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Guest Gollywobbler

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Do you mind if you post it, without your personal info? Thanks!

Dear Mr ......,

 

Thank you for your email regarding the application of Mr ....... The

Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has set new

priority processing arrangements for certain Skilled Migration visas.

These arrangements are designed to better address the needs of industry by

targeting skills in critical need across a number of sectors. The new

priority processing Direction commenced on 23 September 2009.

 

The Direction applies to applications in the pipeline that have not been

finalised and to applications lodged with the Department of Immigration and

Citizenship on or after 23 September 2009.

 

The priority processing arrangements apply to the following visas from 23

September 2009:

· Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS);

· Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS); and

· General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas except for:

o Skilled – Recognised Graduate Subclass 476;

o Skilled – Designated Area – Sponsored (Residence) Subclass 883;

o Skilled – Regional Subclass 887.

 

Under the Ministerial Direction the following processing priorities (with

the highest priority listed first) apply:

1. applications from persons who are employer sponsored under the ENS

and the RSMS;

2. applications from persons who are nominated by a State/Territory

government and have nominated an occupation on the Critical Skills List

(CSL);

3. applications from persons who are sponsored by family and whose

occupation is listed on the CSL;

4. applications from persons who are neither nominated nor sponsored but

who have nominated an occupation on the CSL;

5. applications from persons who are nominated by a State/Territory

government and have not nominated an occupation on the CSL;

6. (i) applications from persons whose occupations are listed on the

Migration Occupations in Demand List; and

(ii) applications from persons who are sponsored by family and have not

nominated an occupation on the CSL;

7. all other applications are to be processed in the order in which they

are received.

 

As Mr .... nominated occupation is not on the CSL as he has not provided

an IELTS test with a score of 7 or better in each band and he is not

sponsored by an employer, the processing of his visa application will not

be finalised until those visa applications which meet the higher processing

priorities are finalised.

 

This priority processing Direction supersedes all previous Directions and

applies to all unfinalised GSM applications with the exception of the

subclass 476, 883 and 887 visas identified above. This Direction applies

irrespective of whether the application is newly lodged, has been assessed

and is in the final stages of processing, or is nominated by a State or

Territory government or family sponsor.

 

Applicants with a nominated occupation not on the CSL who have applied for

an offshore GSM visa before the end of 2009, are unlikely to have their

visa finalised before the end of 2012.

 

If the applicants were requested to undergo health and character checks but

have not yet initiated these, they should now not proceed until a further

request is made by the Department.

 

If they have already undergone their health and character checks, these

should be forwarded to the Department. However, please note that

processing will not proceed until further notice.

 

If the medical examination has been undertaken at Health Services Australia

(HSA) and they have received the results in a sealed envelope, please do

not send the results to DIAC. We ask that they do not open this envelope

but store this in a secure place until instructed otherwise.

 

To be granted a visa this program year, Mr ...... will need to meet visa

requirements and be sponsored by an employer or have a nominated occupation

listed on the CSL.

 

If Mr ...... wish to have his application processed as a priority, he may

wish to consider seeking an Australian employer to formally sponsor him, or

providing a new IELTS test result with a score of 7 or better in each band.

 

Yours sincerely,

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I would though agree that the dissemination of information that is of concern to the ASPC's clients could be handled a whole lot better. 'tis better that applicants receive news through the ASPC's website (even if it isn't liked) so they can plan, rather than give inconsistent messages or leave affected individuals in a vacuum.

 

For example, I simply don't understand why information that was given verbally to those of us who attended a seminar in Adelaide 12 days ago is still not affirmed on the DIAC website - it should have been there within 24 hours.

 

Best regards.

 

I totally agree with you on this one!!!!

 

Checking their website couple of times a day but no word of the Ministerial

Direction No. 42. Why?:no:

 

Cat5

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It seems to me that two clear principles should be applied by the Minister and his delegates in all decisions affecting visa applicants:

 

1. No retrospective effects.

 

2. Communicate any changes quickly and transparently.

 

If those principles had been adopted on 23/09/2009 I dare say we wouldn't have half the angst and worry we have seen in the last 6 weeks.

 

Best wishes to all.

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Guest Justin JIANG

Hi Mcklaut,

 

Thanks for your post! Anyway, there is no distinct information from this email from DIAC, being basically the same one as some one received immediately after 23 Oct 2009. Does anyone study computer programing before? It's very easy to do the automatic cut and paste by the program with the different name of the applicant e.g. Mr Lucky or whatever. What they need to do is only to enter the name of the applicant and then send it out----------done!

 

Let's have some positive thinking, maybe they are focusing on finalizing SS, NON-CSL applicants in the pinpeline as much as possible before the Christmas (But who knowns)!!! Good luck, mate. Please discard the email.

 

Cheers!

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No, I disagree. It should not be case officers who have to pick up the consequences of decisions made at a higher level. Therein lies the path to anarchy and chaos within the ASPC, particularly if thousands of applicants start emailing case officers who consider it is their duty to respond.

 

In my view there should be clear guidelines to case officers and their support team, and transparent communication with applicants through the DIAC website.

 

And as for "emotionally charged cases" - in my experience all cases are emotionally charged.

 

Best regards.

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree that COs should spend their time processing visas. Still I think that it's exceptional what some COs may be doing and should be commended for that.

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It seems to me that two clear principles should be applied by the Minister and his delegates in all decisions affecting visa applicants:

 

1. No retrospective effects.

 

2. Communicate any changes quickly and transparently.

 

If those principles had been adopted on 23/09/2009 I dare say we wouldn't have half the angst and worry we have seen in the last 6 weeks.

 

Best wishes to all.

 

This I agree 101%!

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Guest Justin JIANG

 

Quoted from

 

 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I Have a Dream"

 

 

 

 

I have a dream today!

 

I have a dream that one day, down in Australia,with the Minister of DIAC having his lips dripping with the words of "people our business" -- one day right there in Australia poms members will be able to join hands with Aussies.

 

 

 

 

I have a dream today!

 

 

 

 

I have a dream that one day every SS,non-CSL applicant affected by 23 Sep 2009 change would get their visa finalized before 30 June 2010, and especially every SS, non-CSL applicant during the final stage of processing, would receive their kangaloo permanent visa before Christmas 2009. This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to look at pomsinoz.com again and again!

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

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It seems to me that two clear principles should be applied by the Minister and his delegates in all decisions affecting visa applicants:

 

1. No retrospective effects.

 

2. Communicate any changes quickly and transparently.

 

These are simple rules of fair policy of developed societies but not Labor governments.

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Hi

 

I'm non CSL 176 Family Sponsored and I received WA SS last week. now if I transfer my application in to 176 SS, will i put in to the cat 5. I have a doubt whether start of CO allocation for cat 5 only affects to

 

1. Only those applied 176SS originally ?

2. What about the applicants who changed to 176 SS later on?

 

Cheers

 

Rangana

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Guest floater

Not only Delays on Processing

 

Dear Fellow Ark Members

 

 

Morning Ronnie,

 

I too have yet to have a response from the minister.

I sent my letter of complaint to David last week because he asked me for my case details, of some concern I have heard nothing from him either.

I have to say I'm somewhat dissapointed, I thought I would at least of had the standard flannel from one of the ministers lakeys.

 

Floater.

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Dear Fellow Ark Members,

 

It has been fours weeks since I contacted the Honourable Minister for Immigration, Mr.Evans to express my 'disappointment' at the lack of care which was exercised in dealing with my enquiry directly with the Minister.

He had forwarded my initial correspondence to a 'Peter Spedlewinde' who duly supplied an box standard response which as a I gather we have all received. Anyway I was not going to give up that easily, so I sent another e-mail to the Minister's office with a list of these questions, as well as explaining that I can appreiciate how busy he and his colleagues are.

I almost felt inclined to ask if his department would suffer from liquidated damages for late delivery of service to his customers, as I would with my customers for service of a similar standard, however common sense that that stage nipped me in the bud.

Last week the Fab 5 met with DIAC in London and a whole host of questions were presented which we hope to answers to this side of Xmas. However, as I had sent this e-mail 4 weeks ago, I felt it was somewhat poor that I had not recieved an answer from the Minister's office.

10 minutes ago, I contacted the office by phone to enquire about my enquiry, a pleasant fella by the name of 'Bernard' took my call and informed me that they had my e-mail, but have given themselves a '28 day' level of service to respond. This is due to expire this Wednesday. Being British and perhaps being a pureveyor of 'fair play' I explained to 'Bernard' that I would give them an additional week and a half to respond. He then came out with the good old Royal Mail classic about the 'Christmas Holiday season'.

Had it not been for the exercise of last weeks efforts of PIO at Aussie House last week, I would not be as calm as I am now. I wonder when DIAC or the Minister is going to publish the now famous 'No42' directive on the website as I have not seen this 'gem'.

I am just thankful of the members on this forum, who contribute valuable information to this site and more importantly the many words of thanks and support that is very much in evidence here.

If I hear from the Ministry this side of Xmas, then I'll certainly share my answers with you. Also this may tie in nicey with the questions that DIAC now have from PIO.

Once again good luck and kind regards

 

Ronnie R:twitcy:

 

In the interest of fairness I felt obliged to respond to your post as there may be some misunderstandings as a result of cultural differences.

 

The responsibility of Minister and his department is to the people of Australia, no one else, they are his customers/clients and they have charged him to manage an orderly immigration process on their behalf. This is a hot button issue in Australia and the media will press it if the minister does anything that is seen as giving preferential treatment to anyone who they perceive as engaged in queue jumping activities, and expediting the process falls into that category. For this reason you are unlikely to get anything other than a form response. However that outcome might be different if you have a relative who is on the electoral roll willing to make the inquiry on your behalf.

 

I doubt very much that the gentleman you spoke to would even know who or what the Royal Mail is. What he was obviously referring to, as anyone who understands Australian culture and customs would know, is the fact that Christmas and summer holidays are at the same time. Which means that for 5 weeks from about the 18th of December or so the entire country will have the "gone fishing" sign up.

 

The other issue to bear in mind is there is a very big, I would even say huge, cultural difference between the UK and Australia. Australia is an egalitarian society without any class distinction. Social mores in Australia mean that every Australian considers him/herself equal to everyone else, this results in a more casual interaction in all walks and facets of life. This is most evident in the fact that everyone is referred to by his or her first name. The most junior employee does it when interacting with the most senior manager and visa versa. So behaviour that is normal in the UK can be interpreted differently by an Australian, for example the use of some the formal language preferred in the UK in letters or emails will come across as pompous to an Australian and lead to the writer not being taken seriously.

 

I hope this give you some insight.

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I doubt very much that the gentleman you spoke to would even know who or what the Royal Mail is. What he was obviously referring to, as anyone who understands Australian culture and customs would know, is the fact that Christmas and summer holidays are at the same time. Which means that for 5 weeks from about the 18th of December or so the entire country will have the "gone fishing" sign up.

 

Thanks. We know that. Have already come across this period for several times.

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Guest Bill_er_Bong
I have a dream that one day every SS,non-CSL applicant affected by 23 Sep 2009 change would get their visa finalized before 30 June 2010, and especially every SS, non-CSL applicant during the final stage of processing, would receive their kangaloo permanent visa before Christmas 2009.

 

It would be nice eh?

 

And considering the roughly 3600 Cat.5 applicants in the pipeline on 23rd Sept is barely over 3% of the 108,000 places allocated for this year's program, I don't think it would have been too much for their govt to accomodate them. Hardly a major dent in the numbers eh?

 

I still feel astonished how they can force retro-active changes of such magnitude onto people who have gone to so much expense and trouble in good faith.

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Hi guys, we received visa approval this morning, so happy!!

We applied 176 family sponsored to QLD 7/12/08

meds and pc jan 08

changed to 176 SS WA due to hairdresser being removed from QLD April 09

SS approval Aug 09

Visa granted 7/12/09 ( 12 months to the very day!!)

Congratulations!

 

Please, answer the standard question: meds done on CO request or front loaded?

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Great news! Congratulations. (I assume you means meds in Jan 09 not 08?)

 

Did your CO get in touch prior to you getting the Visa news email?

 

Things are moving along, hopefully many more will follow. Congrats again. :spinny:

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Guest floater

Hi jaycee

 

The responsibility of Minister and his department is to the people of Australia, no one else, they are his customers/clients and they have charged him to manage an orderly immigration process on their behalf. This is a hot button issue in Australia and the media will press it if the minister does anything that is seen as giving preferential treatment to anyone who they perceive as engaged in queue jumping activities, and expediting the process falls into that category. For this reason you are unlikely to get anything other than a form response. However that outcome might be different if you have a relative who is on the electoral roll willing to make the inquiry on your behalf.

 

 

I disagree, the minister has a duty to all of us, we are after all the migration program and therefore his job.

Nobody here is actively trying to jump the queue rather the queue keeps jumping around on us!

Most people here I think are aware of the cultural differences and that is one of the things that has attracted us to australia, fair play is something that appears to be missing from all the recent changes.

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We originally applied for family sponsor a yr ago to this very day. Our police checks wer done nov 08 so they just ran out and had them re done nov 09. Our agent asked us to have our meds and pc before we got a case officer.

Meds wer done 2nd Jan 08 so due to run out!! Hairdresser was taken off the QLD csl so we changed to SS WA in April 09. SS approval end of Aug 09. Now visa grant today!!

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Guest renette
I'm sure the department has a service standard that guides its response times with email queries. I think it's exceptional that COs take time to answer email queries, given that they're already occupied processing and granting visas, or are they?

 

Rather than give them flak for not making use of their time to process visas, maybe they should be commended for managing the PR mess that is now, especially with emotionally-charged cases.

 

As with helpdesk support, there are multi-tiered levels of escalation processes in place. I believe the DIAC's answer to that is the PLE system. But responses are canned and robotic, that making meaningful communication becomes few and far between, dumping disgruntled applicants in the dark.

 

In renette's case, maybe the time difference could make it seem like it took a day for the CO to reply but in actual fact it took longer than it seemed?

 

Hello,

 

when we recieved the e-mail from our case officer back in august, she signed the document with her name, e-mail address and telephone number.

in the document it states the following:

 

"Communicating with the GSM Adelaide office

If you have general enquiries concerning your Skilled Migration application, please use the

online enquiry form available on our website at:

General Skilled Migration Post-Lodgement Enquiry Form

Alternatively you can contact the GSM Adelaide office by telephone as per details below:"

 

the enquiries we had was not general, and therefore contacted our case officer direcly with the e-mail address she provided. (just for the record, it's only been 3 enquiries since august)

 

we usually e-mail her at night (we live in Austria, Europe) and by the morning her reply is in our inbox.... if you look at the time she writes her replies, its usually between 16:00-17:00 aus time. - guess there is nothing wrong in communicating with your case officer directly. We have no agent, so the only way is through our case officer.

 

 

renette

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Our agent has relayed out of 22 outstanding 176 SS visas non CSL, he has had 2 granted over the last week. At least theres movement being shown from various points of call

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Dear Gill,

Please help me to find out answers for the following queries;

1) I am a 475 applicant, medicals finalised, all the docs sent before Sept 23 rd,

When can i tentatively expect visa?

2) My agent is so far tight lipped and hasnt replied any of my mails, is it that the scenes are still hazzy post 1 Dec great five meeting?

3) Although medicals finalised have been written prior to Sept 23 changes, the docs checklist doesnt show met? So what can be concluded from that?

The final impression however is that I have sant all the docs demanded by the CO.

Please help me find my answers

Kind regards

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