Wishfull

Great news - we were contacted yesterday by PVC to supply further documents, arrange our medicals and submit our AOS. 

At last things are moving. 

10 hours ago, Marilyn said:

@Wishfull anything?

Not yet, fingers crossed we will hear soon. All documents ready to go when we do get the request and son tee'd up to submit AOS. Arrived in Brisbane yesterday for a holiday and to spend time with family and have already identified where we can get our medicals done. Trying to be optimistic!

4 hours ago, Marilyn said:

Just seen on another page a 143 (michaelsmum) received request for medical and police clearance - lodged 03.09.15 - September here we come!

Hi Marilyn where did you see a post from michaelsmum saying that she had received a request for medical and police clearance? I cannot find one. Hope you are correct and we have finally moved on to Sept 2015.

2 hours ago, Marilyn said:

Has anyone on 173 who submitted documents in February received invoice to pay? Do you think IMMI are waiting for the new financial year (next week) to issue grants. This has been such a long wait for the next step it is very worrying. Feeling in limbo

As we are at the end of the financial year it is possible that this year's visa allocation is full which would explain the delay in finalising your visa. What is more worrying, and is not so easily explained, is why they have not started processing applications lodged in September especially as some August applications have already been granted their visas. Given the lead time between being allocating a case officer and the time to process medicals, form 80, AOS etc one would have expected the next tranche to be initiated. To echo your words, it is very worrying.

2 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

Well I thought this might happen.  immi want proof we’ve submitted Aos!  We did it by paperwork as daughter couldn’t get it to submit electronically and went down to Centrelink to sort everything out.  Our agent just had a letter 2 months later!!   Think we might be waiting a while then?  Hope not

Looking on the bright side - at least it means that IMMI are actively monitoring your case rather than leaving it to languish in a black hole as has been the experience of some on this forum. Hopefully once you supply proof they will progress it quickly. Ever the optimist me.............

I am desperate for IMMI to start processing September's applications. 

57 minutes ago, David Leask said:

We used passports and Australian driving licenses. 

Hi David

Were you able to obtain Australian driving licenses when you were on a 600 visa? I thought that you had to be a permanent resident before you were eligible (we are planning to come over to Queensland soon on a 12 month 600 visa). As we are planning to buy a 2nd hand car when we arrive rather than rent it would be helpful if we had an Australian driving license.

Many thanks

16 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

answering my own query...thanks to Marilyn's help!    

Examination grading
Please consider the information that you have recorded regarding this client and provide a grading on their medical examination below.

Supporting comments must be provided if you decide to provide a B grading.Note: This is not a rating of whether the applicant will meet the health criteria.

A

No significant history or abnormal findings related to public health present

B

Significant history or abnormal findings present that may indicate that the applicant has a disease or condition that is, or may result in the applicant being, a threat to public health in Australia or a danger to the Australian community.Note: Any relevant results and reports should be referred to a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth for opinion

Hope all goes well and you get the all clear. Am willing you a smooth and quick journey  until your visa is granted. I know your family are longing to have you close by. 

4 hours ago, jimbob007 said:

Request to pay 2nd Vac 12.03.2019

143 VISA GRANTED 13 03 2019 

 

Congratulations and very best wishes for your new life in Australia.

I notice that you paid your 2nd Vac on 12 Mar and had your visa granted the next day. How did you pay your 2nd Vac?

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

Yes, that's exactly right. When a government's primary focus is for all things fiscal, people are categorised as tax positive or negative.

Why the assumption that parents are tax negative? We are already paying tax on our investments in Oz, albeit at a reduced rate as we are UK residents. As soon as we become Australian residents we will be paying tax on our UK  income from our pensions even though we will not be working. We may incur health costs in later years, although that is not a given, but we will not be having children who will need educating and will also incur health costs. Research conducted in the UK found that retirees in general were net contributors to society as they were not only helping with child care but were active in the voluntary sector. 

Hi

At last there has been some movement on 143/173 visas but alas none on 864/884:

·         OFFSHORE APPLICANTS (subclass 143 and 173)
When your application is allocated to a case officer, you or your authorised contact will be asked to provide more documents, including (but not limited to) an Assurance of Support (subclass 143 only), police certificates and health clearances to finalise your application. 

We are currently assessing applications lodged up to 29 June 2015.

·         ONSHORE APPLICANTS (subclass 864 and 884)
When your application is allocated to a case officer, you or your authorised contact will be asked to provide more documents, including  (but not limited to)  an Assurance of Support (subclass 864 only), police certificates and health clearances to finalise your application. 

We are currently assessing applications lodged up to 27 October 2016.

13 minutes ago, Geoffandgill said:

We took out private health insurance with HBF. We took what they call ‘Extras’ plan, in which you can pick certain things to be covered, ambulance being the most important. We also chose dental minor and major and optical. They knew we were on 600 visa. Also we went to Medicare and got a card which relates to reciprocal agreement with UK, which gaves us cheaper prescription and we had to show it at the doctors. We signed on at a ‘bulk billing’ practitioners so didn’t have any bills to pay. Regarding travel,we came in June 17 and renewed it in March 18 by going to Bali ( our 600 was granted in May 17 so we had th leave and return before this date). Our visa then extended to March 19. Hope theses details help. 

Geoff & Gill

Thank you Geoff and Gill, your response was really helpful.

Hope you enjoyed your first week as permanent residents!

4 minutes ago, Kathss56 said:

Look at mine below. It tells you if you have to leave for 6months. 

Does it have the condtion number 8558?

ie. 12in 18 months means you have to leave for 6

my private insurance is with Allianz strictly for the 600 condition 8501 - must have private insurance etc. 

We only have conditions 8101 - no work and 8201 - max 3 months study. We do not have any of the other conditions. The length of stay and and travel are the same as yours, see below:

Length of stay 12 month(s) from the date of each arrival
Travel Multiple entries

We have just been granted a 600 visa and the only restrictions on it are that we cannot work and can only study for up to 3 months. We plan to travel to Australia for Christmas and then stay on and I have a couple of questions:

We will have travel insurance and the UK reciprocal arrangements for medicare, but we plan to take out limited private medical cover for dentist, ambulance cover etc. Has anyone else on a 600 visa taken out private medical cover and if so did you encounter any problems because you were not permanent residents.

We have been granted a multiple entry 600 visa. If, heaven forbid, after 12 months we have still not been granted our 143 visa, do we simply leave the country for a few days and then re-enter with another 12 months stay allowed or do we have to stay out of the country for 6 months before we can re-enter.

Many thanks

6 hours ago, SIMHAR said:

Good Morning Everyone, 

We received request to submit our AoS couple of days ago. I have been through humanservices website and been advised we can apply it online through My Gov account. My MyGov account is attached to my centrelink account but I can't see any option of Assurance of Support there. Could anyone please help me out how to apply it online ? Your early action in this regard shall be highly appreciated.

Thanks 

Hi @SIMHAR when did you apply for your 143 and when were you contacted to supply your AOS etc?

Thank you

4 minutes ago, Pertenhall said:

AT LAST.  Just a week short of 8 months since our first AoS submission and our daughter has received the approval letter.  Hard to believe that we are a step closer!

Wonderful news! Let's hope that this is quickly followed by a 2nd VAC request and then the long awaited visa. 

1 hour ago, Seamus said:

Hi all,

FYI my parents received the 2nd VAC payment request today.

Great news @Seamus, at last some movement! I hope your parents have their visas granted soon.

Has anyone else had any movement over the last few weeks?

8 hours ago, jimbob007 said:

 

 

Hi Bev where did you get this info from as we are not on the list Lodged 23 june 2015.

The information was gleaned from people's signature. If you put your information on your signature, as Bev has done, it will be added to the list.

1 hour ago, Marilyn said:

Maz lodged 30.10.15

Not sure if you still doing this I am going back in all the posts and picking up some very good tips. I have time to kill! 

Hi Marilyn

I still monitor progress based on people's signature, it helps to make up for the lack of information and transparency from IMMI, however it does depend on people keeping their information up to date. Here is an up to date list for 2015 showing when people lodges their visa application and people's latest status and date that they achieved that status.

Gogirl 28 Jan 2015 Visa granted 21 Dec 2017          Ant111 06 Feb 2015 Visa granted 6 July 2018          Elnak 25 Feb 2015 Visa granted 20 Feb 2018

MikenC 10 Mar 2015 Visa granted 3 July 2018         Merryweather 11 Mar 2015 Visa granted 3 July 2018          Pertenhall 12 Mar 2015 2nd round of AOS July 2018

Nicole Eire 18 Mar 2015 Visa granted 4 July 2018          Rahul Shankar 18 Mar 2015 Visa granted 15 Feb 2018        IanS61 19 Mar 2015 2nd Vac paid 13 Mar 2018

Tidang 26 Mar 2015 2nd Vac paid 12 Jun 2018         nyorksgrannie 10 Apr 2015 Visa granted 4 Apr 2018          Mrs Depp 16 Apr 2015 visa granted 3 July 2018

Ray & Geri 23 Apr 2015 contacted to supply documents 24 Apr 2018       Whataday 24 Apr 2015 2nd Vac paid 18 May 2018       Harris L16 28 Apr 2015 Visa granted 13 Apr 2018

Zaki 4 May 2015 Visa granted 10 Jul 2018       Seamus 11 May 2015 AOS acceptance 20 Dec 2017       Nitinmich 17 May 2015  Visa granted 6 Jul 2018

Val Tibenham 21 May 2015 awaiting request for documents      gurtej singh 18 May 2015 awaiting request for documents       Peter2 18 May 2015 documents requested 18 Dec 2017

Lolly T 3 Jun 2015 documents requested 2 Feb 2018       Lynn Moore 5 Jun 2015 awaiting request for documents          Lisa Lou 8 Jun 2015 awaiting request for documents

Geoffandgill 9 Jun 2015 AOS acceptance 23 Apr 2018       Ryan 2017 10 Jun 2015 AOS acceptance  11 Apr 2018       Rubyford 10 Jun 2015 awaiting request for documents

Airlinegal 15 Jun 2015 AOS acceptance 10 Apr 2018        Emmys Gran 22 Jun 2015 documents requested 1 May 2018       Judy 23 Jun 2015 documents requested 3 May 2018

David HD 24 Jun 2015 documents requested 14 Jun 2018       Thomas 1965 25 Jun 2015 documents requested 3 Apr 2018

The following are all awaiting request for documents:

qizi 30 Jun 2015    Daljeet 28 Jun 2015    Ian Ireland 30 Jun 2015     Bev50 Bradley 13 Jul 2015     David Leask 16 Jul 2015     BillSueMac 1 Aug 2015     Rosijaq 4 Aug 2018

Sharad Guru 15 Aug 2015     Mrs Bee 5 Sept 2015     JesseyJ 25 Sept 2015     Bear2015 2 Oct 2015     Kimboslice 4 Oct 2015     Marilyn 30 Oct 2015     Wishful  28 Oct 2015

AMP 1 Dec 2015      Karu1 5 Dec 2015     Jellybean T 8 Dec 2015     luckymallen 12 Dec 2015

So you can see we both have a way to go yet!

11 minutes ago, Zaki said:

Right now I am reading my visa grant letter...........

 

Congratulations Zaki, the waiting is over for you..

Have you heard any news @IanS61 , @Tidang  and @whataday ? By my reckoning you should be next in line for your visa grant.

Hi

Did everyone who paid their second VAC and were promised their visa for 1st July have their visa granted? I was hoping to to be greeted today by a cascade of jubilant entries rejoicing about finally having their visa granted. I hope the silence is not an ominous sign.

@ant111       @MikenC    @Merryweather   @Nicole Eire    @IanS61    @Tidang    @Mrs Depp   @whataday

7 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

OK, here is a review of the position for 2016/17:

Detailed numbers for 2016/17

• Non contributory parent visas
  • Budgeted – 1,500
  • Actual – 1,345
• Contributory parent visas
  • Budgeted – 7,175
  • Actual – 6,218

The Instrument of this week caps the number of visas for 2017/18 at:

*  Non contributory parent visas - 1,500

*  Contributory parent visas - 7,175

Which I'm sure many will note is the same number as was budgeted in 2016/17.

Whether this number will be granted remains to be seen.   Personally I doubt it, as the Minister wants to be seen to be reflecting the wishes and needs of ordinary Australians.

In other words - if I might say - the Government doesn't want to set the agenda.   Rather, it follows opinion polls.

Remember that under Minister Dutton the migration program sets a ceiling on the number of visas, not a target.

See the interesting article here: http://insidestory.org.au/where-now-for-australias-immigration-level/

I have yet to see the non humanitarian migration program breakdown for 2018/19, but believe the total is expected to be unchanged from 2017/18.

Best regards.

 

Thank you Alan, that makes it very clear.

So overtly we should not expect to see the "ceiling" for CPVs to decrease for 2018/2019. It will be interesting to see what is actually achieved for 2017/2018.

13 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

Found this on an agents page

 

13 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00683/Download

Here's the relevant Legislative Instrument.

Best regards.

Hi 

I am confused - am I missing something?

Both Kath's extract and the legislation that Alan cites refer to the number of visas that may be granted in the year 2017-2018, that is this current year. Neither says anything about next year 2018/2019. Also the maximum number of contributory parent visas (143/173/864/884) stated in all documents is 7175 and the maximum number of non contributory visa (103/804) is 1500. This is consistent with the allowance given at the start of this year and also for the previous 3 years, it was increased to 7175 from 6675 in 2013/2014 for contributory parent visas.

So I am at a loss to understand how the conclusion from this information is that the number of visas for next year will decrease and also where the figures 8675 and 1550 for contributory and non contributory parent visas come from in Kath's extract.

Can somebody help me out please.

On 28/05/2018 at 09:57, Alan Collett said:

Thanks Kath.

A key concern for me is that the Department isn't transparent with information applicants of any type might reasonably consider when deciding whether or not to apply for a visa.

It appears the Department considers that publishing information about current processing timelines is sufficient.

I acknowledge that this is a small step forward from what we used to have, but it clearly isn't enough - Contributory Parent visa processing being a prime example.

What is being published currently is information based on applications that were lodged 3+ years ago.

What I dare say most would like to know is a good indication of the processing time for an application lodged now, 12 months ago, 24 months ago, etc.

The Department has a queue date calculator for the non Contributory Parent sub classes.  

Why can't the Department provide an interactive calculator that shows how many applications are ahead of a given application lodgment date?

Isn't this a reasonable quid pro quo for applicants who have already parted with several thousand $'s?

It isn't rocket science.

Best regards.

I totally agree with you Alan. When we applied in 2015 the DIBP website, as it was then, stated that the 143 visa took between 12 - 24 months to process and the visa processing time was estimated to be 18 months. So our expectation was that we would have our visa mid 2017. As time has marched on the timescales have moved out month by month and based on current queuing times we are still 9 to 11 months away from having our visa granted. However from past experience we have no confidence that these timescales are of any use when trying to project what will happen in the future. People applying today will be similarly deceived and have expectation levels set unrealistically.

Whilst the Department cannot predict the numbers applying they know the numbers actually in the queue, their application dates and the "ceiling" for the CPVs. Taking our own case, they surely know how many people are ahead of us, the processing rate and annual allocation so should be able to give a more accurate prediction of when processing on our allocation will begin. As you say it is not rocket science. Sure there will be some 103 visa applicants who may switch to 143 but there will also be people withdrawing. Your suggestion of an interactive calendar that shows how many applicants are ahead of a given application lodgment date is an excellent one. It would at least give more accurate information to base medium and long term plans on.

It would also be very useful to know why all processing seems to have ground to a halt currently, this could be communicated on the email response to our "test" emails sent to the PVC very easily. The blame cannot be laid at the door of Centrelink entirely as many people on this forum have completed their Centrelink processing. A bit of customer focus would not go amiss.

24 minutes ago, sh aron said:

Hi everyone 

is there any link where we can find how many visas are granted this year and how many  visas spaces  left ?

thanks

If there is I have not found it. It would be really useful to have that sort of information and transparency, but so far we all seem to have to just muddle along in the dark.

By my reckoning there are at least 11 members of Poms in Oz who have had their AOS acceptance letters and are awaiting their 2nd VAC requests. MikenC has been waiting for almost a month and by date should be next in line. There are also 2 members who have paid their second VAC and are still waiting for their visas to be allocated. 

There is still over a month before the end of the financial year, 1/12 of the annual processing time left, so hardly time to down tools yet!

According to the article that Alan Collett kindly sent us a link to, the visas allocated so far this financial year are well below the cap allocated for the year so surely there is scope for further visas to be issued before the end of this financial year and still come in below the 7175 "ceiling".

I share everyone's frustration, as someone recently remarked - These are people's lives being played with.