thomas1965

On 04/12/2018 at 09:53, KATE PHUONG LAM said:

Visa Granted 03/12/18

What's your initial entry date? Just wondering how long you get to enter, once the visa is granted. I know there's some comments about this earlier in the thread, but I couldn't find them easily.

30 minutes ago, rocketman5803 said:

The last update on the visa was 7 weeks ago where team pvc1 was requesting more documents which I supplied almost instantly.

What documents did they request? We went straight to 2nd VAC request after submitting the AOS paperwork a few months ago. The fact that you've been asked for additional documents makes me think your case isn't as straight forward as some others that have been processed already

7 minutes ago, KATE PHUONG LAM said:

By express post

 it will arrive next day  

Ah - for some reason my postcode is quoting 2-3 days for Perth ... oh well.

6 hours ago, KATE PHUONG LAM said:

Finally after 42 months and 3 days, i just got the GRANT email last night 

FINAL VAC request on 29/11/18

How did you make the payment so quickly? Our email says only bank cheque or credit card.

Posting a bank cheque from Sydney to Perth is likely to take a few days.

Got the 2nd VAC request today

On 13/10/2018 at 20:50, Elbert said:

Nope, it does not seem to be any quicker as 20 weeks have been passed since the lodgement of our AOS application.

Mine was surprisingly quick - got a call for interview a few days after lodgement. Although, this was when they had bumped up the income requirements ... maybe they were hoping to kill off applications quickly.

The whole thing was done and dusted in about 6 weeks. Unfortunately, it's been ~6 months since we lodged the bond and there's no still sign of a visa. The 10 year bond has turned into a 10.5 year bond and I have no doubt that it'll end up being a 11+ year bond.

On 17/08/2018 at 17:32, envinur said:

received an email from a case officer requesting additional documents

What documents did they request on 15-Aug? I assume you submitted the health check and police clearance back in February, when you started preparing documents?

7 minutes ago, gafuk said:

Once we arrive I presume we need to register with medicare etc but not sure what type of insurance to look for for a one way plus a few days trip ?

You're covered by medicare as soon as you land (and enter on the 143 visa), regardless of whether you've registered or not.

The medical cover on most policies is probably adequate for the flight. You just need to decide whether you need extras like personal property, lost documents, delays, curtailment, etc. 

Got our AoS acceptance letter ... updated signature.

2 hours ago, Tidang said:

Hi ant111 I paid the bond 9th April and i have AOS letter acceptance in 7th May it take me nearly one month between AOS paid to have AL so you will have it soon and remmeber call them to know whether your application in their system 

I couldn't reconcile some of these dates with the dates in your signature.

When you say "AOS Paid on 12/4/2018" in your signature, do you mean you transferred the money to the assurer on that date?

Also you signature says you paid and submitted the paperwork to centrelink on the 17/4/2018, but you've written above that you paid the bond on April 9. Assuming you paid and submitted the paperwork on 17/4/2018, it only took 3 weeks to get the acceptance letter. I submitted the bond paperwork to centrelink around 17/4/2018 too ... but still waiting for the acceptance letter.

3 hours ago, Zaki said:

We paid AoS Bond last Thursday.... 

Did you return the paperwork to centrelink online or in-person?

19 minutes ago, Ray and Geri said:

Surely any increases should be done on a smaller yearly basis in line with inflation say

Lol - inflation has nothing to do with the cost of the visa. The pricing is set at what the market will bear, so that they meet their immigration and revenue target. The blowout of 143 visa processing times indicates that the pricing is probably too low. I can easily see the government increasing the cost of the visa by 20-30% to achieve their targets.

22 minutes ago, Ray and Geri said:

whacking on a big increase every few years is bound to cause uproar.

Only among the people that can no longer afford the visa.

22 minutes ago, Ray and Geri said:

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.

I think this already happens - new immigration policies come into effect in July (?) and there's always a rush of applications to meet the old fee schedule or old processing rules.

2 hours ago, Peter2 said:

For AoS interview, could you share what sort of questions are asked?

Basically just asking whether you understand your responsibilities as an assurer, ie repay any money that the assuree claims from centerlink.

They might also ask about information to clarify your income, ie the proof you've attached, etc.

6 hours ago, thomas1965 said:

Time to start trawling the personal ads for a widower who wants to be an assurer!

Humor aside ... it seems like there should be an optimal way to allocate assurers to assurees in this forum and mitigate the risk faced by becoming the assurer for a unknown person.

For example, Family A (2 adults, 2 children sponsoring 2 grand parents) who don't have enough income swap with Family B (single brother, single sister assuring 2 parents) and become assurers for each others parents. Maybe family A pays something to family B for the favor ... just thinking aloud ... not sure of all the details yet.

1 hour ago, Ray and Geri said:

Tell us your secret Thomas..... with an application date a month after ours you seem to be flying through the red tape.

No secret ... just waiting like everyone else. I only have 1 person on the application, if that's any consolation.

I'm stuck at waiting for my AoS approval, after lodging the bond ... which really sucks, because the feels like the AoS is going to turn into an 11 year bond, instead of a 10 year bond

16 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

The 7 children don’t add a massive amount in the great scheme of things

7 children would 70% of the adult income requirement. ~20k ... compared to 28k for an adult. They're weighing down the application almost as much as the non-working daughter.

16 hours ago, kimboslice said:

Our third assurer is single, and definitely need a third as our son and daughter in law don’t meet the required amount just coming up short 

16 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

it’s the fact that their mum isn’t working but still gets included in the calculation

Exactly - Using your daughter and son-in-law as assures (assuming 2 assurees), they would need to show an income of ~138k/year. Adding a 3rd assurer (who has a partner) would increase this to 188k.

If you got rid of your daughter and son-in-law and found a single assurer, the income requirement drops to 84k. Time to start trawling the personal ads for a widower who wants to be an assurer!

2 minutes ago, Rosiejaq said:

7 children

Yeah - those 7 children would be a drag on any AoS application. Maybe sell a couple of the children

1 hour ago, kimboslice said:

looks like we are going to have to get a third assurer

Just a reminder to consider all the permutations ... A 3rd asurer might not help, because their children/partners are also considered in the calculation. It might be enough to remove the lowest income person from the AoS, leaving the 2 highest income earners on the AoS.

1 hour ago, Suzy123 said:

Would you mind to share what you need to provide?

Income tax assessment 2016 and 2017. 2 recent payslips for 2018. I also included PAYG summaries, because my income tax assessment didn't show enough income to meet the requirements. They questioned this during the interview, but it was approved a few days later.

1 hour ago, Geoffandgill said:

That definitely beats the record for AoS applications!

Yes - filing in the application online, submitting the original documents to centrelink, getting called for an interview and lodging the bond at the bank was really quick - it all happened in a week or two, but we're still waiting for the AoS approval letter.

12 hours ago, Suzy123 said:

Has anyone been requested to submit AOS under the new income rules?

Yes - earlier this month.

3 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

I’ll just withdraw it a month into its new term, all that happens is I won’t get any interest paid.

There'll also be a break fee ... probably not a huge deal,  but ideally they should let you reduce the term to 30 days or something at the next  rollover date ...

1 minute ago, Amber Snowball said:

I have the joy of trying to get the bond back next year. See if I have to jelly wrestle them for it.

How does the AoS expiry line up with the term deposit expiry? Are you able to tell them to not renew for the 30 month term at the last/next expiry date?

5 minutes ago, Amber Snowball said:

This was 9 years ago, so not a new thing the commbank are doing.

 

Thanks for the info! Sounds like CBA staff are just making up what ever they feel like...

12 hours ago, airlinegal said:

Comm Bank won’t open the bank guarantee account unless you have all the money needed in your hand(cash/ bankers cheque) or are already a Comm Bank customer with the full amount of money sitting in the account, ready to do an instant transfer. 

Sorry - what did you expect? You have to have cleared funds for any transaction, whether it's buying a car or buying a burrito.

Related question - did the bank give you an option on the length of the term deposit? I was told that 5 years was the only option ... which sounds like bulls**t to me. The bank guarantee actually doesn't have any time period associated with it. You need a letter from centrelink agreeing to release it, which they will only give you after 10 years. 

Sounds like the CBA are up to their old tricks,  hoping that the term deposit locked up for 15+ years, when people forget to give rollover instructions at the 10 year mark.

7 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

If I received an AoS request today and had an issue meeting the new income requirement I would be delaying progressing it - there is no certainty the change initiated in the Social Security portfolio will survive.

On the flip side, you might be assessed against the Apr 2019 criteria ... Which means a 15k bond.