Christa

38 minutes ago, nitz said:

Congratulations Christa,are you heading to sydney?I hope my aos gets approved soon ,hope to see you soon there

Yes, Sydney...can't wait!

Visa granted today - we're over the moon!! The long wait is over. Arriving in Oz on 29/2!

Thanks everyone for all your help and support.

8 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

Everyone's smiling here on the mid north coast (NSW) as well because of the rain, and despite a localised tornado a couple of days ago.  People lost their roofs but the local tradies have gone round and repaired them for nothing....good community spirit!!!

Amazing!

Just wanted to share with you a response from Immi regarding payment of the 2nd VAC. Our bank has a daily limit of $25k for BPAY.

'Unfortunately we do not offer bank transfer as a method of payment but you are able to pay in instalments if your credit card has a BPAY limit. Once all instalments have been paid, notification of the full payment should appear in your record.

 You are also able to have your daughter pay for it if she has an easier option at her disposal. It does not matter where the payment comes from, as long as it is payment for your visa application.' 

8 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

MY TURN!

request for further information received today. All of a dither now haha 

hopefully will have everything applied for by Monday!

I know just how you feel....congratulations!!

Request for 2nd VAC received today! The long wait and suspense is soon over. This forum has been our lifeline, especially over the past year, and the help and support from everyone has been fantastic. Thank you so much and good luck to everyone in the queue. I will report back once the payment is made and the Visa is approved.

53 minutes ago, nitz said:

@Christa when did u lodge aos application

AoS lodged on 14.11.19 and just received Centrelink approval letter today, 30.1.20! Very happy bunny!!

4 hours ago, bridgie said:

Email received today for additional information........ UK Police certificates we left the UK 13 years ago to live in Spain. The stated criteria is any country you have lived in for 12 months in the last ten years.....Are we going to complain?, Are we going to protest?, Are we going to try and contact Immigration?

 

Or

 

Are we going to grit our teeth and smile sweetly....of course...$412 thank you.

 

Just for your information if it applies to you.

 

 

Red wine anyone

 

So sorry to hear that. Maybe it's worth just sending a message to your case officer to explain that it was 13 years ago you left the UK...? He/she might reconsider, you never know. Yes please for red wine!!

3 hours ago, AMP said:

Yoo Hoo, I have been asked to pay the second vac!  I’ve had a delay getting birth certificates from my stepdaughters and contacted Immi to explain.  At the same time I admitted to being confused as to why they needed these, but confirmed I would send them as soon as I had them.  They now say they don’t need them after all!  So, all looking extremely good for everything fitting in with my planned return to the UK in February.  I have been so lucky the way things have worked out.

Congratulations!

1 minute ago, Peter2 said:

Hi @Christa, I think it should be fine. Why not let your sponsor who is in Australia do the payment? Afterward, you should send payment receipt to parent visa team as proof.

Hi Peter, that's probably the easiest solution. Many thanks Christa

4 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

We paid via our agent at Go Matilda with no extras involved as they use BPay.  

Thanks Rosiejaq. I wonder if this means a third party can pay as long as the visa reference number is quoted?

15 hours ago, Biggsy said:

Hi Christa not sure how much you personally have to pay but we were able to increase our BPAY limit to $100k in preparation. We chose to go into the bank (commbank) to do it while on holiday there last year. Not 100% sure but I seem to remember the person at bank saying we could increase the BPAY limit ourselves online! I believe $100k is the limit for none business accounts. I think you may also be able go into the branch in Australia to make the payment from your account over the counter. We have also done this at a commbank branch as the max total daily payment/transfer you can do for yourself is $20k. Hope this helps.

Hi Biggsy, thank you for the advice but I'm not sure if HSBC work in the same way as Commbank. I will have to contact them on the phone but the advice they've given me in writing already is that the cannot increase the BPay limit. I'll let everyone know what they say. Thanks again Christa

Hello, Can anyone please advise if a third party can pay the 2nd VAC? We have an account with HSBC Australia but their daily limit for BPay is not high enough to pay the full Visa amount. Apparently this limit cannot be increased even for the purpose of one payment. We're not in Australia so can't visit an HSBC branch ourselves. Has anyone had this problem and how did you resolve it?  Our daughter or son could pay it for us through their own bank account if that is acceptable.

Many thanks, Christa

Our daughter had the call from Centrelink yesterday. She was told to expect the bank guarantee letter on Monday. We're so happy to be a step closer! 

On 11/01/2020 at 01:01, AlwaysVet said:

We haven't heard anything just yet. Will update if anything comes up. Good luck.

Same with us. It's a waiting game..

Just to let you know that we have been contacted today - we are over the moon!!! 

5 hours ago, AlwaysVet said:

This morning, we've received an email from pvc team asking for more information!!  Hooray.

So exciting!! Pleased for you!

2 hours ago, bridgie said:

Booooooooom heard today, Mr Dutton he say Bridgie it’s your turn to submit further info and play the AOS game

Congratulations - so happy for you!

Could it mean 3349 143 applications from 1/7/18 to 31/10/18?

12 minutes ago, michaleasmum said:

Hi, send 2nd instalment last night (finally figured it out - Thanks to all concerned) Visa granted this morning!!!

Congratulations! So happy for you

25 minutes ago, redtour said:

Just my 2 cents worth...

Lodged AOS with Centre Link 3rd Aug 2019, on myGov the estimated date of completion was 16th Sept....checking everyday can be soul destroying!

3rd Oct 2019 Centre Link sent me a letter requesting a AOS phone interview. The interview was very straight forward they basically just check your personal details... took about 10 mins maximum. The interview was on a Thursday, the following Monday I had a letter in the post to arrange the bank guarantee with Commonwealth Bank...just a note when you go to CBA have $150 cash ready if you don't already bank with them...this is the fee they charge to set up the fixed term desposit account. Make sure you find a staff member who is familiar with the process as I had a rookie (less said about that, the better)!!!

14th Oct Uploaded Bank Guarantee on myGov....You have to upload the centre link letter and bank docs on mygov/centrelink, it's not very clear on the steps you need to follow but use the number centrelink give you for the interview to ask any questions, to be fair CL were very helpful.

So i'm now waiting for CL to inform immigration and hopefully request the 2nd VAC, anyone know how long this takes?

Hi, could you give state timeline please? It helps all of us who are still waiting. Thanks.

16 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

Thanks @Marilyn  it’s the fact we can do nothing to hasten it on...so very very frustrating.!   How you doing?

3 hours ago, Rosiejaq said:

Well......................we’ve been asked for the Aos bond time to raid the piggy bank   @Marilyn yes!

Congratulations! So happy for you

13 hours ago, patience said:

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/family-visa-processing-priorities/parent-visas-queue-release-dates

 based on current planning levels, we estimate new Contributory Parent visa applications lodged that meet the criteria to be queued are likely to take approximately at least 50 months to be released for final processing.

Well it says the word "at least" pretty open ended

Thanks Patience, I believe it said 18 months when we applied....

8 hours ago, Doris said:

Thanks bridgie for the update.

Seems like they just tried to finish 2015 then stopped there  

 

9 hours ago, bridgie said:

Thought I’d give you an update in case you thought I’d heard from a case officer and disappeared into the sunset. No news I’m afraid my fellow 16ers. 44months and 15 days since application and we’ve heard Nada de nada. Onwards and upwards

Thanks Bridgie, the sudden stop a few weeks ago is disconcerting but we have to remain positive and hope they're coming to 2016 applications eventually. I'm so glad not to be alone, thanks to everyone that contributes to this forum. Hope many more will find it and share their experiences. It would be so wonderful if Immi were keeping us informed. When we went through the application process, we were able to email parents@border.gov.au and receive replies to all our queries within just a few hours. Not sure this is happening now. Suppose a lot has changed in the department since then. We sold our house in readiness and will move to temporary accommodation at the end of October. The uncertainty of the future is not easy to bear

4 hours ago, Biggsy said:

Thanks Patience, how did you find this? Been looking for this sort of information for a while now to try and do some forecasting.   I extracted the data and did some analysis on it.  According to those figures it looks like the currently processing date will stick at May/June 2017 for well over a year based on the current 143 cap. See attached pdf.  If anyone has trouble viewing the pdf let me know.

CPV Lodgement Date Analysis.pdf

Thank you and Patience for the data. This is very informative but when it says 1 lodgement, could this be for each application lodged, and is it not the case that each application could include a partner and/or other family members and therefore the figures here become misleading?