on behalf of Hill Park. He told me that the IOM accounts are explicitly dealt with by Hill Park. Total jerk! Thinking about taking this up with SCB's CS:mad:

I had no idea what I would be up against and never expected anything like this from SCB. Nice trick, the refusal in writing - won't ever escape me ever! Thanks

Posting to update my progress: I requested IOM for flight booking assistance over a week ago and within a day got a reply from their rep in Islamabad to deposit the quoted fare amount(at SCB) and share the scanned copy of the deposit slip with them so they can proceed with formalities and revert with the ticket. The validity of the offer was valid till today(18th Feb) and Mr.Smarty Pants left it till the eleventh hour to make the confirmation. Surprise, surprise....today's a strike!!!! Stretched it to this point as I was researching other possible cheaper options. I got confirmation on Friday that IOM's deal is best in terms of allowed baggage+fare+transit, but it was too late to make the deposit at that hour & SCB's closed on Saturday. No worries still a day to go. Saturday: Quetta bomb blast!! Country-wide protests!!! Strike call on Monday! Mega-bummer! No way out! I had to risk going out to make the deposit today. All branches that I checked in the morning; PECHS, Hill Park & Sh-e-Faisal, were closed. Took the risk with low CNG & virtually no petrol(pumps closed as well) to check Main Branch. Found it open and thank my lucky angels. The teller there plays the dreaded FIA immigration agent role and tells me that they don't deal in IOM deposits and that only Hill Park & Gulshan-e-Iqbal do so. I tell him its a straight-forward deposit but he refused to accept and insisted that Hill Park is the branch to go to. Confused, I go back hoping that perhaps some staff might have turned up and they might've opened by then. Reach there, shutters down, they were open and cautiously letting customers in. I tell the receptionist my whole story. He shows me printed SCB-IOM deposit slips only for UK Medicals!!!! Redirected to IOM office(Tipu Sultan Rd)! IOM office also tell me that they don't have any directives(they do only MEDs) from Islamabad!! The lady who spoke to me on the phone at the reception asked me to come in and show her the copy of the email I was carrying. She advises me to make the deposit, the very same way I had attempted to do so at the Main Branch, at the Hill Park branch. I tell her that SCB had refused to take the deposit amount; she said she didn't understand why(neither did I!!). Anyways, I come back to Hill Park branch and tell them with a bit more conviction that IOM had advised me to make the deposit here and also that the other branch refused to take the payment. They too were reluctant as most of the deposits made in favor of IOM didn't normally exceed Rs.5000/-. Eventually got them to accept the payment, which can be made at any branch(!!!)(@#$&!@@#), and got the coveted deposit slip. Emailed the copy within an hour thereafter. Hopefully the ticket will follow soon. MORAL: Long story short, don't expect even the best of the best(SCB in my case) not to falter here in Pakistan and never ever leave anything on your to-do list to the last minute(totally unpredictable political situation). Make sure you give yourself a cushion of at least a couple of days if not more. This is totally applicable to all Pakistani applicants and specially for Karachites who can visualize my ordeal. IA Adelaide-bound on 8th March!!! Safe-sided, I'm thinking about pitching a tent at the airport a couple of days prior to my flight:cool:

The elders have spoken...you've made my decision a whole lot easier:huh:

Got a stupid question: Do people with PR grants need to have a two-way(return) ticket issued? Asking coz the visa itself isn't validated until we land on Aussie soil and the biggest hurdle is Pak immigration. I was on the verge of booking my one-way flight when someone confused me with this... Also, what's the final verdict about getting the visa label affixed??? (Paki immigration perspective):confused::eek:

Shamma chahtey hain huzoor....aap key paon nazar nahin aa rahey warna sisak sisak kar apke qadmun mein jaan deti(i mean deta) :smile:

How rude of me, I forgot to add the last line: Thanks to all other big-hearted thread followers as well! :smile:

I'll tell you after you answer one more question...don't post personal answers, only yes or no, does KQS too ring a bell? :biggrin:

Nothing confirmed yet, but hopefully last week of Feb or early March depending on how soon I get relieved from my office. Boss is out of town so I'll definitely get to know in a couple of days time. Scampering to get there alone initially due to the narrow window of time that we've been given to validate. Hope to steady things asap then call in family without worrying to send them back IA.

All right now....quite few people to thank here...musmanasghar, ompragash, shawais, thinktank(nice avatar), MariaZiba, mext60, JackPegasus, Nosferatu, mshahzad, fari447(are your initials FQS?), imi, tauseefahmed, Rezazsol & Pumpkinhead (:wink:) Thanks for all the warmth! I'll keep you all posted with my journey & prep work as it comes along IA soon. #1 thing to do on my list is to print that resignation I've had saved in my office for well over 3 months now and set the snowball rolling :wink: Exactly how I feel buddy! Its just awesome the sense of relief, so different from yesterday. All praise to The Great Guy up there-He knows what's best for us. 17th March Port Noarlunga Beach, Adelaide :biggrin:

Got the visa grant earlier today. :jiggy:Hang in there everyone waiting - I don't even remember what yesterday, while I was waiting, felt like.

Yooooooooooohoooooo!!!!!! :cool: Alhamdulilah approved! Didn't have my speech mental prepared, so I'm kinda lost for words right now - I just feel like Rocky after climbing those steps! Thanks to all who've endured my frequent rants and feedback. PIO has been great the whole forum all this while...I remember earlier being part of a thread that was waiting for CO grants back in 2011!! Been quite a while here....Thank you all bhai log here;yup each and everyone of you that silently says a little prayer, each time they see a email notification for a new reply pop-up in their inbox, for visa grants and success of others. :wubclub: For everyone waiting specially the ones who applied prior to 2011 - hang in there its around the corner mates! Thanks to all of you from the very bottom of my heart :notworthy: PS. In panic mode for another reason: initial entry date is midway through May'13, just a tad over 3 months from now!:realmad: We got our first call the same time last year, so they've probably tethered to it(point to be noted for ppl requesting deferment of MEDS). Guess I'll be taking me family with me for the initial journey and sending them back as opposed to the actual route of going there alone, setting up camp and then calling them in permanently. Confused:wacko:

We got the last of our medicals finalized on 23rd Jan that were referred on 15th Oct. Technically everything is MET but no Visa yet. Fingers crossed, hope it comes along this week.

Thanks buddy! No idea about the 13 weeks. The spread of finalization of MEDs for applicants included is mind-boggling given that there was no pre-condition. Infant got finalized a week after being referred, elder kid mid-Jan'13 and then finally wife & I on 22nd Jan. At the time of MEDs referral everything else stood MET. Virtually drained myself through this marathon wait.:goofy: