The Brand New PIO Parents Visa thread

[Guest]

Dear Gill. Many thanks for your assistance. You are of a great help ansd assistance.

I will keep you informerd as this may, I am sure, affect other perople.

 

Incidentally do you know of any other Ex South Africans who have come accross the same problem?.

 

Best wishes

 

Ernest.

[PhoebeW]

We just filled in a form and showed our UK licence which we got back and then had eye test photo taken and licence paid for and handed to us all in less than an hour.

 

This is is Queensland by the way, not sure about the other states.

 

I can confirm my daughter and SIL both did this in Queensland as well :wink:

 

Phoebe

[Guest]

Many thanks PhoebeW - good to hear.

That appears the norm for people from the UK.

I wonder if we have any Ex South Africans subscibing to this forum, and how they have found the

Drivers Licence issue?

Regards

 

Ernesrt

[MikenSueNW3]

Many thanks PhoebeW - good to hear.

That appears the norm for people from the UK.

I wonder if we have any Ex South Africans subscibing to this forum, and how they have found the

Drivers Licence issue?

Regards

 

Ernesrt

 

G'Day

 

I don't know about other states, but if you go to Permanent visa holders and New Zealand citizens you'll find the details re new residents in New South Wales.

 

Mike

 

PS: Looking at this site in detail, I'm afraid that it looks like South Africa is not among the countries whose licences are recognised, so you may have to undergo a test (I think both written and practical) – but do double-check with the RTA or the equivalent in other states.

[Andy54Good]

G'Day

 

I don't know about other states, but if you go to Permanent visa holders and New Zealand citizens you'll find the details re new residents in New South Wales.

 

Mike

 

PS: Looking at this site in detail, I'm afraid that it looks like South Africa is not among the countries whose licences are recognised, so you may have to undergo a test (I think both written and practical) – but do double-check with the RTA or the equivalent in other states.

 

I know some Saffers who emigrated to Melbourne a couple of years ago. Although they had valid South African drivers licences of long standing, it seems like the Aussies know how easy it is to bribe corrupt officials in SA to illegally get a driver's licence.

 

They each had to undergo only a practical driving test, but in the morning the chap was failed for driving too slowly and in the afternoon his wife was failed for driving too fast... they reckon that this particular examiner hadn't got it all that morning.

 

They both sailed through their tests on their next attempt at a different testing station.

 

It didn't seem to be like a normal full practical driving test, but rather part of a process to weed out those who have obtained their licence by illegal means while they blatantly have absolutely no idea how to drive!

 

Cheers, Andy

[Guest kitkat37]

I wondered if anyone out there can help me? I am PIO Australian Citizen with divorced parents still in UK. My mum had breast cancer diagnosed last xmas then had a stroke in March. although she is wheelchair bound she is at home with carers but I would really love to bring her out to Oz. She owns her own home and so could afford a CPV but I am really worried she will put all the $$s into applying but her severe medical issues will mean she gets turned down. Any suggestions?

[vava]

Hi KitKat,

 

Sorry to hear of your Mums ill health. She would only have to pay the visa application charge initially which is just over £1000. We engaged the services of a migration agent when we applied and that cost us under £1000. The only issue I can see would be when she has to go for her meds. You dont have to pay the huge amount until after the visa is granted. The only other thing that could be a problem is how many siblings you have and where they are living.

We have gone for the temporary 173 which gives you another 2 years to pay the rest and get the permanent visa. I`m sure someone with more experience will comment on your post and give you more info.

Hope this has helped and good luck - Val

[Guest kitkat37]

Thanks Val for the lovely post,

Luckily there are 4 of us "kids" and 2 of us in Oz/ 2 in UK. Apparently this means she passes the balance of children test or whatever it is!!

My biggest worry is that she may get sick here and it would end up with us loosing everything if we give an assurance of support and she has massive bills to pay without the Medicare cover.

Phew - I think UR right : an agent maybe our best option as it is rather more complex than my spouse visa!! Kirsty :biggrin:

 

 

Hi KitKat,

 

Sorry to hear of your Mums ill health. She would only have to pay the visa application charge initially which is just over £1000. We engaged the services of a migration agent when we applied and that cost us under £1000. The only issue I can see would be when she has to go for her meds. You dont have to pay the huge amount until after the visa is granted. The only other thing that could be a problem is how many siblings you have and where they are living.

We have gone for the temporary 173 which gives you another 2 years to pay the rest and get the permanent visa. I`m sure someone with more experience will comment on your post and give you more info.

Hope this has helped and good luck - Val

[yomvard]

Thanks Val for the lovely post,

Luckily there are 4 of us "kids" and 2 of us in Oz/ 2 in UK. Apparently this means she passes the balance of children test or whatever it is!!

My biggest worry is that she may get sick here and it would end up with us loosing everything if we give an assurance of support and she has massive bills to pay without the Medicare cover.

Phew - I think UR right : an agent maybe our best option as it is rather more complex than my spouse visa!! Kirsty :biggrin:

Hi Kirtsy,

I have MS and am in a wheelchair and have just been granted a CPV143. Medical issues are a worry but we frontloaded(meaning had the meds done with a appointed medical doctor) and sent them for clearance just after we had applied and had the acknowledgement number. They were cleared within a week after having been refered to Sydney, so we proceeded with the necessary wait and final medical 16 months later. We did not use an agent as we had been told by a very expensive agent in Melbourne that it would be very unlikely to get a visa due to my medical condition. It turns out that is not necessarily the case, as I have proved, it depends on whether your Mum is able to care for herself on a day to day basis without incurring the possibility of costing the Aussie govt big dollars in the next 5years. The lady to help you with the info you need with be Gill (Gollywobbler) who is a mine of information on the CPV143 and who gave us the courage to go for it. Hopefully she will pick up your thread and help you. Good luck and be hopeful!! Also the CPV143 gives full access to Medicare but not benefits (not for 10 years )

regards

Sandy

[PhoebeW]

Hi Kirtsy,

I have MS and am in a wheelchair and have just been granted a CPV143. Medical issues are a worry but we frontloaded(meaning had the meds done with a appointed medical doctor) and sent them for clearance just after we had applied and had the acknowledgement number. They were cleared within a week after having been refered to Sydney, so we proceeded with the necessary wait and final medical 16 months later. We did not use an agent as we had been told by a very expensive agent in Melbourne that it would be very unlikely to get a visa due to my medical condition. It turns out that is not necessarily the case, as I have proved, it depends on whether your Mum is able to care for herself on a day to day basis without incurring the possibility of costing the Aussie govt big dollars in the next 5years. The lady to help you with the info you need with be Gill (Gollywobbler) who is a mine of information on the CPV143 and who gave us the courage to go for it. Hopefully she will pick up your thread and help you. Good luck and be hopeful!! Also the CPV143 gives full access to Medicare but not benefits (not for 10 years )

regards

Sandy

 

Hi Kirsty

 

It was the information Sandy & Gill gave me that gave me the courage to go for my CPV143 as I also have medical issues. I did not use an agent either. :wink:

 

Gill told me the forms for Parent visas was very straight forward.....and she was right :notworthy:

 

Good Luck..

 

Phoebe

[MikenSueNW3]

Phew - I think UR right : an agent maybe our best option as it is rather more complex than my spouse visa!! Kirsty :biggrin:

 

G'Day Kirsty

 

Like PhoebeW and Yomvard, I have medical issues, but I found that the agents we talked to in Sydney knew next to nothing about CPVs – and even less about meds – and expected a lot on money for their inexpert advice!

 

The forms themselves are fairly straightforward, and if you have an organised mind and read the forms and the accompanying paperwork carefully, you should have no problem if you don't try to rush it. (Sorry if I sound a bit condescending – certainly don't mean to.) If you have any queries, there's sure to be someone on here (probably Gill!) who knows the answer.

 

Having been pretty clear health-wise for nearly three years myself, we're depending on full and honest (but hopefully positive) reports from consultants (the medical kind), followed by meds with a sympathetic (though not biased) panel doctor of the old school recommended by Gill. Then it's a matter of crossed fingers. I don't really think that any immigration agent can improve your chances more than that.

 

But I would recommend sending a private message to Gill (Gollywobbler) [click on her name, then follow the link to send the message], setting out in as much detail as you can your mother's problems, and she will no doubt give you excellent advice.

 

Good luck, Mike

[Guest Gollywobbler]

I wondered if anyone out there can help me? I am PIO Australian Citizen with divorced parents still in UK. My mum had breast cancer diagnosed last xmas then had a stroke in March. although she is wheelchair bound she is at home with carers but I would really love to bring her out to Oz. She owns her own home and so could afford a CPV but I am really worried she will put all the $$s into applying but her severe medical issues will mean she gets turned down. Any suggestions?

 

 

Hi Kitkat37

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

I've been away for a few days so I'm only just catching up with everything on the forum again - hence the delay in responding to you.

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your Mum's medical problems.

 

1. How old is your Mum, please?

 

2. You have told us: "although she is wheelchair bound she is at home with carers"

 

Being in a wheelchair (ie being unable to walk at all or unable to walk well) is not a bar to migration. Sandy (yomvard) is dependent on a wheelchair outside her home. So is my own mother, who has had a CPV 143 since 2006.

 

However the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth is required to guess at the sorts of costs that "the public purse" might have to bear and also whether the condition involved requires medical services that might be in short supply in Australia.

 

As far as I know, there is no shortage of care services relating to stroke victims and/or cancer sufferers.

 

However if the probable costs would amount to "significant cost" then there is a problem and it is likely that the visa would be refused.

 

"Significant cost" is not defined in the migration legislation. However, DIAC's policy is that "significant cost" is $21,000 or more over the person's first 5 years in Australia if the visa applicant is 75 or less, reducing to 3 years if the person is 75 or above. This figure of $21,000 was adopted as a matter of policy in 1999. It has never been revised or updated during the last 11 or 12 years. DIAC (when pushed) always tell the Australian Parliament that they think the threshold figure of $21,000 should be revised to $100,000 over the 3 or 5 year period. However, DIAC said this to the Senate Estimates Committee in May 2009. In March 2010, they told the Joint Standing Committee on Migration the same thing. Asked why they are dragging their feet about implementing something that DIAC themselves say ought to be their new policy threshold, DIAC said that they were waiting to hear from "other Government Departments" about the likely impact of increasing the threshold. They did not say which "other Departments" and it was pretty obvious that they had no intention of pushing these other Departments into doing anything swiftly.

 

What ought to happen - and in my opinion it is a total disgrace that it does not happen - is that you ought to be able to require DIAC to hand over the following documents:-

 

• The first set of Guidance Notes for the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth - which are dated "circa 1995."

• Any Serials or other documents referred to in the first set of Guidance Notes.

• The recently up-dated set of these Guidance Notes ("the 2010 Guidance Notes", to give them a label); and

• Anything else that might now be relevant, including the detailed formula that shows exactly how this $21,000 came about in 1998 or so.

A lay=person would have no reasonable and realistic chance of understanding the Guidance Notes fully and properly. For instance, there are at least 2 different types of lung cancer. A GP would probably be able to understand the details. An Oncologist would definitely understand them.

 

I'm not stupid - and I am a very experienced lawyer in the UK - but I do not claim to know anything about Medicine. Being able to "roughly understand" something is not good enough, in my view.

 

Therefore if the Australian Government actually wishes to demonstrate any genuine transparency about the basis for Opinions reached by the MOC, ALL of the specialist Guidance Notes and the detailed formula for the threshold figure ought to be in the public domain.

 

Unless the documents are in the public domain, it is not possible for the doctors looking after the visa applicant to have access to them.

 

None of them are in the public domain. None of them. The Australian Government intends to mutter a bit of lip-service to the idea of "transparency" by hiding some of the relevant 2010 documents on Legend and not publishing the others at all.

 

LEGENDcom

 

Australia's conduct about this is a domestic and international disgrace, which is the conclusion that the JSCM reached recently:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/report.htm

 

If you click on "Submissions" in the link above, DIAC's own submission to the JSCM is #66. If you click on "public hearings" DIAC attended the Hearings in Canberra on 24th Feb and 17 March 2010 respectively. They sent Suits from their Health Policy Section to the Public Hearings and they also sent Dr Paul Douglas, who is DIAC's Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth.

 

The Inquiy Secretary for the recent JSCM Inquiry found out about Poms in Oz and very kindly joined the forum in order to start a thread:

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/67292-have-your-say-health-requirement.html

 

The thread continued until the JSCM Report had been published, whereupon I questioned George Lombard, at the end of the thread (please just go to the end of the thread if you wish.)

 

Profile | George Lombard Consultancy Pty. Ltd.

 

With your mother's breast cancer, there are various "Protocols" (I guess they are called.) These "Protocols" seem to say that somebody who has been in remission for XYZ months can be considered to be clear of cancer.

 

Profile | George Lombard Consultancy Pty. Ltd.

 

There is some stuff about this in the Instructions to Panel Doctors. However - on the one hand a Panel Doctor offshore is supposed to consult the Panel Doctors Gateway portal. On the other hand, the portal is extremely coy about even the existence of the Guidance Notes for the MOC, it is equally silent about the threshold for "significant cost" etc.

 

I suspect that the big problem for your Mum on the visa front would be that she is confined to a wheelchair [because of the stroke??] and you say that she has carers in the UK.

 

I don't think it is right to ask you to talk about this on a public forum. If you click on my user name to the left of this post, a drop-down menu will appear. One of the options is to send me an e-mail. Please send me an e-mail rather than a private message. Alternatively, if you want the support of a Registered Migration Agent who knows what he is talking about with the Meds then please contact George Lombard instead.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Gollywobbler]

G'Day Kirsty

 

Like PhoebeW and Yomvard, I have medical issues, but I found that the agents we talked to in Sydney knew next to nothing about CPVs – and even less about meds – and expected a lot on money for their inexpert advice!

 

The forms themselves are fairly straightforward, and if you have an organised mind and read the forms and the accompanying paperwork carefully, you should have no problem if you don't try to rush it. (Sorry if I sound a bit condescending – certainly don't mean to.) If you have any queries, there's sure to be someone on here (probably Gill!) who knows the answer.

 

Having been pretty clear health-wise for nearly three years myself, we're depending on full and honest (but hopefully positive) reports from consultants (the medical kind), followed by meds with a sympathetic (though not biased) panel doctor of the old school recommended by Gill. Then it's a matter of crossed fingers. I don't really think that any immigration agent can improve your chances more than that.

 

But I would recommend sending a private message to Gill (Gollywobbler) [click on her name, then follow the link to send the message], setting out in as much detail as you can your mother's problems, and she will no doubt give you excellent advice.

 

Good luck, Mike

 

Hi Mike

 

I agree with what you say.

 

I've heard recently that the hold-up with "publishing" (ie hiding) the 2010 Guidance Notes for the MOC is because the relevant Royal [College of Doctors] has not approved them, hence Dr Douglas has missed the deadline of July 2010 for hiding the relevant documents on Legend.

 

I was not told why the timeline has slipped. Earlier in the year, Dr Douglas seemed to be very confident that the specialist doctors would approve the new Notes. So I don't know whether the specialist doctors are just being slow or whether they have chucked the new Guidance Notes out because they believe them to be outdated, medical rubbish.

 

The latter has happened before. The original new Note on Nephrology was chucked out by the specialist Nephrologists in Oz, I heard. I heard that from a Consultant Nephrologist in the UK. He was looking after a Briton who had applied for a visa for Oz. He promptly contacted his Nephrology mates in Oz and according to the British doctor, that was the gossip from Oz.

 

Dr Douglas is a GP. I don't know how much overlap there is between what a GP thinks and what a specialist doctor thinks. As an English solicitor, I have consulted very specialised barristers about certain things. I am a City of London trained and experienced specialist in Land Law. It is not possible to get a better training in this very specialised field than the one that I had.

 

Even then, though, the occasional client chucks the occasional googly - in one case it was to do with a mausoleum (I mean a mansion) on the Grosvenor Estate in London. With a few million quid at stake - even though I thought the house was ghastly when I went to see it - one tends to be careful! The Title was peculiar so it needed a QC with particular knowledge about the workings of the Grosvenor Estate and how their practices would stand up to the relevant Law.

 

I don't know how you make this value-judgement with doctors because I've never studied medicine.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[MikenSueNW3]

Dr Douglas is a GP. I don't know how much overlap there is between what a GP thinks and what a specialist doctor thinks. As an English solicitor, I have consulted very specialised barristers about certain things.

Gill

G'day Gill

 

I agree with you. As I understand it, a GP's job is to deal with things s/he does understand and know enough about the rest to recognise which specialist needs to take a more detailed look.

 

I guess the the time taken to consider the guidance notes could be cut if they had a panel of experts drawn from the main specialist disciplines – perhaps nominated by the Colleges – but that could be too radical for them. Medical politics...

 

Best, Mike

[clubby67]

Hi there wondered if anyone can answer my question, I got a request for more documents, police certificates, form 80 and assurance of support within 28 days but not sure if I have to pay the AOS by then or just to get it arranged, my stepson in oz got in touch with centrelink and they told him he wont need an interview at the moment but would send him forms to fill in and would get in touch if they needed to. I did email my CO but have got no reply so far,I am running out of time and panicking, do I just send the forms I do have and hope that centrelink sorts it out on time.

 

Hope someone can help

Wilma

[yomvard]

Hi there wondered if anyone can answer my question, I got a request for more documents, police certificates, form 80 and assurance of support within 28 days but not sure if I have to pay the AOS by then or just to get it arranged, my stepson in oz got in touch with centrelink and they told him he wont need an interview at the moment but would send him forms to fill in and would get in touch if they needed to. I did email my CO but have got no reply so far,I am running out of time and panicking, do I just send the forms I do have and hope that centrelink sorts it out on time.

 

Hope someone can help

Wilma

Hi Wilma,

I expect lots of people will reply for you, but just in case... Heres what we did. Arranged to send the money across to our sons account via Hifx and he made an appointment with Centrelink for assessment to be a sponsor. After being accepted, he had to open a bank account with Commonwealth Bank, who will guided him through the details. Once the money has been depositied in the account , he go a receipt and made another appointment with Centrelink again. By then the bank had notified Centrelink that the account has been opened. Centrelink then agreed for our son to be the sponsor and notify our CO and all is done. Bit fiddly for your SIL but just another step in the process. He will need to take details of his income and the forms for sponsorship duly filled in. In the meantime you do the rest of forms and send to CO as asked. You might be able to get an extension if Centrelink cant give a quick appointment for your SIL, they differ from state to state how quick they can process this. Good luck :biggrin:

[clubby67]

Thanks for that Yomvard just a bit worried that centerlink never give my stepson an appointment they just said to fill out forms and post them back, wondering how long that would take.

 

Do I tell my co that my stepson and his wife a planning on being our assurers when I send back the rest of the paperwork.

 

Wilma

[yomvard]

Thanks for that Yomvard just a bit worried that centerlink never give my stepson an appointment they just said to fill out forms and post them back, wondering how long that would take.

 

Do I tell my co that my stepson and his wife a planning on being our assurers when I send back the rest of the paperwork.

 

Wilma

Hi Wilma,

I think in your position ,as time is passing ,would be to contact your CO, either phone of e-mail and explain what is happening with Centrelink and that your stepson had been told to just fill in the forms and not have an appointment as expected and that you are worried about the time limit. I found that if you notify your CO of every move, even down to letting them know all the forms had been sent etc etc. Then they are aware of what is happening at each step and so are able to advise you. Whatever happens, they have come across every problem at some stage and I think they are there to help you get the visa asap, and so if you liase with them, they can help you. Obviously sometimes you can get a jobsworth, but on the whole I get the impression that they help you, I know ours was brilliant and replied to e-mails within 2 days for any queries we had about what to do. Good luck,let me know how things go.

regards

Sandy

[clubby67]

Thanks Sandy

I have emailed CO hopefully wont be long before I get a reply.

 

Wilma

[clubby67]

Hi there just to let you know we got another 21 days to get our AOS set up.

Thanks again for your advice.

Wilma

[MikenSueNW3]

G'Day

 

Don't say it too loudly, but things look up a tad on the exchange-rate front – approaching $1.64. (Whodathunkit a year ago – cheering a $1.64 rate!)

 

Mike

[steveandaileen]

We applied for CPV 143 in September 2009, so we are now getting close to getting a Case Officer, we reckon early in New Year, our house has been up for sale for near 4 months, a few veiwings, but no takers. We are now in a slight predicament because according to our working out, with the AOS and the Visa fee, we reckon we need around £50,000, we have about half of this, and of course if house was sold would be no problem as hardly any mortgage to repay. So we are now looking round to see where can raise the rest of the required money. We are hoping if all goes through ok, we hope to move to Bussellton, south of Perth, to join our daughter and grandsons in early May 2011. Does any one know if your case Officer will defer the final payment for any amount of time????

[Guest Gollywobbler]

We applied for CPV 143 in September 2009, so we are now getting close to getting a Case Officer, we reckon early in New Year, our house has been up for sale for near 4 months, a few veiwings, but no takers. We are now in a slight predicament because according to our working out, with the AOS and the Visa fee, we reckon we need around £50,000, we have about half of this, and of course if house was sold would be no problem as hardly any mortgage to repay. So we are now looking round to see where can raise the rest of the required money. We are hoping if all goes through ok, we hope to move to Bussellton, south of Perth, to join our daughter and grandsons in early May 2011. Does any one know if your case Officer will defer the final payment for any amount of time????

 

Hi Steve & Aileen

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

Quite a few British CPV applicants are in the same situation as yourselves at the moment. Luckily, the majority of the people in the current crop of CPV applicants are not British.

 

The legislation does not lay down any hard & fast rules in this situation. It merely says that the Minister can permit a delay of a "reasonable period" if the Minister so decides. The Minister's delegate is actually the person who decides what would be reasonable, on behalf of the Minister. With a CPV application, the Minister's delegate is the current Manager of the Parents Visa Centre in Perth. He is a man called Stuart Jones.

 

Mr Jones became the Manager on 1st July 2009. He replaced Phil Lovering, who retired on 30th June 2009. At the beginning of 2009 there were a few kerfuffles with CPV applicants who were not ready with their 2nd Instalments by the time that Phil wanted the money.

 

With some of them, at the beginning, Phil took quite a hard line. He said that if they couldn't get their money together in time then he would refuse their visa applications because there was nothing to stop them from applying again once they had got their 2nd Instalments lined up and available at short notice.

 

Various people including me waded in to try to persuade Phil to be gentler. When I talked it over with him, he said that his own problem was that he needs to keep the CPV "queue" moving. Policy is that he should process the applications in order of receipt. His staff were sending out letters acknowledging receipt of the visa applications. In those letters, they were providing his own predictions about how long, roughly, it would be likely to take before his CO contacted Bloggs to start the final processing of Bloggs' application. What was the point of Phil's CO doing a stack of work only to be told at the 11th hour that Bloggs was unable to come up with the 2nd Instalment?

 

One could not say that Phil was not being reasonable. He was an extremely nice man and he always did help everyone if it would not disrupt the smooth running of the PVC and irritate his COs. So - compromise was achieved. Phil said that if he was not told about a problem until the last minute then the most amount of extra time he would allow would be a further 2 months. Fair enough.

 

However, unlike non-contributory Parent visa applications where there is an official Queue and an official Queue Date, thse very formal procedures are not used with CPV applications because it only takes about 16 months until somebody comes to the top of the unofficial pecking order.

 

So - if Smith tells Phil in plenty of time (ie before Smith's file is allocated to a CO) that Smith wants his own place in the pecking order to be delayed for, say, six months, for every Smith who wants to delay there will be a Jones who is six months behind Smith. Jones is moaning because he has already sold his house, is living in a hotel, his 2nd Instalment would be ready to be paid at very short notice and he wants his CPV yesterday. Is it really so disruptive to swap Smith and Jones around a bit?

 

Phil agreed that if he was told in plenty of time that there would be a delay and he was convinced by the reason for the delay, he could "probably" assist. Good. I did not see any of it in action except via a couple of friends of mine who had applied for CPVs. The two that I knew were ready. They had sold up in the UK, had gone out to Oz on tourist visas and were itching for their CPVs to be granted asap.

 

The Aussie financial year ends on 30th June every year. Therefore the Manager of the PVC is under pressure to grant the whole quota of 7,500 CPVs by that date if he possibly can. It got to around the end of March 2009 and the staff at the PVC started saying that they were still 500-700 grants short of the 7,500. There is 2 or 3 months (minimum) work still to do once the CO contacts the visa applicant to begin the final processing.

 

My own friends were in a spot of bother because one of them had a tourist visa that was due to expire, necessitating a trip out of Oz in order to get new tourist visas. It would be much cheaper and easier for them if they only had to leave Australia the once, in order that their CPVs could be granted.

 

The other couple were in strife because their daughter in Oz, Judi, was pregnant. The baby was due in mid-July but there were a few problems with the pregnancy. The doctors were not sure whether the baby would wait for the full term (or whether it would be possible to allow Judi to wait.) Judi's husband works away from home and they have a son, Thomas, who was 6 at the time. The plan was that if Judi suddenly had to go into hospital, her parents (the CPV applicants) would look after Thomas. So the sooner their CPVs could be granted, the better.

 

Both couples approached Phil and explained their issues to him. He was delighted to see them because he had other CPV applicants who were asking for delays. He said that if the two couples I have decscribed could move quickly then he would arrange for COs to contact them the following week. He did move them up the date-order and they probably did leap-frog a few other CPV applicants but if you don't ask in this life, you don't get! So those two couples got their CPVs earlier than expected and everyone was happy in the end.

 

Then Phil retired. Just as I and others had got him properly trained!! Most ruddy annoying!! I've never had any reason to contact Mr Jones but I have heard that he is equally nice and equally helpful. I think the thing to do is to send an e-mail to the PVC on parents@immi.gov.au Mark it for the attention of the Manager. Explain the situation and ask for someone from the PVC to contact you as soon as possible. Then see what sort of a deal you can agree with them.

 

Please shout if you need further help and please don't hang about with contacting the PVC as I suggest. If you applied in September 2009 then you should hear from a CO fairly soon. It sounds as if it would suit you better if you do not hear from a CO inconveniently soon!

 

Are you aware of Sandch's brilliant CPV tracker website? Please click on the link below:

 

Australian migration, contributory parent visa, information and progress tracker

 

If you are not already on the tracker spreadsheet, there is a contact us link on the tracker website. You can use that to contact Steve (Sandch) and he would be delighted to add you to the spreadsheet.)

 

Also, are you aware of the SPARKLY CPV thread on the British Expats forum? If not, the link to the end of that thread is below:

 

Contributory Parent Visa - Still Sparkling!!! - Part 4 - Page 126 : British Expat Discussion Forum

 

I keep an eye on both threads. The one on BE is often hilarious. Sirmatt wants to convert the whole world to eating Vegemite, I reckon, though most people (including me) much prefer Marmite and really can't bear Vegemite. Sandch said the other day that he doesn't mind planes where the odd engine explodes but he is not keen on the idea of a wing falling off.

 

Several people are members of both forums, including Sandch.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[PhoebeW]

Just wanted to say thankyou to WenMar, thanks to them we have just moved off the bottom rung of the ladder on Steve's tracker :notworthy:

 

Phoebe

[MikenSueNW3]

Just wanted to say thankyou to WenMar, thanks to them we have just moved off the bottom rung of the ladder on Steve's tracker :notworthy:

 

Phoebe

 

Yeah! I've just noticed that we've moved one step up, too!

 

Mike