juliew1499

Hi Tien

That's brilliant news, nearly there now for you. Our daughter phoned Centrelink today as we are still waiting for the letter to go to the bank. They apologised for the delay and promised to deal with it as a matter of urgency. Somehow I don't believe it.

At least they sent you the confirmation letter quickly once you had paid the AOS. It will be interesting to see how quickly IMMI respond.

Julie

Hi Sadge

So sorry to hear about the medical.....hope your paperwork sorts out the problem. I agree with your entirely, this process is totally draining, the long initial wait and now all this at the end. I feel like I've aged 10 years and definitely got more grey hair! Fingers crossed for you!

Julie

Hi Sadge

our daughter had her phone interview over two weeks ago and we are still waiting for the letter from Centrelink to ask her to pay the bond. They just go over the responsibilities of being an Assurer. Completely fed up with Centrelink they are totally inefficient about paperwork.

Julie

Hi Tien

So pleased for you, unfortunately our daughter has still not heard anything yet......the wait continues.

Julie

Hi everyone! We have just received the request for 2nd VAC woohoo!! We won't be able to finalise until next week but can't wait!! :-)

good luck to you all too!

Amanda

Hi Amanda

So pleased for you and particularly that it came through so quickly after the AOS confirmation.

Many congratulations,

Julie

Hi everyone! It's great to read some of you are moving along now. My son lodged the AoS with Commonwealth bank on 10 October, then went straight to Centrelink that day with the bank confirmation letter and Centrelinks letter. They sent it on to the AoS team and my son has today scanned the confirmation letter to me that he has received from Centrelink, confirming it has been lodged (it may not have taken 10 days to arrive, they have been in Fiji for the past week) - the letter says they (Centrelink) have sent a copy to immigration, however immigration had advised me to also scan a copy to them , I guess it will be dealt with faster that way. So, I've now scanned a copy to immi and so I guess I'll receive a request for $87,200 very soon! I'm actually away next week, wonderful hubby is treating me to a birthday trip to Paris while we're still up this way (big 5...0.... treat, yikes!!). I guess I will be finalising our visa early November. WOW!!! I cannot wait!! Good luck to everyone else :-) It is stressful, but at least we all have each other here!!

Cheers,

Amanda

An edit to say that the final process is slow - I had a CO on 1 September and my son (assurer) got straight on with the job of dealing with the AoS from the following day. It seems to be up to six weeks now.

Hi Amanda

wonderful news, almost there.

As you say, I don,t know how we would have managed without the help and support of everyone on here. At times it has been stressful, depressing and downright frustrating but there has always been someone on the site to help us along. To Steve2 and Geordie Joe, you have both been very quiet recently it won't be much longer before the June 14 crowd gets out of the waiting room. Enjoy your break in Paris Amanda, blimey 50th birthday wish I was that age. No pressure Centrelink and IMMI our flights back to Melbourne are booked for 12 Novemer....... hurry up please.

Julie

Well, we received the Centrelink letter in the post advising of organising the bank guarantee. I went into the Commonwealth Bank today and got the guarantee completed - there is also a $150 set up fee by the bank as well. The letter then said I needed to take documentation from the bank back to Centrelink, so I did that today too. I guess we just sit and wait again for further correspondence from Centrelink now!

Surely the visa grant can't be far away now?!!

Hi Moomin

Wonderful news, we are just waiting for the same letter, hope you hear soon.

Julie

Hi Amanda

Yes we are relieved, busy transferring funds now to our daughter for our 2nd VAC for when IMMI ask for it. Such a pain, we can only transfer 20,000 AUD a day online so having to send it a bit a time.

We are off to pick up our motor home tomorrow so I hope that when I next check into the POMS site that you have posted some good news about your visa.

Julie

Hi Tien

Thanks for the info, still no news for us and that is just about typical. If we don,t hear by Friday we are off the grid for 6 days in the far wilds of South Island. Que sera! Hope you hear very soon.

Julie

Hi Tien

Just had a Skype call from my daughter to say that Centrelink had contacted her and completed the interview over the phone. Slight problem though, Centrelink said that the local office had not completed the identification process correctly and could she go into her nearest Office and do it again! For goodness sake! They did say that once this was done via her UGov/Centrelink account the application would be prioritised and the bank letter sent out next week. She is going into Centrelink again tomorrow. Slowly getting there!

have you heard anything more yet?

Julie

Hi Julie, we called centrelink today and they received our additional docs. they said they are processing up to 12th sept now and we should hear the result by next two days or Monday latest. cant believe would take another month after being allocated case officer.

Hi Tien

Thanks for the info, still no news for us and that is just about typical. If we don,t hear by Friday we are off the grid for 6 days in the far wilds of South Island. Que sera! Hope you hear very soon.

Julie

centrelink stuffed us up. we submitted 6 pages and somehow the counter person just sent 4 pages to centrelink. so frustrated how they never told us before and we would never know if we hadnt kept calling them. maybe u should ask ur daughter to keep calling them julie.

Hi Tien

Are they allowing you to forward the misssing pages? Surely you don't have to start all over again?

I,m afraid the local Centrelink Offices don,t know what they are doing with AOS. There needs to be a bettter system. I have emailed my daughter and asked her to contact Centrelink via her Gov account and see if everything is OK. Fingers crossed for us both.

Julie

It looks as though you shouldn't have to do another trip offshore :-) What date are you due back in Sydney?

Great to know you're out and about in NZ and getting some tourist time while there.

Amanda

Hi Amanda

We are booked to fly back to Melbourne on 12th November so fingers crossed it is all sorted by then. The way the exchange rate is going we won't be having another holiday for a long time, best make the most of this one.

Julie

Hi Julie, here's hoping this week has better news for GBP! My son received his letter last week and paid the AoS fee today, HURRAH!!! One step away now :-) Your daughter will surely hear soon, I did read of further delays, it's all those extra applications backlogging this process too now :-( How is NZ? I hope you're making the most of the trip! Unfortunately, it really is all a waiting game that's out of our hands. Good luck, and hope to hear some good news soon!

Amanda

Hi Amanda

Ooh, so exciting for you, can,t be long now.

just had an email from IMMI saying they've checked everything we've sent and they now know we are offshore. They have said that once we have our confirmation of AOS paid then we will go straight to 2nd VAC. Come on .Centrelink............

we have just arrived in Sulphur city aka Rotarua, cor what a pong!!! Doing the sights tomorrow then flying off to South Island. It's a beautiful country and we hope to make the most of our six weeks here, despite the exchange rate!

Julie

I'm assume that the phone call was the interview. She went through what being an assurer entails and then gave me the instructions regarding the bank deposit and what paperwork I need to send back etc. As far as I understand, that was it as she said she would process everything after the call. I was also surprised to hear from them on a Saturday! So now we need to wait for the letter to come regarding the bank details.

Hi Moomin

That's great news thanks for letting us know. I shall email my daughter now so that she checks her phone and post!

Julie

Hi Amanda

Today was quite shocking with the dramatic fall, considering all the good figures that came out in the U.K. Economy this week it really doesn't make sense what is happening. We are in the hands of investors who are nervous about what might or might not happen when the UK starts to negotiate the exit from EU. Someone somewhere is making a huge profit out of this situation. unfortunately it is not us!

has your son Had his letter yet to go to Com .Bank?

Julie

couldnt agree more Julie. With having to put off our move till next year, we had planned to put our house on the market next Spring and hopefully move over in the autumn. No need to tell you what the pound crash has done to our potential budget for buying w house within two hours travel of Sydney. We simply won't be able to do it. Thought about coming over anyway and renting for a bit, but the money from the house would then be festering at about 1 percent interest, we'd be spending a fortune on rent and house prices no doubt still rising.

 

It it looks as though, going through all that strife to get our visa we are going to at least have to wait another year ... I've been desperately trying to think of ways round the situation and the best I've come up with so far is to buy something in a cheaper place (Melbourne?) rent it out and use the rent, topped up with other income, to rent near Sydney. Not much of a plan is it. If anyone else out there is thinking outside the box this week I'd love to hear your suggestions. :-(

Hi Fisher

Melbourne is very expensive but you could pick up a cheaper property around Langawarren or Cranbourne plenty of new builds there.

we are toying with either renting or becoming grey Nomads and doing the one year tour around Oz with a caravan or campervan. We are picking up a campervan for 6 days later on this month and driving from Queenstown toChristchurch. We may have killed each other after 6 days never mind a year! Having said all that we really want nothing more than to settle down in our own home in Oz and get on with life. Unfortunately Brexit has ruined all of our plans. I know it may mean waiting for you but I really think that until the exchange rate improves you will be better off in the UK. If we had a house back in the Uk we would go back and wait it out, however we don't have that choice.

the other option that we might consider is buying a plot of land and building our own home. If you can find a piece of land at the right price then there's no stamp duty to pay and nothing on the new build either. The new build is paid in stages so hopefully we can spread the risk of our expenditure over a period of time. I am not sure how much longer we will have to wait for our visa, Centrelink are a law unto themselves.

Que sera, sera we will work something out eventually, just not sure what!

Julie

Hi Julie

All seems stressful at the moment for you, but it will all work out, you just have to believe, it will all worth it in the end.  We 2015 lodgers have this yet to come, and thank you for the forewarning of matters.

The upside is you are already there, seeing family and gettting to know your new country. I am jealous!

It is lovely to be with family but the further crash in the pound is starting to be a real cause of concern for our future. let's hope Mr Hammond has something in his briefcase for the Autumn statement that might help the exchange rate!

Julie

We called centrelink today and now they give us another timeline of 42 days at least from lodgment. they said even people lodging before us havent been processed yet. RIDICULOUS.

Hi

Thanks for the update Tien. IMMI should be ashamed of themselves for not foreseeing this problem. Let's hope the exchange rate improves whilst we are waiting. At this rate I've got the feeling we are all going to be worn out and absolutely broke when the powers that be decide that they want to give us a visa.

As you say absolutely ridiculous.

We had to book a return ticket for our offshore trip to NZ, so we decided that six weeks should be sufficient, returning on 12 November - starting to think that we ha ven't a prayer of getting things sorted by then!

Julie

Hi moomin and julie. we lodged our aos wit centrelink on 13/9. yesterday we called and they said give them 21 days from the day of lodgment so i guess we will hear by next week

Hi Tien

Please can you let me know when your Sponsor receives the letter from Centrelink. We are now in New Zealand and feeling a bit helpless as we are not able to check the post box everyday for mail! As you are one day ahead with your AOS it will give us a good idea when to expect the letter. thanks.

Julie

Hi Amanda

Whoopee, so pleased for you. thank you for letting us all know the process it's a great help.

exciting that you will be in OZ by end of November!

Julie

Hi Tien

Looks like it's going to be 3 weeks or more.....ugh!

Julie

Hi Julie, I'm sorry to say, we've still not heard anything - it's over 3 weeks now since my son lodged it. Tomorrow, we are up to our 28 days with a CO. I have advised PVC that we are still waiting regarding the AOS and they have advised that they are aware of delays and that they realise there will be delays beyond the 28 days - basically because it is a third party involved there is some leeway with the deadline. I guess that due to the high volume of applications which caused delays in visa processing, this also impacts on the AOS processing too. It's a big shame for June 2014ers onwards :-( I will update when we hear anything. I'm not sure if anyone is able to get info from ringing centrelink regarding the AoS team and processing times. The numbers all appear to be local "13" numbers I can't try from here. It would just be good to know!

Enjoy NZ from Saturday, and hope we all hear something very soon.

Amanda

Hi Amanda

It s so frustrating..... Immi have a lot to answer for, they should have known this would be a problem, they should have allowed the AOS requests earlier...... Rant over.......I really hope you hear soon. Our daughter has linked up her Gov site with Centrelink so hopefully she will hear through her personal account rather than snail mail. It's anyone's guess at the moment. I keep telling myself that it will all happen eventually but these last weeks are really difficult. I guess you still can't hand in your notice yet....

Julie

Hi Julie - I've not heard anything back yet. I was told that AOS team have a 21 day processing time at present, so I guess we have another week to wait. I was hoping to have heard this week as I'm going away next week, and would like to have got the money into the account. More waiting it seems! :daydreaming:

Hi Moomin

Did Centrelink advise you of the 21 day processing time?

The Centrelink we visited hadn't a clue what they were doing, didn't know what an AOS was for. all they said was that they would upload the documents the same day. We had to tell them to witness our daughters signature.It was one of those experiences that made you have no faith at all in the process. Do you know if they correspond to the Assurer by snail mail or email via the Assurers Centrelink Account? Sorry for all the questions.......

Julie

Hi All June 14 applicants

For those who have submitted their AOS, has anyone had any contact at all from Centrelink? Amanda JB I'm frightened to ask how it's going? We are off to NZ on Saturday as our visa expires, thinking of staying out there a month, but now starting to think that this AOS and final visa decision could be a long way off yet!

Julie:mad::mad:

One last post from us as our journey from 26 months in the waiting room, to moving to Perth in June, will have been completed when our container contents (which cleared customs Thursday) is delivered on Monday 3rd October. Thanks to everyone who helped us with our questions, those who kept our spirits up as the days dragged on as we sat around waiting for the final decision, and good luck to all those still waiting now.

 

I have tried to pop in now and again, but as live in Oz, gains momentum, I am in here less and less. Thanks all!

Hi Alan

Lovely to hear that all is going well and that the final piece of the jigsaw is slotting into place. I'm looking forward to being able to write the same post sometime in the not too distant future. Goodbye from all of us in the waiting room. The class of June 2014 are all eager to be on their way!

Julie

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