Parent visa application timelines (143 & 173)

[Jellybean T]

On 19/03/2020 at 23:57, palaceboy1 said:

Today we have received the 2nd vac request, nearly there....

Will you be allowed enter Australia now that it’s in lockdown. Are you classed as a permanent resident before it’s validated?

[palaceboy1]

1 hour ago, Jellybean T said:

Will you be allowed enter Australia now that it’s in lockdown. Are you classed as a permanent resident before it’s validated?

It,s not an issue for us at the moment as we are not intending to travel until 1/09/2020 . We have a year to validate the visa but i think we would be considered as PR on arrival but of course we would look for official confirmation before travelling

[Marisawright]

9 minutes ago, palaceboy1 said:

It,s not an issue for us at the moment as we are not intending to travel until 1/09/2020 . We have a year to validate the visa but i think we would be considered as PR on arrival but of course we would look for official confirmation before travelling

An agent posted elsewhere that once you've got the visa, you count as PR for the purposes of being allowed to travel.  Your difficulty might be finding a flight, as the travel ban is in place for "six months and possibly longer" according to the government.  The way our experts are talking, it sounds more and more likely that the ban will be extended.

As a permanent resident, you are exempt from the ban - but while the ban is in place, there are very few planes flying, because it's no economical for the airlines to fly planes that are three-quarters empty.    

Edited March 23, 2020 by Marisawright

[Jellybean T]

8 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

An agent posted elsewhere that once you've got the visa, you count as PR for the purposes of being allowed to travel.  Your difficulty might be finding a flight, as the travel ban is in place for "six months and possibly longer" according to the government.  The way our experts are talking, it sounds more and more likely that the ban will be extended.

As a permanent resident, you are exempt from the ban - but while the ban is in place, there are very few planes flying, because it's no economical for the airlines to fly planes that are three-quarters empty.    

Thanks for that info Marisawright, I will try and get official clarification on that when things calm down a bit. I have my visa grant and was due to fly on the 8th of April before the flight was cancelled. Also I live in Spain and we went into lockdown on the 16th March until the 30th but it's now been extended to 14th April so maybe once the lockdown is lifted we may be allowed to finally fly once the flights are available again. We have the added complication of taking our dog who had her final blood tests on the 13/3 and must fly in 45 days from then or start the blood tests again. The furniture etc was collected last Friday so will arrive in Australia before us. Wasn't expecting anything like this after waiting 4 years for the Visa.

[Aaron88]

38 minutes ago, Jellybean T said:

Thanks for that info Marisawright, I will try and get official clarification on that when things calm down a bit. I have my visa grant and was due to fly on the 8th of April before the flight was cancelled. Also I live in Spain and we went into lockdown on the 16th March until the 30th but it's now been extended to 14th April so maybe once the lockdown is lifted we may be allowed to finally fly once the flights are available again. We have the added complication of taking our dog who had her final blood tests on the 13/3 and must fly in 45 days from then or start the blood tests again. The furniture etc was collected last Friday so will arrive in Australia before us. Wasn't expecting anything like this after waiting 4 years for the Visa.

Good luck, I hope all goes well. 

[cfernandes]

Hi All,

A mate of mine who applied in the first week of June'16 got asked for further documents. There is hope still...

Any June applicants in the forum who have got asked for further docs?? Please share.

Stay safe! 

 

[MELBNGSM]

On 23/03/2020 at 14:36, Alan Collett said:

Maybe we'll start to see 864's being processed again ... the Government could do with the 2nd VACs, don't you think?

Best regards.

Yes totally agree. Our Govt needs money. 

Some of the things that have happened because of the lockdown (Visa/immigration related)

- No Tourist coming to Australia so no Visa fee (In 2018, approximately 8.5 million tourists visited Australia from overseas; the money they would have spent on many things that has GST)

- No Students will also arrive so no Visa fee (from here on until the ban is lifted; not to forget the impact of that in University and broader economy)

- Many airlines grounded. So no airport tax. 

- Overseas mission are mostly closed.

On the top of it all. Govt has to pay all the salaries to the employees of Border Force.

I expect a quick ramp up in all the paid Permanent Residence Visas across the board. They may even consider a change for people who are already on-shore to let them activate or have PR while onshore (very realistic possibility since the lockdown is in many countries)

[SusieRoo]

10 hours ago, MELBNGSM said:

I expect a quick ramp up in all the paid Permanent Residence Visas across the board. They may even consider a change for people who are already on-shore to let them activate or have PR while onshore (very realistic possibility since the lockdown is in many countries)

I’m not so sure about this.

The biggest problem Australia is facing now (excluding the virus) is unemployment. The economy is very reliant on consumer spending and confidence, especially to keep the housing market from crashing.

The only way to prevent the economy slipping from recession into a long depression is by getting as many Australians back into work as soon as possible, post virus.

There’s going to be growing pressure to halt all immigration for the next few years. I fear many of us here may have to reconsider our plans.

[cfernandes]

23 minutes ago, SusieRoo said:

I’m not so sure about this.

The biggest problem Australia is facing now (excluding the virus) is unemployment. The economy is very reliant on consumer spending and confidence, especially to keep the housing market from crashing.

The only way to prevent the economy slipping from recession into a long depression is by getting as many Australians back into work as soon as possible, post virus.

There’s going to be growing pressure to halt all immigration for the next few years. I fear many of us here may have to reconsider our plans.

Well let's hope and pray that that's not the case for every parent's sake who have been waiting so long.  

[LindaH27]

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

I’m not so sure about this.

The biggest problem Australia is facing now (excluding the virus) is unemployment. The economy is very reliant on consumer spending and confidence, especially to keep the housing market from crashing.

The only way to prevent the economy slipping from recession into a long depression is by getting as many Australians back into work as soon as possible, post virus.

There’s going to be growing pressure to halt all immigration for the next few years. I fear many of us here may have to reconsider our plans.

I agree. Australia is likely to take the view that many parents applying will be older and will likely cost more in the future in medical costs, aged care etc

They won’t want to burden a struggling health system with  more old people even in the future as when this is eventually  over all countries will have to overcome a huge  economic setback - adding more old  people to the population will not be  considered advisable !!

[Flangela100]

On 19/03/2020 at 05:58, LBee said:

AOS Acceptance Letter received 19 March 2020 - Another step forward

I'm around the same timescales as you.  So near and yet so far

[Marisawright]

On 25/03/2020 at 08:57, MELBNGSM said:

Yes totally agree. Our Govt needs money. 

Considering the government's own analysis showing that Parent visa holders eventually cost the country far more than the visa fee, I very much doubt it.  

The government must already be very worried about the future burden on our welfare systems, because our unemployment rate is forecast to at least double, so they won't want more people arriving to make it worse.  A lot of smaller companies will go broke during this shutdown and won't be able to restart.  The economy is going to be in a real mess once this is eventually over (as it will be everywhere).

[Greece]

On 16/03/2020 at 16:53, JeremyNg266 said:

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I am still a full time student studying Diploma degree. I hope I will be ok because I applied for this visa before the new rules changed so age doesnt matter to my case I think. What I am more concerned is how to prove, what sort of documents are required.  

I suggest you should engage a competent consultant / agent to help you at this critical time.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Greece

[Linda Brown]

On 23/03/2020 at 23:44, Jellybean T said:

Thanks for that info Marisawright, I will try and get official clarification on that when things calm down a bit. I have my visa grant and was due to fly on the 8th of April before the flight was cancelled. Also I live in Spain and we went into lockdown on the 16th March until the 30th but it's now been extended to 14th April so maybe once the lockdown is lifted we may be allowed to finally fly once the flights are available again. We have the added complication of taking our dog who had her final blood tests on the 13/3 and must fly in 45 days from then or start the blood tests again. The furniture etc was collected last Friday so will arrive in Australia before us. Wasn't expecting anything like this after waiting 4 years for the Visa.

Hi Jellybean, we've been neck and neck through this process and we're still together locked down in Spain! 

Luckily our boxes haven't gone yet they were due to be collected end of April so we have postponed. Again luckily we validated our visa when we went to Australia in December so I suppose we could go and self isolate, but no flights. 

After the long, long wait for the visa we thought we'd crossed the finishing line but apparently not! 

Hopefully things will get back to some normality in the next three or four months then hopefully we'll finally be able to live the dream, as we've waited such a long time. 

Who did you use for your removals Spanish or a UK company? We booked a UK company but would be interested to know. 

Good luck for the future, 

Linda b

, 

[Jellybean T]

15 minutes ago, Linda Brown said:

Hi Jellybean, we've been neck and neck through this process and we're still together locked down in Spain! 

Luckily our boxes haven't gone yet they were due to be collected end of April so we have postponed. Again luckily we validated our visa when we went to Australia in December so I suppose we could go and self isolate, but no flights. 

After the long, long wait for the visa we thought we'd crossed the finishing line but apparently not! 

Hopefully things will get back to some normality in the next three or four months then hopefully we'll finally be able to live the dream, as we've waited such a long time. 

Who did you use for your removals Spanish or a UK company? We booked a UK company but would be interested to know. 

Good luck for the future, 

Linda b

, 

Hi Linda, We used Global Corporate Relacations they are a UK firm but based in Spain. Christopher Rosemeyer is who we dealt with. Excellent customer service definitely worth a call. I’m hoping once they start flying again we will be allowed enter as although we haven’t validated our visa it is a permanent resident visa. Our dog is our main concern at the moment as her vacations and blood tests are all time sensitive. 

Still we have waited more than 4 years now, and at least we have our Visa.

Stay safe.    Shelagh

[Biggsy]

Not sure if anyone else has seen this. It was in the text of the auto response email received from WAParents today.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Finalisation of many Parent Visa applications will be put on hold for a period of approximately two months. The situation will be reviewed in late May 2020, and further extension/s will be provided if necessary.

 

[cfernandes]

39 minutes ago, Biggsy said:

Not sure if anyone else has seen this. It was in the text of the auto response email received from WAParents today.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Finalisation of many Parent Visa applications will be put on hold for a period of approximately two months. The situation will be reviewed in late May 2020, and further extension/s will be provided if necessary.

 

I hope this is only for those who have already done the payment of the second vac or perhaps the AOS has been finalised. Which would mean they are ready for visa grant. 

Praying that they still continue to process applications and take them to a stage where just the last part ie. 2nd VAC needs to be paid. It will save us all the anxiety and stress of seeing nothing at all happen in the next few months. This way it will at least keep  things moving. Even if it's slow it doesn't matter. 

[LBee]

No surprise that applications are on hold, health and welfare of all regardless of which country we are in has to be paramount just now.  

 

[MELBNGSM]

Jus t visited the Centrelink "Assurance of Support online application" - which now says its been completed.

Does anyone know if I get some letter or email from them for confirmation ? 

[Greece]

2 hours ago, MELBNGSM said:

Jus t visited the Centrelink "Assurance of Support online application" - which now says its been completed.

Does anyone know if I get some letter or email from them for confirmation ? 

You will get a letter in your Inbox in next 3 to 4 days.

[MELBNGSM]

5 hours ago, Greece said:

You will get a letter in your Inbox in next 3 to 4 days.

Thanks!!! You seem to have made it to Sydney.

Must be in self isolation I assume.

[Greece]

On 27/03/2020 at 22:26, MELBNGSM said:

Thanks!!! You seem to have made it to Sydney.

Must be in self isolation I assume.

True. Entered Aus on 23 March

[Aaron88]

On 27/03/2020 at 06:59, cfernandes said:

I hope this is only for those who have already done the payment of the second vac or perhaps the AOS has been finalised. Which would mean they are ready for visa grant. 

Praying that they still continue to process applications and take them to a stage where just the last part ie. 2nd VAC needs to be paid. It will save us all the anxiety and stress of seeing nothing at all happen in the next few months. This way it will at least keep  things moving. Even if it's slow it doesn't matter. 

I think they are still processing applications, requesting further docs, it just means no more 2nd vac will be issued. Once resumed, 2nd vac requested will be issued in application date order. I would imagine, there will be quite a lot "ready to go" applications by the end of this crisis, hopefully, we'll see a higher planning level for family stream next FY.

[NatS259]

25 minutes ago, Aaron88 said:

I think they are still processing applications, requesting further docs, it just means no more 2nd vac will be issued. Once resumed, 2nd vac requested will be issued in application date order. I would imagine, there will be quite a lot "ready to go" applications by the end of this crisis, hopefully, we'll see a higher planning level for family stream next FY.

Kicking myself I didn’t send my AOS letter straight off or I believe I would have had the 2nd request just before all this craziness kicked off! However this just means that hopefully there will be some good news at the end of May for all of us, especially those waiting for only that 2nd payment request! And everyone else’s can keep moving! 
 

 

[cfernandes]

55 minutes ago, Aaron88 said:

I think they are still processing applications, requesting further docs, it just means no more 2nd vac will be issued. Once resumed, 2nd vac requested will be issued in application date order. I would imagine, there will be quite a lot "ready to go" applications by the end of this crisis, hopefully, we'll see a higher planning level for family stream next FY.

Yup. I am trying to find out if anyone else has had any correspondence from the department as well. As long as we all keep sharing and communicating on this forum it will help understand how DIPB is progressing.