The Brand New PIO Parents Visa thread

[andalog]

OK, we had 2nd VAC request on 10th Sept 2014, sent cheque registered post on the 11th, it was delivered on the 12th, which was last Friday, on Tuesday 16th because we are in Australia immi asked when are we out of the country, we booked a package deal to NZ for Monday 22nd, we come back three days later as PR's. Whoop,whoop. So after waiting best part of 19 months all done and dusted within 2 weeks, and no agents involved.

[Bridgeman]

hi guys, just after a bit of advice. My mum is 69 and wants to live in oz permanently. Both me and my sister live here have been for over 3 years. What are the visa options available to her now and how much will they cost?

 

thanks!

 

Here are the links to the parent visas:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/143.aspx

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/173.aspx

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/864.aspx

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/884.aspx

 

Unfortunately the only route now for parents are the Contributory visas which are quite expensive as the government removed the other visa options, Check out the charges here: http://www.immi.gov.au/Help/Pages/fees-charges/visa.aspx - don't forget the second large VAC under the notes,

 

The only other alternative is a long term visitor visa where parents can visit for up to 12 months at a time.

[Steve2]

Hi all,

 

Thought I'd highlight my dad's 143 timeline as a rough guide:

 

Application lodged: 16 Jan 2013

 

Acknowledgment received: 31 March 2013 along with request to send through Form 80, form 47A etc.

 

PCC: 12 Dec 2013

 

AOS lodged: 3 July 2014

 

Request for documents email received by our agent: 14 July 2014 (this is not a formal CO allocation, just a reminder to now keep all documents ready)

 

Letter from Centrelink to lodge the bond received: 22 July 2014 (Bond lodged within a couple of days with CBA)

Medicals done for both mum and done (mum is non migratory dependent spouse): 30th July (this was done after the ''request for documents'' letter was received because it contained the eMedical HAP ID's)

 

CO allocated: 28th July, requesting for Form 80 for my mum (non-migratory dependent spouse, Form 1221 for both parents & original PCC's for both). We sent all this through within a few days.

 

AOS acceptance letter received: 5 August 2014

 

At this point everything was done except for my mums PCC which was holding us off. My parents got this processed and sent this through, the Department received this on 04 Sept.

 

Request for 2nd VAC & Pre visa grant received: 11 Sept 2014

Bank cheque prepared, sent and delivered by: 16 Sept 2014

 

Visa Grant: ........WAITING..... **hopefully soon**

 

We also received the timeline along with the Acknowledgment indicating when we should get what done, however, our agent told us to hold off on getting PCC, Medicals & AOS lodged per the timeline because the CO's are rarely allocated per the 16 month consensus. (which is true cause ours was only allocated in 18 months and 12 days so nearly 19 months). The risk you run of getting your PCC and Meds within 12 months of lodgment (which is what the timeline states) is that when your visa is granted, you have very little time to enter the country. If that's not an issue for someone then it doesn't matter if you follow the timeline strictly. Our CO has been really good so far and very prompt so I'm hoping we receive visa grant soon. I also was quite happy with Centrelink, the entire AOS lodgment from start to finish only took 4 weeks so not bad at all.

 

If only we were told by our agent to get my mum's PCC done too the wait would have been halved from the time the CO was allocated and the 2nd VAC request was received. The timeline says so specifically and we kept asking our agent but he said some CO's require the non-migratory spouse's documents whereas some don't so best to wait. Oh well, you live and learn!

 

Thanks - this is very helpful.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Steve2

[Steve2]

OK, we had 2nd VAC request on 10th Sept 2014, sent cheque registered post on the 11th, it was delivered on the 12th, which was last Friday, on Tuesday 16th because we are in Australia immi asked when are we out of the country, we booked a package deal to NZ for Monday 22nd, we come back three days later as PR's. Whoop,whoop. So after waiting best part of 19 months all done and dusted within 2 weeks, and no agents involved.

 

Many congratulations!!

[phyllis71]

Hi everyone, I'm new on here. Both of my daughters live in Australia, one in Melbourne the other in Sydney and I am planning to apply for the contributory parent visa 143. I'm not sure whether to use a migration agent in Australia or get one in England, anyone got any advice?

Hi Karen we did not use an agency, and in your situation which is the same as mine (i have two daughters living here in oz)

You most probably could do it your self. It is a lot of forms and stuff but even if you have an agent you have got to give them all your information

So you could save yourself a fair bit of money by filling in your own forms. We are now living in Sydney and loving every minute. Good luck Karen .

[maisiedaisy]

Hi Karen, just on the other side of the coin, we are using an agent for our CPV143 and for us it was the right decision. We had a couple of problems during lodgement and paying for the 1st VAC which our agents jumped on straight away and sorted it for us. We could have probably sorted it out ourselves if we hadn't used an agent but I dread to think of the length of time it would have entailed to do that not to mention the stress, I've already aged 10 years since we started the process LOL. The best of luck to you Karen, hope it all goes well whichever method you choose.

 

Best wishes

maisiedaisy

[AmandaJB]

Hi everyone, I hope your weekend is a sunny as ours in the channel islands :-) Just a quick question if I may. We have lodged our CPV 143 application, and are planning a trip to Sydney in the next few months. Has anyone encountered any problems when applying for a tourist visa (e-visitor)? I am not sure if the 143 application has to be declared. I know that many of you travel to Australia having already applied for the parent visa and so would be very grateful to hear if it was all straightforward to have the tourist visa granted.

Many thanks in advance,

Amanda

[andalog]

Amanda, we have been here in Australia since Feb. On a holiday visa and just been granted our visa. Your CPV143 is just an application so will not interfere with the e-visitor.

[AmandaJB]

Amanda, we have been here in Australia since Feb. On a holiday visa and just been granted our visa. Your CPV143 is just an application so will not interfere with the e-visitor.

 

Thanks Andalog, I appreciate your reply, that's good to know :-) You have been having a nice long holiday, very lucky!!

Amanda

[Bridgeman]

Hi everyone, I hope your weekend is a sunny as ours in the channel islands :-) Just a quick question if I may. We have lodged our CPV 143 application, and are planning a trip to Sydney in the next few months. Has anyone encountered any problems when applying for a tourist visa (e-visitor)? I am not sure if the 143 application has to be declared. I know that many of you travel to Australia having already applied for the parent visa and so would be very grateful to hear if it was all straightforward to have the tourist visa granted.

Many thanks in advance,

Amanda

 

You should also let immigration know that you will be in Australia so that they don't grant your visa while you are there which would make it invalid. Not sure when you applied so don't know when your visa would be granted, but as it is an offshore visa, you must be offshore when the visa is granted

[Alan Collett]

Here are the links to the parent visas:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/143.aspx

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/173.aspx

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/864.aspx

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/884.aspx

 

Unfortunately the only route now for parents are the Contributory visas which are quite expensive as the government removed the other visa options, Check out the charges here: http://www.immi.gov.au/Help/Pages/fees-charges/visa.aspx - don't forget the second large VAC under the notes,

 

The only other alternative is a long term visitor visa where parents can visit for up to 12 months at a time.

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/220081-possible-re-opening-parent-aged-parent-visa-applications.html

 

Possible - emphasis POSSIBLE - re-opening of the 103 and 804 visa subclasses ...

 

Best regards.

[AmandaJB]

You should also let immigration know that you will be in Australia so that they don't grant your visa while you are there which would make it invalid. Not sure when you applied so don't know when your visa would be granted, but as it is an offshore visa, you must be offshore when the visa is granted

 

Thanks Bridgeman, I thought I replied yesterday, but can't see my response. Apologies if this comes up twice. We only lodged our application in June this year and have not yet received the formal acknowledgement, so it will be end of next year before things start moving I guess. Always good to know this type of information though.

Amanda

[Steve2]

Hi Steve, won't be long now before you hear from them.... no doubt you will have seen my earlier post.

Regards

Amanda

 

 

Hi Amanda, Joe and all

 

Just an update.

 

We lodged our 143 on 1 July and the payment for the 1st VAC was taken this morning, so some progress at last, now the very long wait!

 

Joe:- you may be interested to know that they take payment up to 3:00pm Australian time, so about 8:00am over here.

 

A bit of a relief to now at least know that they did get our paperwork!

 

Steve

[juliew1499]

Hi Steve

 

You will be feeling so much better now you know the process has started - since we had our 1st VAc taken on 8th Sep 2015 the days have rushed by and you really do start to relax and feel that it is all happening. Amanda and I are keeping in touch as we both lodged in June so it will be interesting to see how our applications go. I will continue to post updates so you'll get a good idea what is happening in the queue!

 

Julie

[Steve2]

Hi Steve

 

You will be feeling so much better now you know the process has started - since we had our 1st VAc taken on 8th Sep 2015 the days have rushed by and you really do start to relax and feel that it is all happening. Amanda and I are keeping in touch as we both lodged in June so it will be interesting to see how our applications go. I will continue to post updates so you'll get a good idea what is happening in the queue!

 

Julie

 

Hi Julie

 

Thanks for this; yes at last it is starting to feel a real prospect and as yours and Amanda's dates are only a few weeks before ours it would be good to hear your progress, I believe that the next step is the formal acknowledgement which they say is about 5 months after lodgement so could be a good Christmas present?

 

Best wishes

 

Steve

[juliew1499]

Hi Steve

 

Yes it will be a great Xmas gift. we should get ours at the end of Nov just as we fly off to Melbourne for 7 weeks (I'm taking my docs file with me Just in case they want any info whilst we are away).

 

From what I can see on this site it would appear that the whole process is about 18mths possibly longer - it's a long time to to wait and then we have to sell our property.......We are thinking of putting our place on the market next summer to try and get a head start. If someone decides they want our house before we get our visas we'll just have to decline any offers.

 

Julie

[Steve2]

Hi Julie

 

Lucky you off to Melbourne for 7 weeks!

Our son and his wife are coming back next week for a couple of weeks, think we'll hide in their suitcases and go back to Perth with them!!

We've been advised to allow about 2 years in all, so if it happens in 18 months that's a bonus.

Yes we're thinking along the same lines with the property sale, but we may sell it and rent instead of turning down any good offers.

 

Tale care

 

Steve

[vava]

Hi Steve

 

Yes it will be a great Xmas gift. we should get ours at the end of Nov just as we fly off to Melbourne for 7 weeks (I'm taking my docs file with me Just in case they want any info whilst we are away).

 

From what I can see on this site it would appear that the whole process is about 18mths possibly longer - it's a long time to to wait and then we have to sell our property.......We are thinking of putting our place on the market next summer to try and get a head start. If someone decides they want our house before we get our visas we'll just have to decline any offers.

 

Julie

Hi there,

We made the mistake of waiting and then putting the house on the market. We are still waiting for a sale 2 years down the line. Get it on now (unless you live in an area with quick sales) you can always go to oz and get offshore at the time of grant or rent something here.

Hope you sell quickly!

Regards Val

[Steve2]

Hi Val

 

Yes very useful feedback from you and I was kind of thinking along those lines but we're a bit concerned as we have medical issues as to whether it's too big a gamble to take, but will consider it.

 

Best wishes

 

Steve

[maisiedaisy]

Hi there,

We made the mistake of waiting and then putting the house on the market. We are still waiting for a sale 2 years down the line. Get it on now (unless you live in an area with quick sales) you can always go to oz and get offshore at the time of grant or rent something here.

Hope you sell quickly!

Regards Val

 

Hi, we have had our house on the market since we lodged in April because houses around our area are taking 2 - 3 years to sell. Ideally it would be great to sell just before the visa comes thru so no renting but we just can't take the chance and all we want to do is to be with our family, plus funds are needed to pay for the 2nd VAC as and when it comes thru. Just for interest too, we are still waiting for our acknowledgement. Hopefully it'll put in an appearance soon! Good luck to you all. As we lodged in April this year, I'll let you know when the acknowledgement comes thru.

 

regards

maisiedaisy

[juliew1499]

Hi All

 

Selling the house is a tricky one. Our home brings in an income so if we sell it we have no income to afford to rent until hubby's pension kicks in in 3 years. Can't take the pension early as we need as much as we can get to afford to live in Oz. We are really hoping for an interest rise so that the exchange rate improves. It's like being a juggler got so many balls in the air you just don't know where they are all going to land!

 

Forecasting cost of living based on ever moving exchange rates, frozen state pensions (don't get me started on that one), some pensions that you can turn into QROPs a and some that you can't is a real pain. Soon as we get PR we are buying a property to rent out in OZ so we will get some income in AUD. we think it's the best way to have income in both currencies.

 

Aah the joys of emigrating..... But really looking forward to daughter just dropping by our home in Oz just because she can.

 

Julie

[richardcoull]

PROCESSING UPDATE - as at 22 September 2014

 

Not good news!

 

The WA Parent Visa Centre has advised today that its current processing date for both sub-classes (143 & 173) of Contributory Parent visas is now 28 February 2013

 

This means that there has been very little progress since my last update on 04 September, and points to the official processing delay having moved out beyond 19 months. Based on this pattern, it is now taking almost two months to process one month's worth of applications.

 

Should this slow rate of processing be due to numbers of applications on file, rather than other causes such as staff shortages due to illness, those of us in the waiting room can anticipate even more delays, possibly moving out to 21 months. On the other hand, if February 2013 was a particularly unusual month for the volume of applications, we may yet come back on track.

 

Heads up, and stay positive - orphan (saaustralia)

[richardcoull]

NEWS FLASH!

 

The validity of the legislative Instrument by which 103 Non-Contributory Parent visas and 804 Aged Parent visas were closed to new applicants on 02 June 2014, is being challenged in the Senate of the Australian Federal Parliament by Senator Hanson-Young of the Green Party.

 

This is scheduled to be debated on Wednesday 24th of September, and there is some possibility that this "Disallowance Motion" will be successful. If so, the Instrument preventing the lodgement of applications under subclasses 103 and 804 will be void, and the door opened for new applications under these two visa subclasses, although possibly for a limited period only, and until such time as the Government finds another way of closing it down.

 

For those Parents who would ordinarily qualify for 103 and 804 visas, but are now having to consider going the Contributory Parent visa route, this could mean a final opportunity to apply under these two sub-classes, as well as a huge potential savings! You should therefore watch these developments closely, and if the Motion is successful, IMMEDIATELY lodge your visa application.

 

For the rest of us in the 143/173 Contributory Parent Visa queue, a successful Motion will unfortunately put even more strain on the already stretched resources at the Parent Visa Centre, and may result in processing times being delayed even further.

[Guest geordie joe]

Hi, we have had our house on the market since we lodged in April because houses around our area are taking 2 - 3 years to sell. Ideally it would be great to sell just before the visa comes thru so no renting but we just can't take the chance and all we want to do is to be with our family, plus funds are needed to pay for the 2nd VAC as and when it comes thru. Just for interest too, we are still waiting for our acknowledgement. Hopefully it'll put in an appearance soon! Good luck to you all. As we lodged in April this year, I'll let you know when the acknowledgement comes thru.

 

regards

maisiedaisy

 

We did the same putting the house on the market in July when we lodged our application, there was also a slim chance of a 457 sponsorship at that time which has since come to nothing. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it our house sold in 10 days, so we are now in a rental for the next 18 months or so. On the positive side the pressure is off regarding the house sale, on the negative we are now in a house nowhere near as nice as ours as it was quite a rush to find somewhere. The other positive is we hadn't realised how much rubbish we have collected over the years until you start packing it all in boxes, and we have the next 18 months to have a serious de-clutter prior to the big move.

[vava]

We did the same putting the house on the market in July when we lodged our application, there was also a slim chance of a 457 sponsorship at that time which has since come to nothing. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it our house sold in 10 days, so we are now in a rental for the next 18 months or so. On the positive side the pressure is off regarding the house sale, on the negative we are now in a house nowhere near as nice as ours as it was quite a rush to find somewhere. The other positive is we hadn't realised how much rubbish we have collected over the years until you start packing it all in boxes, and we have the next 18 months to have a serious de-clutter prior to the big move.

 

Oh the joys of de-cluttering! We have got rid of so much stuff over the last two years, I've had to re-buy some of the items as we have had winters (clothes, coats, boots etc) and appliances which we held off buying due to the 12 months old rule for shipping purposes. All my CD's are packed away so I now live in a music free zone in the land of Limbo!

I'm sure we'll all get there in the end and in the meantime......keep smiling!