lizg Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Well Done Gill and thanks for all your efforts with this. Now I'm going to make one of my stupid assumptions and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong - and honest - I read it twice! (You know how you tell me off for not reading things properly!!!) Front loading medicals and police checks do not affect your chances of being placed in queue (when there is one) until CO is appointed? If I read it wrong it's because the typeface was too small, lol! Best Wishes Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Well Done Gill and thanks for all your efforts with this. Now I'm going to make one of my stupid assumptions and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong - and honest - I read it twice! (You know how you tell me off for not reading things properly!!!) Front loading medicals and police checks do not affect your chances of being placed in queue (when there is one) until CO is appointed? If I read it wrong it's because the typeface was too small, lol! Best Wishes Liz Hi Liz I think yours is a vry good question. I've been wondering the same myself. Short of asking the POPC exactly how the Calculator works, who does what in order to add people to it, when whatever "what" might be happens and so on, I don't think it is possible to fathom it out accurately. I think the thing is little more than a frivolous toy, to be honest, with all the subtlety and 'flyability' of an Airfix aeroplane stuck together by me. The wings go roughly on the sides, don't they? Exactly where prolly doesn't matter too much..... If anyone happens to be speaking with a CO for some other reason, it might be worth a quick chat to see whether your CO has any more idea than I have about how this thing works, but I would not recommend holding one's breath. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SEFFnSARAH Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi All Hate to be the bearing of depressing news but I have just be surfing (anyone would think I have nothing better to do!) and decided to have a read of Go Matilda. Interested in CPV news as mum put house on market today. Alan Collett posted today 27/8 that the number for year 08/09 has increased from 3500 to 6500 (which we all know.) However, the worrying thing is that he states there has continued to be large numbers of applications and that the 08/09 quota is rapidly being used up to such an extent that there may not be any visas left by the end of September '08. Mum didn't apply until Feb '08 so we weren't expecting anything from this years allocation but had hoped to get in on next years (when she returns from Aus in Feb she is going to apply for a 12 month visitor visa and use it as a bridging visa until hers comes through) but at this rate it looks as if it will be the 10/11 allocation! I know there are so many stories going around but thought this might be interesting to you Sarah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldiesRUs Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 You beat me to it Sarah. I too read this on the Go Matilda site today. Panic has totally set in! Jean:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizg Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 You beat me to it Sarah. I too read this on the Go Matilda site today. Panic has totally set in! Jean:wubclub: Jean Don't panic - you're very nearly there and I'm sure yours will be in those allocated this year - very soon hopefully! Best Wishes, Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi Jean I've just spent 2 hours playing with the known figures and I reckon that you will get your visas before the end of September. Fear not. They would NOT have asked you for your AoS unless they were confident that your visas can be granted before they have to shut the door on Grants again. The Minister's Minions had their ears roundly boxed for that during the 2007/8 Program Year so I am sure they will not repeat that error again. Chin up, chooks Gill xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi All The article published today by Alan Collett of Go Matilda is here: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - News As mentioned to Jean though, above, although I think she will get her visas before they close the 2008/9 Grants door, 2 hours of number-crunching just now does persuade me that Alan and the POPC may well be right. I think the Clue will be whether or not they continue to ask CPV 143 applicants for their Assurances of Support, because they will not do that if they know that it will be another 9 months or more before they can actually hand over a visa. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldiesRUs Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Thanks Gill. Contacted my CO yesterday and asked the question. She has said she "has many clients ahead of us and should be asking for our 2nd VAC in 1 or 2 weeks. Still have this nagging doubt in my head though, it seems we have got so close and it could all be snatched away again for another year. Feeling really down about it again - well hacked off actually. Still chin up - the sun is shining, I've just won the lottery -- oh, sorry, slipped into la la land for a bit there. Jean:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Hi Jean Your visas have already been reserved for you because you are so far down the line with the process. They reserve the visas at the same time as adding the Parent to the Queue. So you will definitely get your visas before Christmas and I reckon by the end of September/mid-October if you push your CO a bit. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marian and ian burgess Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Hi Gill All this confusing information about queueing and non-queueing is very hard to digest! I think that all any of us really want to know is how many applications are there already waiting processing regardless of how many are in the official queue. My application was acknowledged on 12 March 2008 so the only statistic that is really of interest is how many applications were lodged before mine. Surely it would not be too difficult for this figure to be made available? I assume that there is some kind of system which could easily provide this information as all applications are acknowledged quite quickly and entered into some kind of computer programme. Or I am being too simplistic! Yours frustatingly Marian Burgess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Hi Marian I do understand your frustration completely. There are official figures up to a point, though only up to a point: 1.1.2 Family entry (permanent) - Output 1.1- Annual Report 2006-07 The Report was published in mid-December 2007, six months or so after the 2006/7 Year End, which was 30th June 2007. The relevant section reads as follows: Parent visas All 1000 places available in the non-contributory parent category were filled in 2006-07. The contributory parent migration category came into effect on 27 June 2003 and there were 3500 visas granted in this category in 2006-07. The category was capped for the first time in June 2006. In 2007-08 there will again be 4500 visa places available – 1000 in the parent category and 3500 in the contributory parent category. Processing times for the offshore contributory parent category visas did not meet published performance standards through 2006-07. The number of applications received by the Perth Offshore Parents Centre (POPC) have more than doubled in three years (from about 3000 cases in 2005 to more than 7000 cases at June 2007) and the average application rate is 325 cases (525 people) per month. With only 3500 visa places available under the programme, POPC faced a rapidly increasing workload and consequent backlog. The department responded to this situation by putting in place a number of revised management practices to ensure smarter processing, including restructuring POPC and introducing streamlined processing methods to improve productivity and efficiency. The expected gains did not show immediately and it will take some time for these measures to take effect and catch up with on-hand applications. In early Feb 2008, the POPC said that they had Queued about 1,000 offshore CPV applicants by then. Asked whether the rate of new applications was still about 525 people per months, I am told that the CO said yes. If the Queue Calculator is telling the truth, there were 2,130 Queued applications for offshore CPVs 143 and 173 on 30th June 2008, with 6,500 new visas becoming available the next day. On 31st July, the size of the Queue had reduced to 930 so they managed to grant 1,200 visas during July, the thing says. I think that it is possible that come September/October, they might say that they have reserved 6,500 CPVS and CAPVs for people for Grants prior to 30th June 2009. I doubt that they will stop granting visas till about December/January simply because the end-stages of the process take longer with some applicants than with others. Somebody on the big BE thread e-mailed the POPC about progress about a month or two back and published the text of the reply on BE. The POPC had said that on a very broad average, it is taking about 12 months from the date of lodgement until a CO first makes contact. It can take anything up to about 6 months, on the whole, after that. I think the demand rate of 525 new applicants per month has risen substantially from the 2007 position. My guess is that when we see the DIAC report for 2007/08. which will be published in mid-December 2008, 525 could well have become 650 or even 675 I suspect. But we won't know till the new Report has been published shortly before Christmas. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Hi All Just in case anyone has not noticed either Alan Collett's article on Go Matilda the other day, or George Lombard's thread on BE about it, the 2nd Instalment for CPVs will rise on Monday 27th October 2008: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - News Anybody currently preparing a CPV application may wish to think about trying to ensure that the POPC receive it well before Friday 24th October if possible, to avoid nail-biting on the final Friday! Interestingly, it is the most moderate increase in the history of the Contributory Parent Scheme - the percentage increase is only 3.7% this time. It was 7.6% last year and it tends to run at around 6% on a rough average. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hazyborders Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 .... there were 2,130 Queued applications for offshore CPVs 143 and 173 on 30th June 2008, with 6,500 new visas becoming available the next day. Hello all Ignoring issues of whether queues really exist or not, a lot of confusion is created for us when numbers of "applications" are assumed to be the same as numbers of "visas". One application could be for two people for example, which we assume would be 2 visas. This would go some way to helping to understand why, the 6,500 visas are expected to be "used up" by September this year when there were only 2,130 "queued" applications at 30 June. In the threads I have seen, people talk of applications and visas as if they are the same thing. They might be, but that would surely only be the case if an application for 2 people (a couple) is treated as 2 applications. Perhaps someone out there knows. Because the news about the imminent exhaustion of the visa quota for 2008/9 has taken us all by surprise, (including migration agents posting on this and other sites), it seems that no-one has really had a grasp of the numbers until now; and I fear perhaps not even now. This is no doubt due to misleading statistics, but it's really damaging for those people who have waited patiently, want to get going and have had their expectations raised and then dashed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Hi HB Yes, you are right. I should have said Queued applicants because the Calculator is describing people, not the number of applications received. Please accept my apologies for my mistake and thank you for pointing it out. I am fed up with not knowing exactly what the Queue Calculator is doing. I've sent an e-mail to the POPC this morning, giving the links for this thread and for the Sparkly CPV thread on BE so that they can see for themselves how confused everyone is. I've asked whether they will please be kind enough to get one of the COs to reply to me explaining exactly how the Queue arrangements work and exactly what we are supposed to deduce from the Calculator. I've said that the easiest thing would be a couple of paragraphs that I can simply copy and paste onto here. Hopefully they will take pity on all us poor souls stumbling around in the wilderness and will explain exactly how the arrangements work, so as to remove all the confusion once and for all. Hopefully..... If I get a reply, I will paste it into a post. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hazyborders Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Hi HB Yes, you are right. I should have said Queued applicants because the Calculator is describing people, not the number of applications received. I wasn't taking issue with your posting specifically Gill, just trying to understand the relationship between "visas" and "applications". Your input on this forum is invaluable. Most posts on this and the BE forum refer alternately to applications or visas and the distinction is far from clear. It makes a huge difference though in calculating the availability. For example, we are a married couple with a 143 application in the pipeline. We have submitted one application. Are we two applicants (or one)? Will we be issued with 2 visas, or one; assuming we live long enough? Perhaps I shouldn't tempt fate at my age with attempts at cynical humour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Hi HB I'm not offended by what you said originally. I do my best to be as precise as possible but sometimes I'm not thinking carefully & clearly enough - which is my fault, not yours. The 6,500 visas definitely means 6,500 individual humans. Therefore CPVs for you and your wife means only 6,498 visas available for others. Alan Collett and I have been chatting about this on the Go Matilda forum as well in the last few days. Please see here: cpv queue - Topic Powered by eve community I really think that the POPC need to explain how the whole thing works because the rest of us simply don't have enough of the underlying information in order to be able to make any real sense out of whatever it is that DIAC are trying to tell us via the Queue Calculator or from the comment that the POPC person made recently in an e-mail to Alan. We applied for Mum's CPV back in 2005. In 2003 (when the CPV was new) 2004 and again in 2005, the POPC were in the habit of publishing a Newsletter in August each year, which was published on the DIAC website. I thought that was a very sensible idea because the 2005 Newsletter told me to expect that processing Mum's application would probably take about 9 months. It was spot on. It took 9.5 months from start to finish. I don't know why they discontinued the Newsletter. Why don't they just do two a year, one in July at the beginning of the new Program Year and then another one in, say, early January? It was only 1.5 pages long and it told applicants what we needed to know. It can't have taken much time to produce it and I think that re-introducing it would be very warmly welcomed by everyone awaiting or considering CPVs. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Hi All An amazingly helpful CPV applicant has replied to me on another forum. S/he has had an e-mail from the POPC dated 15th August 2008. This is what s/he says: For what it is worth the following is the email I received from POPC on 15 Aug. "I can confirm that your application has been received by the Perth Offshore Parents Centre (POPC). The application was received on 01 April 2008. For Contributory Parent visa categories (subclasses CA-143 and UT-173),it is taking approximately 10 - 12 months from lodgement date until the case is allocated to a case officer. Your application is registered and awaiting allocation, currently we are processing applications that we received in the last week of July 2007 for allocation to case officers. Once your case is allocated to a Case Officer, they will make an assessment of the application and request outstanding documents such as a police clearance certificate. The processing times for the 143 and 173 are the same. As your application has not yet been assessed it will not have a queue date in which to place in the online queue calculator. Once it has been the case officer will advise you what is your queue date. This program year financial year)the quota of places for the 143/173 combined is 5900. The calculator will allow for this, therefore choose the visa type that you applied for when using the calculator” Before anyone panics about the idea of 5,900 visas instead of 6,500, please don’t worry. Remember that there are 4 visas in the Contributory Parent Scheme. The 143 & 173 are the two offshore visas. The 864 & 884 are the two onshore versions. So all they have done is to decide that demand is likely to split 5,900/600. Which tallies with the 2007/8 figures for the split anyway: Media Release: Capping of Contributory Parent category visas Somebody on the big BE thread says they are now allocating CO’s to applications received in August 2007. This is nothing to worry about. Some CO’s are more cautious than others. The cautious ones are very conservative about what they say. The more bullish ones will provide “today’s information” and just hope that the applicants will understand that mid August is more of an average date than an actual date. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gliddon Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 I'm new to this site (wish we'd found it earlier). We had acknowledgement August 7th 2007 but still no sign of a case oficer. Our problem - apart from general depression, frustration etc which I gather we share with many - is that we've lost any confidence we ever had in our agency.They cost an arm and a leg, never keep us properly informed and make pretty basic mistakes we have to chase them for. But we're reluctant to ditch them at this stage in case it causes further delays. Can we get more information than the agent is giving us by approaching Perth direct? And if so, do we tell them we're not happy with our agent? Don't want to do anything to rock the boat - it's rocky enough already! Comments from anyone with similar experience would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Hello gliddon Welcome to Poms in Oz. Please see this thread as well: the ALL NEW SPARKLY contributory parents visa thread!!! - Page 75 : British Expat Discussion Forum I've linked you to the last page of the British Expats thread because it is 75 pages all, has been going for several months and it is unlikely that you will want to wade through the whole thing. You might want, say, to go back to the beginning of July and follow progress since then, perhaps? Somebody on there has had an e-mail from the POPC very recently advising that they are currently allocating Case Officers to applications received in the first 2 weeks of August 2007, so you should hear something any day now. Generally DIAC are reluctant to discuss an application with the applicant if s/he has appointed an Agent to be the Authorised Recipient of all communications with DIAC. Duplication of explanations etc is time-wasting for the staff and can lead to misunderstanding and confusion between client and agent. That said, the POPC do sometimes make an exception about this if you wish to try. They stress that their preferred method of communication is e-mail and that they prefer people to use parents@immi.gov.au rather than the on-line form. However their contact details and phone number are here: Contact us - Department of Immigration and Citizenship You cannot come to any harm if you choose to dispense with your Agent's services at this stage. The POPC will gladly guide you through the rest of the process themselves and personally I believe that it is miles better to be in direct touch with the POPC if you are not satisfied with your Agent. If you wish to terminate the involvement of your Agent as far as communication with the POPC is concerned, you would need to complete Form 956, scan it, save it as a pdf file and e-mail it to the POPC: http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/956.pdf Something like 53% of CPV applicants do not use Agents according to DIAC's statistics. They get their visas all the same and it does not take any longer than if they do use an Agent. If you decide to take over yourself, everyone here will help if you want help, and the POPC would provide as much help as you could possibly need. It is certainly a LOT less frustrating to be in direct contact with DIAC yourself than to be dependent on gleaning news from someone who is not interested in keeping you up to date and probably doesn't have any up to date information about CPVs anyway. Best wishes Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizg Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Gill Just had a look at my acknowledgment letter that was dated 16th July 2008 and it states that they were processing applications lodged on 25 July 2007 (very precise!) They don't seem to have got very far when six weeks later they have only reached the beginning of August? Regards Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Hi Liz Someone on the big British Expats thread has had an e-mail from the POPC saying they are now allocatiing COs to applications lodged in the first fortnight of August 2007. My guess is that what they do in the replies they send is to chop at least a month off the date of what they are actually doing. They don't get paid enough to want to risk living dangerously, honey..... I think they describe Tail End Charlie. The manager of the POPC told me himself, on the phone, that the POPC cannot refuse a visa application without his own say-so. Unless he knows more law than the rest of his staff, he would not be Da Boss. He cannot realistically deal with every potential visa refusal file on the spot. I think the reality is much more fluid than might seem apparent. Hugz Gill xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gliddon Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Hi Gill, Many thanks for prompt and helpful reply - much appreciated and makes us feel considerably better. Mary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizg Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Time Tail End Charlie (brilliant name) got an assistant! lol Liz x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SEFFnSARAH Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Hi Gliddon Thought you might be reassured to know you are not only ones fed up with your agent. We too are frustrated. OH given blarney on phone and fell for it big style. We have paid a fortune (applying for 176), put mum on to them (CPV) so she using same agent so same as you we are reluctant to rock boat and fork out more. Now it impossible to get any info, person you speak to has to find answers and call back next day (can't speak to anyone there and then - hopeless). Have since been to Emigrate, found this site etc etc if we hadn't been so quick to start the process and not jump at the first agent we found we probably wouldn't be any further in the queues but we might be slightly richer (enough for medicals at least.) Keep your chin up, mum further behind you in queue. We all just have to keep remembering - it'll be worth the wait in the end. Sarah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldiesRUs Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 My OH fell for a line too. He went to one of these migrant days with my son, got talking to someone who gave him (as we now know) a load of bull***t. To cut a long story short, six months later, we were still no further on as the guy never returned emails, phone calls etc. In the end, I took control, contacted GoMatilda and the application was on it's way to Aus within a week! So we would have been 6 months ahead of where we are now and would probably already be in Oz as there wouldn't have been the famous backlog to deal with. Funnily enough, the original agent did actually contact us 8 months after the initial contact - he was told, not very politely, go away. Only consolation is that we did not pay any money to the first agent. Jean:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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