Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Hi to anyone who may be interested My mother's application for a Contributory Parent 143 visa was lodged on 29 November 2005. We have today had a letter from her CO (the first one from the actual CO) and the lady CO rang my sister before e-mailing the stuff to her. At this stage, they want us to submit the police stuff & form 80, plus they want an extra signature from Mum on the final page of the application (my fault - I was in a hurry and either got her to sign the wrong bit or i should have got her to sign it twice - not sure.) Anyhow, easily sorted because they've sent a copy of the page, and all they want is another moniker in the right box. In the phone call, Elaine (sister) asked whether she should contact Centrelink? The CO said not yet. Get the outstanding stuff back to the CO first, and then she will make the arrangements with Centrelink for us. Sister has forwarded me a copy of the e-mail and it is all routine stuff, 95% of which is ready and we were just waiting to hear from them before sending it. Things are REALLY beginning to happen at the POPC, suddenly, so hang onto your hats, Parents, because you'll all be getting similar letters sooner than you might have expected!! Best of luck everyone Thrilled to bits Gill :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NICK Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 HI,GREAT NEWS. MY APPLICATION FOR A143 VISA WAS LODGED AT THE SAME SAMETIME HAS YOURS,END OF NOVEMBER,IT BEEN A LONG WAIT. IAM GLAD SOMETHING IS STARTING TO MOVE. WE HAVE EMPLOYED A AGENT,I HOPE THE PHONE CALL IS NOT TO FARAWAY. BEST WISHES NICK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Hi Nick Thanks very much for your good wishes. I'm keeping fingers crossed for you too, and for some others I know. Have you sent in your meds and Police clearances yet? If not, I'd suggest doing so. We frontloaded Mum's meds because she is very old and semi-disabled, so we wanted to consult a panel doctor before making a final decision about whether to apply for the visa or not. I am now SURE that it is worth semi-frontloading in about Month 5 or 6 of the wait. Hopefully you will hear something before the end of the week. Please sing out on this thread when you do. I'll post further info on here as and when I have any. Where are you moving to? Mum is moving to Perth. I reckon the November 2005 Parents will have your visas by the end of September 2006, making it exactly 10 months or so for you and my Mum. Good luck with yours & best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Beki Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Great news Gill! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nico Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Hi, Gill So happy to hear things are finally moving on your mum who really ought to be a priority, so it's wonderful that she might soon get her visa. Hope it all happens superquick now for you! Nico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Hi, Gill So happy to hear things are finally moving on your mum who really ought to be a priority, so it's wonderful that she might soon get her visa. Hope it all happens superquick now for you! Nico Hi Nico and thank you for your kind words. I still think you might get your own visa this side of Christmas, my friend. I really do. I hope that Nick will let us all know when he gets a CO, because I think the more we can all share the timelines, the easier it is for all of us to gauge remaining waiting times and so on. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Gill, Excellent news - once it's over though you still have to contribute to the forum as your posts are really helpful Ali x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Hi Ali Thanks for your kind words. Are you sure you could put up with me hanging around?! :? Love Gill xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest watson Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Hi to anyone who may be interested My mother's application for a Contributory Parent 143 visa was lodged on 29 November 2005. We have today had a letter from her CO (the first one from the actual CO) and the lady CO rang my sister before e-mailing the stuff to her. At this stage, they want us to submit the police stuff & form 80, plus they want an extra signature from Mum on the final page of the application (my fault - I was in a hurry and either got her to sign the wrong bit or i should have got her to sign it twice - not sure.) Anyhow, easily sorted because they've sent a copy of the page, and all they want is another moniker in the right box. In the phone call, Elaine (sister) asked whether she should contact Centrelink? The CO said not yet. Get the outstanding stuff back to the CO first, and then she will make the arrangements with Centrelink for us. Sister has forwarded me a copy of the e-mail and it is all routine stuff, 95% of which is ready and we were just waiting to hear from them before sending it. Things are REALLY beginning to happen at the POPC, suddenly, so hang onto your hats, Parents, because you'll all be getting similar letters sooner than you might have expected!! Best of luck everyone Thrilled to bits Gill :shock: Hi Gill - so pleased to see your post re your mother's visa - she certainly deserves priority treatment after the LONG wait but things seem to be looking better. Let's hope we also hear something soon. Our application was lodged 10th October 05 so........ Thanks for all your words of wisdom on this site and also on BE site. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Hi Linds Thanks very much indeed for your kind words. I think they must be giving Mum a bit of priority because of her antiquity. Also, our documents are not quite complete yet. It'll probably take a week or two to sort that bit out, because I've got to airmail some stuff from the UK. The CO calls herself a Processing Officer and her letter says, "I am responsible for your application" or similar, exactly as Carol Haycock explained. Please note that she also says that as soon as she has the outstanding documents, she will issue the letter asking Mum to ask her Assurer to contact Centrelink and that she will ask for the 2nd VAC at the same time. They have at least told us that they are nearly ready to call for the money, but they do not give you stacks of advance notice about it. If your documents are complete, they may not give you any advance warning at all. The CO says that she will not issue a receipt for the remaining documents, so they really do pare it to the bone with output from the POPC. However, they have given us 91 days - till 17th October - to get the outstanding documents to them, so I suppose they also allow a fair amount of time to get the money to them as well. It might be worth asking your son to contact Centrelink to find out how long it will take him to get an appointment with them once they ask you to ask him to do that. I've asked my sister to give Centrelink in Perth a jangle to ask about this - I gather that Centrelink usually only has one person in each office who deals with Assurances of Support, so I've heard of them taking up to six weeks to see the Assurer. I'll post more on here as the end-game unfolds, to try to provide an idea of what to expect. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Hi Gill - so pleased to see your post re your mother's visa - she certainly deserves priority treatment after the LONG wait but things seem to be looking better. Let's hope we also hear something soon. Our application was lodged 10th October 05 so........ Thanks for all your words of wisdom on this site and also on BE site. Linda Hi again Linda To be honest, Mum suddenly getting a CO - completely out of the blue - has left me dazed all week. It is all SO contrary to what the POPC has been telling everybody. Linda, I've a suspicion that there was a deliberate slow-down in May & June because I reckon the POPC got very close to the quota of 3,500 CPs a year. Come the new Program Year and with it, the sun it would seem. I know Stubyholder said to wait a while longer before getting your Meds done, but the dynamic of the whole thing is changing almost daily. It is not for me to tell you what to do. What I would say though is that if you were my mother, I would be frogmarching you in the direction of a Panel Doctor around now. I am only describing what I would be doing for my own mother, though. You must make your own decisions about what to do in your own situation. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Hi Linda I have just this minute read elsewhere that you have heard from the POPC yesterday or today, asking you to get your meds and police checks done. Fantastic news and I am thrilled for you - really thrilled! It is exciting and scary and confusing - all at the same time, I am finding!! It is all really happening now, for others as well as for my own mother and I am just so, so pleased and relieved for every single Parent out there, not just for my own Mum. Best of luck and lots of love Gill xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aberdeen Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 hi gill I am so pleased to here that your mum has been granted her visa for oz at long last. things will speed up now ,I expect your mum is getting excited. please keep in touch about her progress. val in scotland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 hi gill I am so pleased to here that your mum has been granted her visa for oz at long last. things will speed up now ,I expect your mum is getting excited. please keep in touch about her progress. val in scotland. Hi Val Thank you so much for making contact again. Mum hasn't actually got her visa yet. My sister is waiting for the Australian police checks - sometime next week, I discovered today. Once the police stuff is with the CO, various other Rituals have to be performed which I won't bore you with. They all take a bit of time to complete, so my guess is that the visa will be granted sometime early-ish in September. The great thing is that we now have near-certainty that it will happen. To start with, Mum got the jitters, but kind friends on here reassured me that everybody does once they realise that the Dream is beginning to turn into Reality. It alarmed me, but everyone on here ws right. I spoke to Mum earlier today. (She's in Oz until August 10 and I'm in the UK.) She sounded 20 years younger than she did last time we spoke. She's really up for it now with this adventure. My sister (in Oz) says that Mum is really excited about the idea now. She has - until now - refused to let herself believe that this visa will happen for her. It has been her dearest wish for the last 15 years to be able to live in Oz permanently. Hopefully, we can now make that happen for her. Thanks again and please keep in touch. I'm interested in your own plans as well, chooks. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 PS Val I've just realised that my first post is double-dutch to you! A CO is the Case Officer. They see the case through to its final stages and do the actual grant of the visa. The way all the permanent visas work is that you spend months in limbo, hearing nothing, longing to hear from a CO. Suddenly they contact you with no prior warning, and then the applicants and their families run around like headless chickens trying to complete all the formalities that cannot be completed without the CO as fast as they can. As a form of torture, Torquemada was an amateur with the Rack. DIMA practice psychological torture instead! Cheers again Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest watson Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Hi Linda I have just this minute read elsewhere that you have heard from the POPC yesterday or today, asking you to get your meds and police checks done. Fantastic news and I am thrilled for you - really thrilled! It is exciting and scary and confusing - all at the same time, I am finding!! It is all really happening now, for others as well as for my own mother and I am just so, so pleased and relieved for every single Parent out there, not just for my own Mum. Best of luck and lots of love Hi Gill, thanks for your kind words. We really can't believe that things are moving for us at last. Bit scary actually! Have booked our meds for Thursday 10th August and have already had Police Checks done. Have completed Form 80 for both of us and posted it today to POPC with our police checks. Have also sent the letter for our son to make appointment with Centrelink re Assurance of Support Assessment...... so things are really moving now thank goodness. Would just like to point out to others on here to check and check again their forms, as our forms have been delivered TWICE with my birth date incorrectly entered (by them). After contacting POPC they were very apologetic and reissued them with the corrections done and gave us longer to get completed forms back to them i.e. by 26th October. So just hoping that our meds are o.k. then we will really be on our way to OZ! Will keep posting with progress. Linda p.s. hadn't replied to your post before today as have been staying with daughter in Kent. Gill xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Hi Linda Thanks for your message. While you are on your way to the doctor on 10th August, my Mum will be on her way to the UK because of the requirement that she must leave Oz before her visa can be granted. Jet-setting Parents, suddenly! Wouldn't have happened in my grandmother's day!! When the CO first made contact, she thought there would be time to get the visa ready to be granted by 10th August (when Mum was booked to leave Oz anyway.) If so, the CO hoped that we would be able to take Mum to Singapore and deal with the final formalities there, rather than dragging her all the way back to the UK just now. That has proved not to be viable. My sister believed that you can get the Australian Fed Police clearance over the counter at any main cop-shop, so she didn't bother about getting the Oz Police clearance at the same time as Mum's UK one, which she obtained in April. After the CO asked for the AFP one as well, my sister discovered that you can only get the AFP thing by post and you have to apply to the AFP in Cenberra, so it all has to be dealt with by airmail. The CO won't issue the letter for Centrelink until she has the AFP document, and Elaine (my sister) needs to stay in Oz to see Centrelink plus arrange for the 2nd VAC to be paid to the POPC. So she can't go to Singapore and Mum would really need one of us with her to make that idea feasible. I could go to Singapore for a week, but I cannot get away from work for long enough to sit there for 2-3 weeks, and Mum MUST leave Oz on the 10th because her tourist-visa expires on the 12th. We have concluded that trying to do anything in Singapore complicates the logistics too much when we can't predict the exact time-scale, and anyway Mum - after dithering for a few days - has decided that she would prefer to return to the UK. This is going to be much easier and will enble Elaine, the CO and Centrelink to take their time and deal with the final details in an orderly, unhurried fashion. I had a look at the HM Revenue & Customs website last night. If you are going to move to Oz for tax-purposes (which Mum is, because her loot can migrate to Oz tax-free if it moves with her and there is no death duty in Oz) it appears that you have to complete Form P85 before leaving the UK, in order to reclaim part of the 2006/7 tax liability or something. Form P85 can be downloaded from their website but there is no clear description about exactly what submitting it is supposed to achieve. I'm hoping that Nico (being an accountant) might be able to tell us more about this aspect. Hitherto, I've felt that it would be tempting fate if I were to try to investiagate this sort of question.... Have Centrelink told Adrian which years they want his tax-returns for? They told my sister that they want the TANs for 2003/4 and 2004/5, plus a statement from Elaine & Neil's accountant about their 2005/6 assessable income. However, we have a friend in Perth whose own Mum is also applying for a CP visa and should hear from the POPC any day now. Centrelink have told Anne that they want her 2004/5 and her 2005/6 TANs. Even Alan Collett (who is an accountant in both jurisdictions as well as an RMA and who has phoned Centrelink himself because clients of his are also hearing conflicting stories from Centrelink) says that when he rang them he was told something different again! He said that the lady he spoke to was just plain wrong about some of the details, so he isn't sure what the position is as yet either. Apparently so many migration agents and their clients are having similar hassle that the MIA (the agents' governing body) has asked Alan to try to get as much info as he can from people like Adrian and my sister, and then the MIA intends to approach Centrelink formally in order to try to get the confusion cleared up. Centrelink can't make up their minds exactly how much assessable income the Assurer(s) need(s) either. The recent hike in the base figure seems to have foxed Centrelink completely. Alan Collett has revised his own figures after talking with them, though I think Alan's original (higher) figures are right and that what Centrelink told him about this bit is duff. But when even he isn't sure, the rest of us are in total darkness about what Centrelink are up to! Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 More good news for all Parents still waiting patiently. Linda's application was lodged on 10 October 2005. I'm also in touch with another couple whose own application for a CP 143 visa was also lodged on 10 October 2005. No sooner had I replied to Linda this morning than I received an e-mail from the other couple, saying that they have heard from their own CO for the first time today. They have been asked to arrange for their police clearances and meds, and meanwhile their Assurer has been asked to arrange to see Centrelink. Same drill as for Linda. If there are any October-December 2005 Parents who have not yet arranged your PCCs and your meds, I really don't think it is too soon to save yourselves a bit of time by getting them organised now. Good luck to everyone. Updates as and when I hear anything more which might be useful to any of you. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nico Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Hello, Gill So delighted to hear the latest update for your mum...all far too exciting! I hope she is OK about it all now and that you're not getting too stressed about the complexities. It sounds as if it's mainly under control. I read your query about the form P85 and I'm sorry I can't give you an answer on that; I'm not an accountant in practice but work for a company so deal with company accounts. I'd be surprised, though, if people HAD to complete a form before leaving the country, because you wouldn't necessarily have all the info available at that point, eg. income from savings. With my own kids, I remember contacting their tax offices months later with their P45s etc and getting tax refundsfor them then. But I think I have seen stuff on BritishExpats threads referring to this form, and I know how brilliant you are at tracking stuff down so I'm hoping someone can answer this better than me. Anyway, fantastic news, and I think lots of us will be wishing your mum a very happy life in Australia. Nico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Hi Linda & Nico I've just read your post on BE asking about a financial adviser. I agree with you - the visa itself is a doddle compared to the tax etc stuff. I have decided to use Alan Collett to advise us about Mum's tax-position in both countries and how best to set about re-investing the money she will make from her house in the UK. Also, I'm not sure about Ozforex, HIFX etc. I gather that they are the best way to shift large chunks of capital to Oz. Apparently they are much less of a rip-off than the banks for this purpose, but I don't understand this bit beyond that. The reason why I have chosen Alan Collett is because he is a chartered accountant in both the UK and Oz, and he is the only accountant I have come across who is fully-qualified and experienced in both jurisdictions. I think the dual know-how is VITAL. Also, Alan is a registered migration agent of many years' standing, and I've never seen advice by him that I have reckoned is not accurate. He's in a minority of one there! Plus he mainly lives in Melbourne now, having emigrated himself. Mum won't need a house of her own out in Oz. She will live with my sister & her family. What I am hoping is that we can re-invest Mum's house-money in a buy-to-let house, with the income going to Mum. In her Will, she would choose to leave this house to her two Australian grandsons (her only granchildren.) Currently they are only 9 & 12, so we need advice about what would happen if she dies before the younger one reaches 18. Also, Alan says that she would not necessarily cease to be domiciled in the UK for Inheritance Tax purposes. He says it is quite difficult to shake off the domicile of origin in favour of the domicile of choice (since there is no death duty in Oz provided that the beneficiary is resident in Oz for tax-purposes and again, I don't know whether a minor is capable of being tax-resident in Oz.) When you get this sort of conundrum, you always get clever ways round it, worked out by accountants and tax-barristers, but I haven't a clue what these ways are! I'm convinced I can't understand tax and I am hopeless with figures as well. If you look on the Go Matilda website, there is a specific Tax & Money forum which Alan Collett looks after. You might be able to get quite a lot of help from the old threads on that. My own brain tends to go numb when I try to read that section, but yours probably wouldn't and Nico might well find it a cinch! It'll be a month or so before Mum & I will be ready to consult Alan Collett formally. Mum will be back in the UK on Friday and once she's over her jet-lag, we'll need her lettings agent to serve 2 months Notice to Quit on her house-tenants. Whilst waiting for them to leave, I plan to get some ball-park estimates of what her house is likely to sell for. They'll know within about £25,000 or so without being able to see round it till the tenants are out. From what they told me last year, we do have an Inheritance Tax problem because of the house mainly. Once I've got some reasonably reliable numbers, I can give Alan Collett some sensible instructions, in order to get his advice about how best to proceed and how to structure whatever we do so as to mitigate (if not avoid) tax-problems in both jurisdictions. As far as furniture is concerned, wood has to be specially-treated to protect the Australian eco-system from it. Lounge suites usually have wooden frames - I've no idea how you can get inside them to treat the wood. I should think most bed-divans are wood-framed as well. I don't know whether fabric has to be treated in some way for fear of the British dust-mite making its way out to Oz. With all these practical questions to wrestle into the ground, I really want somebody else who knows what they are doing with the tax & money-side to make my life easy for me - and safe for Mum - on that particular score! Mum's application has stalled at the moment. The POPC won't let my sister see Centrelink until the POPC first get the Australian Fed Police clearance. Sister now says she sent for that a fortnight ago but that it could take anything up to 30 days to be returned, excluding postage-times between Perth & Canberra. Dunno how long it will then take to wrap up Centrelink's involvement and for them to confirm to the POPC that they are content with the AoS, Bond etc. I'm relying on the idea that Mum is likely to want to spend at least 8 weeks in the UK. Hopefully we can get the CP visa completed within that time-scale. My impression is that they are going to want a Bank Cheque for the second VAC. Luckily my sister has an account with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and since that is also DIMA's bank, hopefully the Bank Cheque will be regarded as cleared funds as soon as it reaches the POPC. Cheers Gill PS - Go Matilda: http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=214 The link at the top of the web-page will take you into the forums. PPS: Good luck with your meds on Thursday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest watson Posted August 8, 2006 Share Posted August 8, 2006 Hi Linda & Nico I've just read your post on BE asking about a financial adviser. I agree with you - the visa itself is a doddle compared to the tax etc stuff. I have decided to use Alan Collett to advise us about Mum's tax-position in both countries and how best to set about re-investing the money she will make from her house in the UK. Also, I'm not sure about Ozforex, HIFX etc. I gather that they are the best way to shift large chunks of capital to Oz. Apparently they are much less of a rip-off than the banks for this purpose, but I don't understand this bit beyond that. The reason why I have chosen Alan Collett is because he is a chartered accountant in both the UK and Oz, and he is the only accountant I have come across who is fully-qualified and experienced in both jurisdictions. I think the dual know-how is VITAL. Also, Alan is a registered migration agent of many years' standing, and I've never seen advice by him that I have reckoned is not accurate. He's in a minority of one there! Plus he mainly lives in Melbourne now, having emigrated himself. Mum won't need a house of her own out in Oz. She will live with my sister & her family. What I am hoping is that we can re-invest Mum's house-money in a buy-to-let house, with the income going to Mum. In her Will, she would choose to leave this house to her two Australian grandsons (her only granchildren.) Currently they are only 9 & 12, so we need advice about what would happen if she dies before the younger one reaches 18. Also, Alan says that she would not necessarily cease to be domiciled in the UK for Inheritance Tax purposes. He says it is quite difficult to shake off the domicile of origin in favour of the domicile of choice (since there is no death duty in Oz provided that the beneficiary is resident in Oz for tax-purposes and again, I don't know whether a minor is capable of being tax-resident in Oz.) When you get this sort of conundrum, you always get clever ways round it, worked out by accountants and tax-barristers, but I haven't a clue what these ways are! I'm convinced I can't understand tax and I am hopeless with figures as well. If you look on the Go Matilda website, there is a specific Tax & Money forum which Alan Collett looks after. You might be able to get quite a lot of help from the old threads on that. My own brain tends to go numb when I try to read that section, but yours probably wouldn't and Nico might well find it a cinch! It'll be a month or so before Mum & I will be ready to consult Alan Collett formally. Mum will be back in the UK on Friday and once she's over her jet-lag, we'll need her lettings agent to serve 2 months Notice to Quit on her house-tenants. Whilst waiting for them to leave, I plan to get some ball-park estimates of what her house is likely to sell for. They'll know within about £25,000 or so without being able to see round it till the tenants are out. From what they told me last year, we do have an Inheritance Tax problem because of the house mainly. Once I've got some reasonably reliable numbers, I can give Alan Collett some sensible instructions, in order to get his advice about how best to proceed and how to structure whatever we do so as to mitigate (if not avoid) tax-problems in both jurisdictions. As far as furniture is concerned, wood has to be specially-treated to protect the Australian eco-system from it. Lounge suites usually have wooden frames - I've no idea how you can get inside them to treat the wood. I should think most bed-divans are wood-framed as well. I don't know whether fabric has to be treated in some way for fear of the British dust-mite making its way out to Oz. With all these practical questions to wrestle into the ground, I really want somebody else who knows what they are doing with the tax & money-side to make my life easy for me - and safe for Mum - on that particular score! Mum's application has stalled at the moment. The POPC won't let my sister see Centrelink until the POPC first get the Australian Fed Police clearance. Sister now says she sent for that a fortnight ago but that it could take anything up to 30 days to be returned, excluding postage-times between Perth & Canberra. Dunno how long it will then take to wrap up Centrelink's involvement and for them to confirm to the POPC that they are content with the AoS, Bond etc. I'm relying on the idea that Mum is likely to want to spend at least 8 weeks in the UK. Hopefully we can get the CP visa completed within that time-scale. My impression is that they are going to want a Bank Cheque for the second VAC. Luckily my sister has an account with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and since that is also DIMA's bank, hopefully the Bank Cheque will be regarded as cleared funds as soon as it reaches the POPC. Cheers Gill PS - Go Matilda: http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=214 The link at the top of the web-page will take you into the forums. PPS: Good luck with your meds on Thursday. Wow Gill, that was a long epistle!!! but thanks for all the information. You seem to have a complicated situation to sort out with your mum and her visa and I certainly don't envy you. It makes our visa application seem so simple - even if it is taking for ever to be processed!!! I really admire your mum for contemplating such a big move at her age - she sounds like a real jet setter. I wish her well with her plans to join your sister and the children in Oz. Are you not tempted to join them? Thanks so much for all your advice and help over the past months - keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes well with the meds on Thursday and the remaining process towards visa grant!! Hopefully before Christmas! Regards Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Hi Linda Thanks for your message. Things were a bit hectic last week what with getting my flat well and truly organised for my disabled mother - making sure that anything she could trip over was safely removed and so on. Then she got caught up in the Air Chaos but luckily wasn't affected by it at all. I don't think it is so much that her affairs are complex as that I have no confidence in myself when it comes to trying to understand Tax. The visa side of it is easy. The tax/money side is just a black muddle in a black hole to my (innumerate) mind. Have the POPC told you exactly how they want the 2nd VAC to be paid? Most credit card companies wouldn't agree to trying to put $37,850 on a card. Getting the bank to issue a draft and then (in our case) physically taking the draft to the POPC (since my sister lives in Perth) is do-able but an unwieldy tool in this age of electronic trickery. I'd have thought that much the best way of transferring the dosh across would be by a CHAPS-type direct transfer, which would give the POPC cleared funds the same day. I am told that DIMA hasn't caught up with direct inter-bank transfers but when their website and their database clearly use state-of-the-art equipment (hard & soft) one wonders why their cashiers should be 20 years behind the times about this..... Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Hi All I don't bloody believe it, as Victor Meldrew would say. My mother is lumbered with the sick CO at the POPC. Apparently the lassie was off sick on Thursday and Friday last week, and my sister was told to try again on Monday. Sister is going mental because she has booked the Centrelink appointment for Thursday but does not have the necessary letter of authorisation from the POPC because the girl is off sick and nobody seems to be covering her work in her absence. We really don't need this girl's absence adding to the delays which have already occurred. Mum is saying she is content to remain in the UK for the moment, but she has only been back here for a fortnight. Come the end of September, she will be missing her granchildren and becoming fretful about being separated from them. At the moment, she doesn't want to do another long-haul flight in the very near future, but that will change too because it always has in the past. She'll be 86 in three weeks, but nothing defeats Mum's spirit. I've got her another tourist visa so that if this delay drags on, she can go back to Oz and do some more of the waiting out there, so that bit is battened down and secure. She can go to Singapore and the visa can be evidenced there when the bloody thing is eventually ready. It is a ferociously expensive option, but the visa is ferociously expensive anyway so another couple of thousand bucks wouldn't really make that much difference. Honestly, the POPC seems to be falling apart at the seams. One girl goes sick and the whole place grinds to a shuddering halt it appears. Luckily my sister lives in Perth and says she will go to the POPC's office tomorrow and try to get one of the other COs to issue this wretched letter for Centrelink. The idea of DIMA's much-vaunted new service standards does not appear to have reached the outpost of its empire in Perth. It is completely absurd for productivity to stop altogether just because one girl is off sick. I do know that one couple's Centrelink interview was done weeks ago now, but that they are also being ham-strung by the sickness of their CO, which I presume is the same CO as Mum's. I really think it is time for some of the children in Australia to get on to their MPs about the dot-and-carry-one antics of the POPC. That unit is just hobbling about on crutches instead of operating efficiently. It is not acceptable for them to muck the applicants around in these ways. Grrrr :evil: Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nico Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Oh Gill that is complete rubbish for you and your mum and sister at this point. How depressing! I'm sure all this going off sick stuff is like the CSA here, with staff knowing they weren't doing a decent job, COULDN'T do a decent job and couldn't cope with the stress. I so much hope the Centrelink appointment can somehow go ahead and perhaps they will then finally hand over the visa. If it was my mum, I'd buy her another big bottle of sherry. And have one yourself! Nico Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Hi Nico Thank you so much for your kind, sympathetic response. My sister Elaine has managed to get the situation back under control today. Mum's CO is still off sick but Elaine asked to speak to one of the others. The stand-in lass has faxed her the letter for Centrelink and she should receive the original in the post tomorrow or Wednesday, so the Centrelink interview can go ahead. Apparently Centrelink can take up to 4 weeks after the Bond has been lodged to give the OK to the POPC. Hopefully, though, as soon as Centrelink confirm orally that they are satisfied that Elaine & Neil meet the criteria for giving the AoS, Elaine will be able to persuade the POPC to request the 2nd VAC, rather than dragging this out needlessly. One of the POPC COs told me in June that they are actively trying to recruit extra staff. If they can succeed in that, the whole process of Contributory Parent visas ought to speed up. I think the problem is that there is an economic boom happening in Perth at the minute, with soaring house-prices, buoyant employment, and very little incentive for anyone with a bit of nous to want a notoriously poorly-paid job with the Civil Service. They are having to resort to part-timers for what is clearly a full-time job and so forth just to be able even to get the work half-done. (Answer - shift the POPC to Adelaide or Hobart instead, I'd have thought!) Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.