Ray and Geri
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Everything posted by Ray and Geri
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Seems Australia would prefer only highly skilled young orphaned immigrants.......Anybody read "Empty Cradles "........
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Hey Thomas, I was thinking out loud.... I know they will charge what they can get, the "in line with inflation" was just an idea...a start point if you like.... not a joke to make people Lol........
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Surely any increases should be done on a smaller yearly basis in line with inflation say.... Then all future applicants know where they stand when they apply for their visa ( like we thought we did )....whacking on a big increase every few years is bound to cause uproar. But I suppose if say every May the increases were applied the immigration service would be inundated with applications in March and April to avoid the increase.
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Yea just done them but we didn't get letter till 24th April.... see signature below.
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Tell us your secret Thomas..... with an application date a month after ours you seem to be flying through the red tape.
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Good luck mate. Have you had your letter asking for Form 80 etc....
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My readings were only below the acceptable when I got back home and got my own monitor, we have a Blood Pressure monitor in our health centre that you can just go in and use... the readings are then added to your medical history...it's these readings that are below the acceptable level....but as I said in my post, the ball is rolling now and my Doctor has to send these readings back to The Spire where my Visa Medical was carried out.... It's now a case of getting in to see my Doctor and getting it sorted out.
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Ga'day future cobbers', ( just getting the hang of the lingo ) At long last our email from CPV team to submit docs....... but a cautionary tale..... We had our medicals on 25th April, my wife sailed through, I on the other hand failed the Blood Pressure test with quite a high reading, well over the 160/100 I was told was the acceptable level and that is still way higher than the recommended 120/80. I'm only saying this because Blood Pressure can be a "hidden problem". We cycle and walk regularly, We don't drink or smoke and we eat loads of fresh fruit and veg and overall maintain a healthy diet.We are retired so no work stress to blame. I admit to being a few ( but only a few ) pounds over weight. I rarely visit the Doctor and feel fit and well. The Blood Pressure failure was a big big shock. Since the medical I've been to my local Doctor and the readings were much lower but still high. If you google "high blood pressure" they advise you to stop smoking...stop drinking...get plenty of exercise and eat healthily...... All advice I adhere to anyway.... So what can be done?.... well, I'm loosing those few extra pounds for a start. I was told it could all be down to "White coat syndrome" and I must admit to feeling apprehensive when visiting the Doctor or Dentist ( but who doesn't ) For the Medical we were up early followed by 120 mile drive to the Sutton Coalfield Spire Hospital... perhaps the M6 is to blame. I only tell this story so other Visa hopefuls won't get caught out, if you still have a few months wait I'd get a Blood Pressure test done now just to check.... for £20 or so you can buy your own monitor to keep an eye on it yourself. That's what I've done and checking at home I'm below the acceptable levels, but the ball is rolling now so I've got to revisit Doctor in a few days and he has to email readings to the hospital where I had my medical so they can then send them on to immigration.... so much easier to have passed first time.
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Why don't you apply and see how things pan out....It's going to be at least 3 years till you have to make the decision to go ahead anyway. You would loose the £2500 ish it costs to submit your application but that's not much when you look at the total cost of moving out to Oz...... and at least you will be " in the waiting room " ( where we have been for the last 3 years ).
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Grrrrrrrr.... we are 23rd.........
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Hi Bev, You can try... We have emailed twice now and just been fobbed off both times.... even when we asked specific questions they were ignored and we were basically told we would have to wait. They even had the cheek to tell us that visas were processed in strict date order.... which we know is a outright lie...... The replies we got just left us more frustrated than ever.... But if you do decide to try, good luck. Ray.
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I agree, Westpac are good and no international transfer fees ( $15 for ANZ ) but I would still question the exchange rate deal they offer compared with Transferwise.......but as always..... it's who you are happy/comfortable with.
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Don't want to depress you but we have been waiting nearly 3 years and still haven't heard anything from immi dept..... don't get your hopes up too soon, on the visa site they are quoting 36 to 39 months.
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But surely if the market rate was 1.8306 you wouldn't have got 1.829 for your transfer you would have got 1.8186 to the pound ( market rate - .012 cents ).......= $36,372. The same deal with transferwise minus the upfront charge of £90.59p would have got you $36,446.... ( £20000 - £90.59p= £19909.41 x $1.8306 = $36,446.165 ). Now that's only $74 ish.... but change up £200,000 or even £500,000 and it starts to mount up. Anyway you gotta go with what you are happy and comfortable with haven't you and not look back because you just know that after you have changed up a few thousand pounds at a $1.83 the rate will rise to $1.84........ we just cannot win can we.
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Our lodgement date is 23/4/15 and not heard anything yet... they are processing up to and including 20/4/2015 at the moment. Some applicants were lucky enough to get early invites to submit docs but others not so lucky.....
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Hiya, when there is no fee up front they make their money by giving you a reduced exchange rate, nothing is truly "fee free" .... in the end I suppose it's what you are happy with.
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I've said before on here that Transferwise seems by far the best to me.... you see what you get guaranteed for 24 hours... they charge upfront so no hidden charges, all done online and you can "do the deal" and you have 24 hours to transfer the money to them..... Check them out....
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Nice one gafuk.....have a great life out there.
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Great, you have an agent you are paying to tell you to look on the web site..... this agent doesn't seem to want to do much for their money do they.... perhaps you should name and shame them......
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And don't forget your state pension will be frozen as well, even though you contributed to it all your working life.... We are all giving up an awful lot of security in our later life to be with our families in Oz....... but it will all be worth it to watch our grand kids growing up.
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I agree, as you say as parents/grandparents we all want to get out to Oz ASAP and be with our children/grandchildren.... but I wonder where did the applicants who " are not as wealthy as others" and had to go with the 103 visa get the extra thousands of pounds from to switch to the 143 visa queue ?
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Yep got to agree with that.... right from the beginning everyone on a 143 agreed to pay more for a quicker visa.....we all had the choice.....The people who opted for a cheaper but longer wait are now slotting themselves ( or rather the people who make the rules are ) into our line and knocking us back.... Seems we are not now getting the service we contracted for.
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Because we sent the email a few weeks ago when they were processing up to 9/4/15.... reply came pretty quick.
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Wouldn't hurt to try would it, but I doubt anything will happen sooner because of your email..... Can't imagine why I'm sounding so negative after all it's only been nearly 3 years.
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That would be nice... the sooner the better. We know it's going to be soon but waiting the last few weeks has seemed worse than the last few years.
