Skeelsy

Ha ha @Fisher1 - I have old telephone directory wrapped in plastic so that it can be wiped down! I drop that on offending creepy crawly then three jumps on it to be sure then my trusty pink fly swat with long handle in one hand and lift with the other - any movement get almighty wack. I then use flat side of swat to push into plastic bag - sorted. My kids keep telling me go 'man up' - I am not really scared of them just hate them - freely admit I am a creepy crawlyist. Despite this I still love being here Kim

This Huntsman thought he could move into our place - he was wrong - he lost a leg in battle to evict him - Kim 1 Hop-a-long huntsman 0. He was bigger than my hand Kim

I forgot the pantry moths - how could I forget eating my mixed nuts and realising I was also eating larvae that was wiggling in my throat in between my teeth, in my hair and crawled all over bed as was sitting up having late night snack. I had to shower - still being sick. I have nightmares but a moth trap in pantry - I have two as bit OTT and paranoid - works perfectly. I hate bugs and crawly things and they know it as seek me out to torment me. We tried the bombs but hated seeing the volume of creatures and also doesn't effectively get in the hinges of cupboards which spray an does which apparently is 'home sweet home' to unwanted residents. My motto is only humans and teenage son can live in our house Kim

@AlanSteel - if you don't like bugs then don't forget to book bug sprayers - we pay about $150 twice a year. Also go to Bunnings - my husband loves Bunnings - staff know his name at local store!! - buy the strongest spray - says may cause numbness for few hours if comes in contact with skin!! You will need to do postbox regularly and the red backs love that railing you have. My sister was bitten by red back - luckily no severe reaction and brother in law bitten by male red back through his work boots - less reaction caused by male I believe but apparently very painful. On collecting mail from my box for first time I felt something on my arm and was red back crawling along - luckily I shook my arm and it fell off. Also the massive big spiders love to live in bathrooms behind mirrors and cupboards so check out with plenty of spray. Also snakes love the pool filters so make sure got good cover. Once done you can be assured you are the only occupants of your beautiful new home. if you are going to grow flowers, produce in garden you will need net fencing as the kangas will invade as consider you are offering free lunch. PS look on gumtree as usually can find loads free wood for that fire - we have never bought wood here - you will need to collect it Kim

Hi all. I am beginning to feel my 'drama queen' propensity has kicked in. An underlying heart condition kicked in due to the stress doc reckons and I have been under medical care for a week but getting better. Our sons uk police check through up a problem - some trouble he got into without our knowledge - he didn't want to admit to it as knew pain it would cause - stupid boy knew we would understand but didn't want to hurt us after all this time as happened when he was 14/15. So now Immi making us wait up to 40 days for further info on the details of the warning Harri received even though they freely admit won't affect our meeting criteria and is just a formality. Looks like my husbands job offer he had lined up is going to be withdrawn. Well positive note is one less family skeleton in the cupboard to find and at least I have had medical and passed before this recent relapse. Kim

Ha ha I found cold bathrooms big issue - great in summer but awful in winter. We got a wall mounted fan heater off eBay that I turn on when I go in there and warms up in minutes then can turn off when finished so not too expensive to run. Glad your son appears to be turning corner at school. Harri made some lovely friends here - all have long hair, make or female and never wear shoes but are polite and considerate. In Sydney any groups of kids over half a dozen seen on the streets will be dispersed by police which I initially thought bit over top but actually curbs that meandering gang mentality and the youngsters tend to meet up at home or off radar in the bush around here. Harri loves it as they find their own space to do what they enjoy as kids do. We found offering our house for regular meet ups helped Harri and parents took turns so only every 6 weeks or so. I will pm nearer sept Kim

@Dolphin 1962. Thanks. Have to say the edge was right under my feet and the copious glasses of medicinal wine isn't helping with my balance. However, we just had a call from an Australian gentleman who we have met since arriving here who gave Our son some volunteer work on his farm so Harri could experience some 'outback living'. He was citizen of the year in his local town and awarded last year for his services to Australia. He had spoken to Harri and heard about out dramas and called to say he wanted to apologise on behalf of Australian people as to how badly he felt we have been treated with time delay and now this. He felt the parent visa was an avenue of bringing people here who helped the economy and supported migrants with essential skills to remain in Australia. He represents what Australia is whilst Immi doesn't and this will soon be over - hopefully.

how are you settling in. Been cold over there. My sister lives in Serpentine and said had fire going in evenings now. I am over visiting at end of Sept and would be lovely to meet up. How's your family settling in? Kim

Hi Julie. Still makes me well up remembering last few days in uk. My husband was terrified we would be homesick and how would we cope and our then 16 year old son ignored me and sulked as I was so wicked dragging him away from his friends. We never felt a pang of pain when arrived and now my son worships us for making him come and even wrote and produced a rap song dedicated to me in his 'I wanna be a rap star stage'. We call Engerland the 'the old country' now and we will always be English but hopefully soon 1/2 Australian. I have not been back since we came out 3 years ago and am planning trip in September and am curious as to how I will feel.

My Allan won't leave the house without his flybuy card - you can load you reward money onto it as well and spend them as you want - we got $200 at Xmas using saved points - remember to check inplaces such as optician as got points on $1000 worth of glasses last week. Entertainment book is a must and last year got 'virtual' on-line version - it's nice to have hard copy to browse through. And if you couldn't find linen section try looking for sign for 'Manchester' as that's what they call linen!! I heard myself saying I must get gas at the servo this arvo when I duck out to see the grandkids so believe I am worthy of visa now.

Our interaction with 'case officer team' is fraught and distressing to say the least. They are making us prove our son is still dependent despite being assured in writing at lodgement that he would be assessed as he was at point of lodgement when they processed. We have spent 3 solid days producing 100+ page evidence to show his dependency and had to complete copious forms , one which Harri had to complete and he was in floods of tears as one question was 'if unsuccessful gaining visa where will you go'. He was totally distraught thinking he will be rejected. We also have had to get a police check for him in uk despite him not residing there since he turned 16 and all the info we read said he had to have lived in a country for a year since turning 16 before police check needed. He had Australian check done. We have emailed 3 times over different points and received no response to date.

I am am thinking of seeing if it's possible to engage a migration agent now as I thought we were capable of dealing with application but seems goalposts are moveable and we aren't experienced enough to deal with things. I so thought when we got case officer we would be jumping for joy instead it's a nightmare and my bouts of floods of tears may well have contributed to water levels during storm at weekend. Kim

Hi @nyorksgrannie. I know exactly which restaurant you mean. If you had looked to your right whilst facing sea there and looked about 3/4 up the hill in the middle then that's us! Nice to of someone coming my way as many of my fellow waiting room inmates are Perth bound. House prices are horrendous here so are renting as we have got investment properties still in uk that can cover this. It has been nice 'testing' house here without actually committing money to buy. We live in a modern 'thunderbirds' style house which I could never have imagined and love it. We want to build something but until visa granted we just don't want to commit to as quite different to uk in terms of buying and we want to be confident we know what we are doing. When out here come visit as any fellow parent welcome as we have all suffered the same pain!!! Kim

Hope you have survived without too much damage, are you on the way up to Palm Beach? Lovely area.

Sue

Hi. We are in Newport 10 mins from Palm beach and 15 mins from colleroy where our fav restaurant there was partially washed out to sea. We are on hill facing Pittwater and Scotland island and fortunately had some shelter. Just opened some more roads today but clearing up will take a while longer. Houses below us flooded out and we had lovely waterfall in garden which fortunately missed house. Another King tide in couple of hours and waves still about 5 to 10 m when we passed colleroy earlier today. Poor Tassie getting it now. Fingers crossed no more lives are lost Kim

Northern beaches peninsula where we live is now an island as 11m swell has flooded exit to mainland. Electricity out all around us so likely to lose power soon. Going to be a long night Kim

Loads of local homes flooded in storm and residents being evacuated to the RSL - luck holding so far as on a slope but storm still pounding. Going to be lots of clearing up tomorrow Kim

Great news! What additional paperwork did they request if nothing personal?

Form 80 for each of us and as our son turned 18 since we applied we have to send copious evidence to prove he is still dependant - no prob there as we pay everything for him - just reams of documentation we were not expecting. Plus asked for uk police check for our son who hasn't been in uk since just turned 16 so only got Australian police check done as been here at school or on working holiday visa. We have uk and Australian police checks for ourselves. We actually don't think we can even get uk police check for him as was so young! Still wading through Kim

Finally contact made by Immi asking for additional documents this afternoon. My foot is in that doorway now Kim

So Immi update says 23 May - that's me but guess what - no Case Officer contact though. How much longer can they drag this out Kim

Yep you may as well stop checking as it looks like we didn't make this financial year I actually called immi 3 times this week, as I've found I get slightly different answers depending on who I talk to. First guy said it's just a case of waiting for an email now, second time I called I got a woman who told me 4-8 weeks, third time I called I got a young guy who told me 4 weeks!

 

So roll on July I guess!

Wow. I guess they really not got their act together. Again just bring nosy - did you get a tel no to ring direct when get case officer. My husband tried to call them last week and could only get through to a sydney office who said there was no help desk in Perth Kim

That is really depressing! I guess I can stop obsessively checking emails to see if my mother has heard anything yet. We were asked for 2nd VAC on the 23rd, sent it away on the 24th and haven't heard a word. She is doing the subclass 173 (had I known it would take over 2 years we would've just gone straight to permanent). I was wondering if it was going to be a case of not getting in this financial year as the latest auto reply reiterated that they are very careful at this time of year not to go over the government allocation numbers, but like you say you wouldn't think they'd ask for payment and then make you wait for grant.

I guess there will be no move this week as we have not been contacted. On positive side you will get your mum out of America before any chance of Donald getting into the White House. Hoping your mum hears soon Kim

Yeah they did ask for a Form 80, which we did and police check but that expired after 12 months so they did that again earlier this year. What stage are you at?

Hi

we are at the 'completely frustrated' stage. We lodged 23 May and had no hap no so we asked for it at start of March this year and was given one so had meds mid March. As 173 applicants we don't need AOS at this stage. As Immi update said they got to 21 May as of last Friday we were hoping to get Case Officer soon hopefully this week. I think its outrageous you were asked for 2nd vacs and not told of the delay. I am assuming your parents are off shore whilst we are in Australia waiting to depart to be granted. Kim

Hi Kim,

 

They got their HAP No. ages ago with their acknowledgement (one of the lucky ones).

 

We actually haven't had a case officer assigned yet (or maybe we do and they're anonymous) - we went from hearing nothing for ages straight to the letter asking for the second VAC! We weren't expecting that, although everyone is different, nothing is in the same order for everyone from what I'm gathering on here.

 

Can't say I'm thrilled that we have now paid the money under the assumption that we'd get the visa almost straight away. If they knew they weren't going to give us the Visa for another 4-8 weeks then why ask us for the money so early!?

Hi that's weird as your parents lodged on Monday and we lodged on Friday of same week - you got hap and we didn't! So did they not ask for form 80 or police checks! Kim

Hi all,

 

My parents lodged on 19th May 2014, they had an email from immigration last week requesting payment of 2nd VAC, which I organized, called them up today to find out if they received, which they did, it's all been receipted, they've looked over the application and they do not require any further paperwork from us as everything is in order; so I asked what the time period is between receipt of 2nd VAC and grant of Visa - could be anywhere between 4-8 weeks I was told just now. So disappointed! After reading all the threads on here that people were getting their visas within about a week of paying the second VAC, so looks like we have possibly missed out being granted within the 2015/16 quota. Another waiting period of who knows how long until we get it.

Hi @334198PIO. Thanks for sharing your news and totally am with you as to the uncertainty of waiting. I am interested in couple of things - did your parents get Hap no Etc with acknowledgement or did they have to ask/or got given recently? Also what date did you actually get a case officer contact you? Here's hoping you get granted sooner than later Kim

Thanks, but I'm still in the waiting room, just we shuffled up to the sunny end!

Bit cooler at this end but my temper tantrums are helping warm this end up Kim

Hi Skeelsy

when we were told we were getting the visa, as we were onshore, we had to give our travel details to leave the country within seven days. After we left we would get the visa grant after three working days. We in fact got the grant the afternoon we arrived in Auckland.

Hi Roy. I am so hoping we follow suit as a 173 we have no AOS and pretty sure other requirements won't kick up any issues so like you we want to get forms to them as all ready, get 2nd vacs and 'bobs your uncle' all done and dusted. However we are being told highly unlikely we will not get place until after July and even possibly not even get CO. Flummexed to say the least Kim

I think the PVC will want to give already assessed applications a chance of being one of the 2015/16 program - so I doubt they will progress any 143/173 applications lodged beyond 21/05/2014 until the start of the 2016/17 program year, and particularly not if an applicant is onshore where there is a need to be offshore for visa grant.

 

=> Though I may of course be wrong I would not expect to hear anything from the PVC until July.

 

Best regards.

Thanks @Alan Collett. Totally respect concept that earlier applicants get places. However, in past 2 months PVC only taken on equivalent of 3.5 weeks of applications which I doubt is not that likely to be particularly large in volume until after 13 May 2014 when it was announced there was to be changes to parent visa and any increase was definitely mostly likely after 2 June. Therefore, even if we assume these weeks were more than double I can't see how they still can cover the places from April to June and even if they did then if PVC doesn't start processing now they will not have sufficient processed to cover July quotas. If they don't give us a case officer soon being part of next batch and as many will not have HAP no or AOS then will be at least a month before anyone can progress to 2nd VACs. Maybe there is a third party involved here - aliens from Mars are being given priority parent visas as there is a population of Martians living here in Australia wanting their parents to move here as too far too travel for visits - hence the priority - just a thought as can't seem to see too many parents from planet Earth progressing through. If you look at the immigration stats for 2013/14 apparently the number of contributory parent places fell by nearly half compared to year before and has been decreasing over last 5 years and number of places being offered has increased. Just doesn't make sense. Kim

Management of the visa program at this time of year can mean that there is a delay of a week or 3 in visas being granted - and yes, I'm sure that means some CPV applicants will have paid their 2nd VACs with a wait until early July for visa grant.

 

Best regards.

Thanks @Alan Collett you are always so helpful. So there's no stipulation as to when they have to grant after received money? At moment are saying places are limited. Would you know if they will say at some point now all places allocated or will they leave you in suspense. We are 23 May and as up to 21 we are hoping to get a case officer soon and as we are onshore are we expected to pay up and then leave and wait maybe up to a month is after 4 July. If that's the case then we might as well leave payment after request until last moment so need only go offshore for short hop!! Kim

A day in London to see Jersey Boys then this time tomorrow we will be off! It sure zooms up on you the closer the date booked for flights gets closer!

Enjoy and and have a brill trip Kim