Pre september applicants-let us count how many of us?

[Guest luckylucky]

Yes Lucky........ I myself want to fight this out...... Where r u based and what is your application type...... Please do update...

Cheers

 

 

babboo ,

 

Dear sorry for late reply , I am from Pakistan ,I have applied for PR in August-2007 , My visa type BN-136 " General Electrician " ,Medical / PCC , IELTS and other document sent on request , Job verified in July-2009 till than no sound and waiting for visa grant .

Regards,

 

Lucky.

[Guest fat]

Hi ! Mirelle, what's the hitch... no one is gonna kill u for posting the exact text...

 

mate are you for real? that is rude...

[virtual_bajwa]

Hi VB

 

I have lobbied Mrs Singh, the Indian High Commissioner to Australia. I have copied the e-mail to you. The Indian HC are bound to have a senior official called the "Liaison Officer between the Indian Government and DIAC," (or a similar sort of job title) I should think, because David Wilden is DIAC's Regional Director for Europe, based at the Australian High Commission in London.

 

Even if Mrs Singh cannot be seen to do anything herself, I'm sure that one of her senior staff can be seen to "express grave concern" to the Australian Government - or something similar.

 

I can't very well lobby any Indian MPs myself because I am not an Indian Citizen or a Permanent Resident of Australia, so it would be cheeky for me to pester an Indian MP. However there is nothing to prevent you from forwarding my e-mail to an MP or three if you wish.....

 

Cheers

 

Gill

Oh, that would be a better idea. I would request you to please compose me a mail so that I can forward it to an M.P. of my area.

[virtual_bajwa]

This was the changes which were updated by Haag Walker Lawyers, Melbourne about Cap & Cease of Pre-1 September 2007 GSM Applications on their websites.

 

On 25th June 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, has determined that for the following visa categories, a ‘cap’ is now in place concerning the number of visas that can be granted for each class;

These are:

 

 

• Skill Matching (Migrant) (Class BR) visas: 245;
• Skilled - Independant (Migrant) (Class BN) visas: 2506; and
  
• Skilled - Australian - sponsored (Migrant) (Class BQ) visas; 546
  

 

Under subsection 39(2) of the Migration Act 1958, any GSM visa applications pending for the above classes which exceed the cap will be considered not to have been made. The exercise of this power will void a previously valid application making it very difficult to challenge in judicial review proceedings.

 

Where an application is ceased, the Visa Application Charge (VAC) paid by applicants will be refunded. It is important to note, however, that applicants will not be refunded out of pocket expenses incurred in relation to their Australian immigration application, such as fees paid to an immigration lawyer or migration agent, costs of skills assessments, English testing, medicals or police checks.

 

Applicants who have had their visa application ceased and still want to apply for an Australia visa, will be required to meet the current visa criteria. The new, narrower Skilled Occupation List (SOL), and higher English language requirements will mean that many applicants who were able to meet the visa criteria pre 1 September 2007 will be ineligible to apply when their application is ceased.

 

It is important to note that applications made prior to 1 September 2007 for the Skilled – Designated Area Sponsored (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 496) are not affected by the recent legislative instrument or currently subject to any cap and cease provisions.

[Guest babboo]

mate are you for real? that is rude...

I apologize for the burst ... Please excuse me... This was not required...

Cheers

[Joana]

mate are you for real? that is rude...

[ATTACH]1923[/ATTACH]

 

This is the letter.

 

you can ask for a refund . if you do so that means you have consented to the cease and cap and later you cannot join a class action ......if there will be one. Hovewer, even if a class action will ever exist againt the Department....it will take probably years.......

[virtual_bajwa]

Guys,

Well, I do not know how the DIAC system operates. As they have started ceasing the Pre - September 2007 applications, no one anywhere has mentioned the fate of Skilled - Designated - Area Sponsored (Provisional) (Class 496). I am trying to search anything written about this class. I am standing on Priority number 6(ii) on priority processing list. I do not know what is the fate of this class.This month it will be 3 years to my application in system.And as the mood of the minister is, there is no surprise that tomorrow minister will say that the cap of this class is reached and all the 496 applicants will be returned money. Why not he is talking about this class right now. Well that is why people can not believe this system. DIAC is always very unpredictable. What is the point behind holding the category 6 and 7 applicants?

[Guest babboo]

Hi !

wrote to a couple of solicitors for a opinion....

This is I received from one of them...

 

Dear Ms xxx

There are a number of legal issues that would need to be considered before taking Court action. The Federal Magistrates’ Court has certain jurisdictional limitations and a decision of that Court is likely to be appealed by a losing party in any event. For that reason, it may be preferable to first consider in detail the possibility and likely prospects of success of an action in the High Court of Australia. Before taking such action, however, we would need to spend some time researching jurisdictional matters as well as the lawfulness of the Department’s decision in your case (and others). Clearly, the more people were to pool their financial resources to fight such decisions, the better. We also need to bear in mind the new laws which have yet to be passed by our Parliament but which, if passed, would give the Minister even broader powers to cap and cease applications based on one or more “characteristics” of an application (ie not all applications of a certain class but, for example, all applications in which an applicant has nominated a particular skilled occupation such as cook).

I recommend that a senior barrister be briefed to prepare a formal opinion as to the appropriate Court and prospects of success. We would need to pay her around $3,000.00 to $5,000.00 to consider all the issues and advise. In addition, our charges would be around $2,000.00. Please let me know if you would like us to obtain that opinion. Alternatively, please make a telephone appointment to speak with me about the various legal issues arising in the case. The cost of that appointment would be $550.00. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

xxx | Partner

Accredited Immigration Law Specialist

Migration Agents Registration Number xxxxxx

xxxxxxx Associates, Solicitors

 

 

Cheers...

[virtual_bajwa]

Hi !

wrote to a couple of solicitors for a opinion....

This is I received from one of them...

 

Dear Ms xxx

 

There are a number of legal issues that would need to be considered before taking Court action. The Federal Magistrates’ Court has certain jurisdictional limitations and a decision of that Court is likely to be appealed by a losing party in any event. For that reason, it may be preferable to first consider in detail the possibility and likely prospects of success of an action in the High Court of Australia. Before taking such action, however, we would need to spend some time researching jurisdictional matters as well as the lawfulness of the Department’s decision in your case (and others). Clearly, the more people were to pool their financial resources to fight such decisions, the better. We also need to bear in mind the new laws which have yet to be passed by our Parliament but which, if passed, would give the Minister even broader powers to cap and cease applications based on one or more “characteristics” of an application (ie not all applications of a certain class but, for example, all applications in which an applicant has nominated a particular skilled occupation such as cook).

 

I recommend that a senior barrister be briefed to prepare a formal opinion as to the appropriate Court and prospects of success. We would need to pay her around $3,000.00 to $5,000.00 to consider all the issues and advise. In addition, our charges would be around $2,000.00. Please let me know if you would like us to obtain that opinion. Alternatively, please make a telephone appointment to speak with me about the various legal issues arising in the case. The cost of that appointment would be $550.00. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

xxx | Partner

Accredited Immigration Law Specialist

Migration Agents Registration Number xxxxxx

xxxxxxx Associates, Solicitors

 

 

Cheers...

Hi Babbo,

There are too options left for you.

 

Option number 1 : You invite all the fellow members of poms from India who are affected by this ceasing. And then together you share the burden of this finance. Because it's not easy to arrange this big amount for one person.

Option number 2 : You accept what is given to you and apply again.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi !

wrote to a couple of solicitors for a opinion....

This is I received from one of them...

 

Dear Ms xxx

There are a number of legal issues that would need to be considered before taking Court action. The Federal Magistrates’ Court has certain jurisdictional limitations and a decision of that Court is likely to be appealed by a losing party in any event. For that reason, it may be preferable to first consider in detail the possibility and likely prospects of success of an action in the High Court of Australia. Before taking such action, however, we would need to spend some time researching jurisdictional matters as well as the lawfulness of the Department’s decision in your case (and others). Clearly, the more people were to pool their financial resources to fight such decisions, the better. We also need to bear in mind the new laws which have yet to be passed by our Parliament but which, if passed, would give the Minister even broader powers to cap and cease applications based on one or more “characteristics” of an application (ie not all applications of a certain class but, for example, all applications in which an applicant has nominated a particular skilled occupation such as cook).

I recommend that a senior barrister be briefed to prepare a formal opinion as to the appropriate Court and prospects of success. We would need to pay her around $3,000.00 to $5,000.00 to consider all the issues and advise. In addition, our charges would be around $2,000.00. Please let me know if you would like us to obtain that opinion. Alternatively, please make a telephone appointment to speak with me about the various legal issues arising in the case. The cost of that appointment would be $550.00. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

xxx | Partner

Accredited Immigration Law Specialist

Migration Agents Registration Number xxxxxx

xxxxxxx Associates, Solicitors

 

 

Cheers...

 

Hi Babboo

 

In replying to you, a load of weird stuff about fonts etc has come up on my screen and it reveals that Clothier Anderson have provided the advice given above.

 

I don't think it does any harm to name the solicitors involved because they are 100% right in the idea that the best thing is if several applicants instruct the same solicitors. It keeps the costs to a reasonable level for each applicant, which is worth doing.

 

It is interesting that they say the same as Nigel Dobbie said, which is to ask leading Counsel what s/he thinks might be do-able. I suspect that they are all likely to say this and that it is the right thing to say. I suspect that the idea would be to ask an Immi Law specialist barrister to start with and then this barrister might recommend getting an expert in Aussie Human Rights law involved as well.

 

Deciding whether or not to sue the Minister for Immi does take quite some time. The lawyers have to insist on proceeding slowly & carefully because the loser pays both sides' costs. Nigel Dobbie established in Bodruddaza in 2007 that there is no need to hurry about this because the High Court accepted (in Bodruddaza) that the strict time limits laid down in the Rules of the Court can be ignored if obeying those Rules would lead to injustice.

 

I only know a tiny amount about the various courts in Australia and how each of them operate but it sounds as if the High Court is the Supreme Court of Australia and that there is no way to appeal against a High Court ruling. I can see the sense of choosing a Court where the Minister will just have to live with a ruling from that Court because the solicitors are right - if the ruling goes against the Government then the Government would undoubtedly appeal against a decision if they can.

 

Have you asked David Bitel of Parish Patience what he thinks? I suspect that he would say exactly the same as Clothier Anderson and Nigel Dobbie have both said already but it might be worth getting a "knee jerk reaction" from Mr Bitel as well, to see whether or not he thinks that S39 is bullet proof in the hands of the Government?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Jo_uktooz]

sounds as if the High Court is the Supreme Court of Australia and that there is no way to appeal against a High Court ruling.

Hi Gill,

Absolutely correct,the High Court of Australia is the highest court in the land,it used to be possible to appeal to the Privy Council but that was abolished by the Hawke Government in 83 probably because hardly anyone bothered with the time and expense,I think I'm right in saying that the last appeal to the Privy Council against an Australian court ruling was back in the 70's.

Cheers

Jo

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Babbo,

There are too options left for you.

 

Option number 1 : You invite all the fellow members of poms from India who are affected by this ceasing. And then together you share the burden of this finance. Because it's not easy to arrange this big amount for one person.

Option number 2 : You accept what is given to you and apply again.

 

Hi VB

 

What you have told Babboo is 100% correct. Whether or not to litigate is something that will take several weeks (and maybe months) to decide and it will cost a lot of money just to reach the point of making a decision, I suspect.

 

The alternative options that the badly-treated migrants have are:

 

A. Find an employer-sponsor if possible and do things that way instead. This will be necessary in cases where the nominated occupation is not in Schedule 3 of the new SOL and is not in any of the new State Migration Plans either, and/or when the visa applicant is now 45 or above;

 

B. Apply again for a GSM visa if the visa applicant is eligible for one of the new visas, but bear in mind that the solicitors who have advised Babboo above are correct - if the proposed Cap & Kill Bill becomes Law then the same thing could happen all over again and it would be much harder to fight against that if it becomes law than it might be to fight against the existing Section 39.

 

C. Accept that the Australian Government have proven themselves to be a bunch of thoroughly fickle, two-faced, dishonest b*stards and simply turn their backs on Australia for good.

 

There are many reasons why I decided not to bother even to try to emigrate to Oz whilst I was still young enough to do so - many different reasons - but one of the reasons why I decided against it was because I was not prepared to put up with a bunch of ex-convicts trying to order me about, bluntly.

 

I had met a particularly officious and ghastly little female from Customs at 2am one Sunday morning at Perth Airport. I had a row with her when she told me spitefully that they could "prosecute" me for absolutely nothing. I told her in words of one syllable to go right ahead and try it, because the best firm of solicitors in Perth would defend me for free anyway, considering that I was a solicitor with the best firm of solicitors in the City of London, I had a box of their business cards with me with my name on them and there is no shortage of etiquette amongst sharks.

 

I told this little cow that if she decided to prosecute me for absolutely nothing, we would put her dreadful little self onto the witness stand personally and I would insist that the barrister defending me must ask her to tell the Court why she had not known the relevant blerdy Law. She had had to go off to ask somebody else.

 

My only "crime" had been that I had not signed the Customs manifest because I was not sure from the disembarkation card whether or not a Stilton cheese that I had bought from Harrods in London was a prohibited foodstuff or not. I had listed absolutely everything that I had bought en route (a duty-free gold watch, camera equipment etc and I had also listed the cheese just in case.) I didn't sign the manifest because I thought that I could sign it once I had sorted things out about the cheese with the Customs officer in the red "goods to declare" channel, in which I stood and waited to reach the front of the queue.

 

This bossy little female hadn't even read the manifest. She told me bossily that as it was Christmas there was an amnesty on taking duty free goods into Oz and she waved me through. I demurred because she had obviously not noticed the cheese on the list. What about the cheese? She agreed that just as I was not sure about the cheese, neither was she, so she went off to ask somebody else. When she returned, she said I could not have the cheese so I unpacked it and gave it to her.

 

Whereupon this female accused me of having tried to "smuggle" the cheese into Australia and having been "caught" by a vigilant Customs woman - herself. She was a white Australian and to judge from her accent, she was probably born in the place. I wondered whether the officials in Perth were corrupt since I had not encountered any similar nonsense during an earlier visit to Sydney? I decided that they were unlikely to be corrupt and that this moronic, poorly educated, bossy little cow was simply stupid instead.

 

Anyway, she threatened to prosecute me for alleged attempted smuggling, so I told her in no uncertain terms that she would be on trial for her own woeful ignorance of the relevant Law, effectively, if she tried it, whereupon she thought better of the idea and demanded nastily to see my passport instead.

 

By then I was furious and told her that my passport was none of her blinking business since I had already been through Immigration control and I had a perfectly valid visitor visa for Oz.

 

She then hissed, "Are you planning to come back to Australia at any time?"

 

I retorted, "If I should meet even one other Australian person who is anything like as ghastly as you, I will cut short my holiday, catch the next plane out of this dump and then I will NEVER return to Australia ever again. Malaysia deserves my tourist shekel far more than you lot deserve it and having spent my whole childhood in Malaysia I can tell you for sure that no official in Malaysia has ever, ever been RUDE to me - unlike your vile little self. I can meet my sister for holidays in Malaysia instead - where nobody would ever even dream of being rude to me - and I need never bother to return to this dump called Australia again for as long as I live, gedditt?"

 

She subsided and I remembered that my sister and brother in law were waiting outside to meet me, despite the ungodly hour of 2am on a Sunday morning, plus I would not have been so furious had I not also been jet lagged, feeling grubby physically and generally exhausted, so I decided to let this dreadful little female go instead of giving her what for until daylight, which she richly deserved.

 

That encounter put me right off the whole country for good, frankly. That sort of nonsense is not the way to win the heart & mind of a tourist who is being good enough to volunteer to spend her money in your convict colony of a country, bluntly. After that I decided firmly that Australian officials are the most officious little herberts on the whole planet and that the ones who have never been outside Australia are the best balanced people in the world because they have chips on both shoulders, evidently.

 

So if I were one of the affected visa applicants, I would simply walk away from Australia, to be honest. I would not waste another dime of my own money on their treachery and double-dealings. The Indian Ocean is absolutely stuffed with other places that are drop-dead gorgeous to look at, with people to match and beaches to die for, so who on earth wants to traipse to Australia for a holiday instead is something that I've always wondered. Suburbia in Australia is exactly the same as suburbia everywhere else in the world so there is no point in trekking to Australia in order to admire suburbia imho and WA is mostly desert in any case. As deserts go, I suspect that the Sahara and Gobi deserts are probably less boring than the desert in WA.

 

If the Aussies ever treated me as badly as they are now trying to treat some of you, I would arrange to meet my sister in one of the Far Eastern countries instead, where a tourist simply does not get - and would never get - the sort of c-r-*-p that Australia expects people to put up with. I'd deprive the Aussies of my own money for ever more and use the money in order to enrich some of the people in a country where I can be certain of being treated properly and well, instead.

 

A ticket from London to KL return is a fraction of the price of a return from London to Perth, too.

 

Carina Ford is correct in her submission to the Public Inquiry about the Cap & Kill Bill. With regard to Section 39, she says that the Aussie Government gave several months' advance notice that the system of skilled visas was going to alter dramatically on 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC went out of their way to encourage applications for skilled visas before the system changed, warning people that they might not still be eligible to apply after 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC absolutely assured her clients and herself that visa applications made prior to 1st September 2007 would be honoured and would be decided according to the rules that prevailed when the visa applications were submitted.

 

At the time, I had only just become a moderator of Poms in Oz. I figured that I would need to get to grips with and learn a bit about at least the more common skilled visas, since most of the queries on the forum are about skilled visas. However I decided that there was no point in learning about the GSM visas that were possible before 1st September 2007 because they would soon be closed to new applicants. I decided to find out about the then new and now current GSM visas only, instead.

 

So I have no idea what the Aussie Government actually said via DIAC, its public mouthpiece, but I have no reason not to believe Carina Ford 100%. She says that the Australian Governments, past and present, have simply misled visa applicants.

 

If a country could take your money whilst leading you up the garden path for 3 years, would you ever trust such people ever again? Personally speaking, I wouldn't.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

PS - I don't think Malaysia is fussy about foodstuffs being imported but even if they were, a Malaysian Customs official would have told me, "I am very sorry, Ma'am, but you are not allowed to bring the cheese into Malaysia, so could you please give it to me for destruction instead? Here, let me help you to carry your luggage off to this corner out of the way and please take your time about unpacking it. Please let me know when you have found the cheese and then we can correct the Customs declaration form and you can sign it." That would have been the end of the matter and it would leave any tourist with an excellent impression of the country concerned instead of a terrible one.

[virtual_bajwa]

Hi VB

 

What you have told Babboo is 100% correct. Whether or not to litigate is something that will take several weeks (and maybe months) to decide and it will cost a lot of money just to reach the point of making a decision, I suspect.

 

The alternative options that the badly-treated migrants have are:

 

A. Find an employer-sponsor if possible and do things that way instead. This will be necessary in cases where the nominated occupation is not in Schedule 3 of the new SOL and is not in any of the new State Migration Plans either, and/or when the visa applicant is now 45 or above;

 

B. Apply again for a GSM visa if the visa applicant is eligible for one of the new visas, but bear in mind that the solicitors who have advised Babboo above are correct - if the proposed Cap & Kill Bill becomes Law then the same thing could happen all over again and it would be much harder to fight against that if it becomes law than it might be to fight against the existing Section 39.

 

C. Accept that the Australian Government have proven themselves to be a bunch of thoroughly fickle, two-faced, dishonest b*stards and simply turn their backs on Australia for good.

 

There are many reasons why I decided not to bother even to try to emigrate to Oz whilst I was still young enough to do so - many different reasons - but one of the reasons why I decided against it was because I was not prepared to put up with a bunch of ex-convicts trying to order me about, bluntly.

 

I had met a particularly officious and ghastly little female from Customs at 2am one Sunday morning at Perth Airport. I had a row with her when she told me spitefully that they could "prosecute" me for absolutely nothing. I told her in words of one syllable to go right ahead and try it, because the best firm of solicitors in Perth would defend me for free anyway, considering that I was a solicitor with the best firm of solicitors in the City of London, I had a box of their business cards with me with my name on them and there is no shortage of etiquette amongst sharks.

 

I told this little cow that if she decided to prosecute me for absolutely nothing, we would put her dreadful little self onto the witness stand personally and I would insist that the barrister defending me must ask her to tell the Court why she had not known the relevant blerdy Law. She had had to go off to ask somebody else.

 

My only "crime" had been that I had not signed the Customs manifest because I was not sure from the disembarkation card whether or not a Stilton cheese that I had bought from Harrods in London was a prohibited foodstuff or not. I had listed absolutely everything that I had bought en route (a duty-free gold watch, camera equipment etc and I had also listed the cheese just in case.) I didn't sign the manifest because I thought that I could sign it once I had sorted things out about the cheese with the Customs officer in the red "goods to declare" channel, in which I stood and waited to reach the front of the queue.

 

This bossy little female hadn't even read the manifest. She told me bossily that as it was Christmas there was an amnesty on taking duty free goods into Oz and she waved me through. I demurred because she had obviously not noticed the cheese on the list. What about the cheese? She agreed that just as I was not sure about the cheese, neither was she, so she went off to ask somebody else. When she returned, she said I could not have the cheese so I unpacked it and gave it to her.

 

Whereupon this female accused me of having tried to "smuggle" the cheese into Australia and having been "caught" by a vigilant Customs woman - herself. She was a white Australian and to judge from her accent, she was probably born in the place. I wondered whether the officials in Perth were corrupt since I had not encountered any similar nonsense during an earlier visit to Sydney? I decided that they were unlikely to be corrupt and that this moronic, poorly educated, bossy little cow was simply stupid instead.

 

Anyway, she threatened to prosecute me for alleged attempted smuggling, so I told her in no uncertain terms that she would be on trial for her own woeful ignorance of the relevant Law, effectively, if she tried it, whereupon she thought better of the idea and demanded nastily to see my passport instead.

 

By then I was furious and told her that my passport was none of her blinking business since I had already been through Immigration control and I had a perfectly valid visitor visa for Oz.

 

She then hissed, "Are you planning to come back to Australia at any time?"

 

I retorted, "If I should meet even one other Australian person who is anything like as ghastly as you, I will cut short my holiday, catch the next plane out of this dump and then I will NEVER return to Australia ever again. Malaysia deserves my tourist shekel far more than you lot deserve it and having spent my whole childhood in Malaysia I can tell you for sure that no official in Malaysia has ever, ever been RUDE to me - unlike your vile little self. I can meet my sister for holidays in Malaysia instead - where nobody would ever even dream of being rude to me - and I need never bother to return to this dump called Australia again for as long as I live, gedditt?"

 

She subsided and I remembered that my sister and brother in law were waiting outside to meet me, despite the ungodly hour of 2am on a Sunday morning, plus I would not have been so furious had I not also been jet lagged, feeling grubby physically and generally exhausted, so I decided to let this dreadful little female go instead of giving her what for until daylight, which she richly deserved.

 

That encounter put me right off the whole country for good, frankly. That sort of nonsense is not the way to win the heart & mind of a tourist who is being good enough to volunteer to spend her money in your convict colony of a country, bluntly. After that I decided firmly that Australian officials are the most officious little herberts on the whole planet and that the ones who have never been outside Australia are the best balanced people in the world because they have chips on both shoulders, evidently.

 

So if I were one of the affected visa applicants, I would simply walk away from Australia, to be honest. I would not waste another dime of my own money on their treachery and double-dealings. The Indian Ocean is absolutely stuffed with other places that are drop-dead gorgeous to look at, with people to match and beaches to die for, so who on earth wants to traipse to Australia for a holiday instead is something that I've always wondered. Suburbia in Australia is exactly the same as suburbia everywhere else in the world so there is no point in trekking to Australia in order to admire suburbia imho and WA is mostly desert in any case. As deserts go, I suspect that the Sahara and Gobi deserts are probably less boring than the desert in WA.

 

If the Aussies ever treated me as badly as they are now trying to treat some of you, I would arrange to meet my sister in one of the Far Eastern countries instead, where a tourist simply does not get - and would never get - the sort of c-r-*-p that Australia expects people to put up with. I'd deprive the Aussies of my own money for ever more and use the money in order to enrich some of the people in a country where I can be certain of being treated properly and well, instead.

 

A ticket from London to KL return is a fraction of the price of a return from London to Perth, too.

 

Carina Ford is correct in her submission to the Public Inquiry about the Cap & Kill Bill. With regard to Section 39, she says that the Aussie Government gave several months' advance notice that the system of skilled visas was going to alter dramatically on 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC went out of their way to encourage applications for skilled visas before the system changed, warning people that they might not still be eligible to apply after 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC absolutely assured her clients and herself that visa applications made prior to 1st September 2007 would be honoured and would be decided according to the rules that prevailed when the visa applications were submitted.

 

At the time, I had only just become a moderator of Poms in Oz. I figured that I would need to get to grips with and learn a bit about at least the more common skilled visas, since most of the queries on the forum are about skilled visas. However I decided that there was no point in learning about the GSM visas that were possible before 1st September 2007 because they would soon be closed to new applicants. I decided to find out about the then new and now current GSM visas only, instead.

 

So I have no idea what the Aussie Government actually said via DIAC, its public mouthpiece, but I have no reason not to believe Carina Ford 100%. She says that the Australian Governments, past and present, have simply misled visa applicants.

 

If a country could take your money whilst leading you up the garden path for 3 years, would you ever trust such people ever again? Personally speaking, I wouldn't.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

PS - I don't think Malaysia is fussy about foodstuffs being imported but even if they were, a Malaysian Customs official would have told me, "I am very sorry, Ma'am, but you are not allowed to bring the cheese into Malaysia, so could you please give it to me for destruction instead? Here, let me help you to carry your luggage off to this corner out of the way and please take your time about unpacking it. Please let me know when you have found the cheese and then we can correct the Customs declaration form and you can sign it." That would have been the end of the matter and it would leave any tourist with an excellent impression of the country concerned instead of a terrible one.

 

Well,

This has been heart breaking experience with you Gilly. But this was one of the incident which make you hate Australian system, but as my brother always told me that there are some bad and good people in the system. And this is everywhere. You meet good people you feel very relaxed after that,but on the other hand one feels broken when such experiences struck you.

 

I had felt from last few discussions that you have so much hatred towards Australian bureaucratic setup.Well, I was an active member of one of the forums. I have a very good respect for the moderator of that forum. Lots of the members from that forum have joined this forum. I told her that I am also an active member of that forum. She warned me from doing so. She told me to be careful as moderator of this forum is banned from her forum.

 

This is what I wrote in one of the thread in this forum. Then the URL of this forum is deleted and the message in blue was printed by the moderator of that forum....

 

"Hey matey ,

Good to see u here. There are many people in this category. Please contact us here.........

You will also be our family member there as I am a family member on this forum....

Sorry VB, had to edit out the link you posted. The person who runs that particular Forum was banned from our Forum quite some time ago...with VERY good reason. Please be careful! "

 

>>>>>Mouth watering stuff. Please do share you cheese with me when we use to met in life...:notworthy:

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Well,

This has been heart breaking experience with you Gilly. But this was one of the incident which make you hate Australian system, but as my brother always told me that there are some bad and good people in the system. And this is everywhere. You meet good people you feel very relaxed after that,but on the other hand one feels broken when such experiences struck you.

 

I had felt from last few discussions that you have so much hatred towards Australian bureaucratic setup.Well, I was an active member of one of the forums. I have a very good respect for the moderator of that forum. Lots of the members from that forum have joined this forum. I told her that I am also an active member of that forum. She warned me from doing so. She told me to be careful as moderator of this forum is banned from her forum.

 

This is what I wrote in one of the thread in this forum. Then the URL of this forum is deleted and the message in blue was printed by the moderator of that forum....

 

"Hey matey ,

Good to see u here. There are many people in this category. Please contact us here.........

You will also be our family member there as I am a family member on this forum....

Sorry VB, had to edit out the link you posted. The person who runs that particular Forum was banned from our Forum quite some time ago...with VERY good reason. Please be careful! "

 

>>>>>Mouth watering stuff. Please do share you cheese with me when we use to met in life...:notworthy:

 

Hi VB

 

The unnamed "person" could well be me.

 

I was banned from British Expats because I continually told their dreadful little moderators to go take a walk on the wild side. Apparently the sheeple who are their members objected to that. It is common knowledge and I thought that everyone knew about it?

 

I was not perturbed. Why should I care if a few other sheeple don't want me in their particular sheep pen? There are plenty of other sheep pens around and some of them, like Poms in Oz, are a better resting place for "intellectually minded sheeple" imho.

 

I am 100% convinced that there is a deadly serious game to be played against the Australian Government, here. This game is not won by being sheeple. It is won by being brainy, articulate, clever and clued up instead. Doing that requires a far greater investmant of time, commitment and brains than being a sheeple requires, but so what? Let us get on with it and do it - together. I believe that the game itself is vastly more important than a mere internet forum.

 

Not everyone will agree with me. Some people prefer being sheeple - which is fine. British Expats will suit them very well, I expect.

 

I don't hate Australia. My sister and my mother both like the place enough to want to live there, apparently. That is not a choice that I would ever make for myself. However my reasons for not choosing Oz for myself go way beyond a dreadful little Customs official whom I once happened to meet.

 

What she did do, though (albeit unwittingly) was to warn me. This lot are prize turncoats if they work for the Government and they get half a chance to try to bully somebody else, evidently.

 

They will NEVER bully me and they will never even get the chance to try the idea out.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[virtual_bajwa]

Hi VB

 

The unnamed "person" could well be me.

 

I was banned from British Expats because I continually told their dreadful little moderators to go take a walk on the wild side. Apparently the sheeple who are their members objected to that. It is common knowledge and I thought that everyone knew about it?

 

I was not perturbed. Why should I care if a few other sheeple don't want me in their particular sheep pen? There are plenty of other sheep pens around and some of them, like Poms in Oz, are a better resting place for "intellectually minded sheeple" imho.

 

I am 100% convinced that there is a deadly serious game to be played against the Australian Government, here. This game is not won by being sheeple. It is won by being brainy, articulate, clever and clued up instead. Doing that requires a far greater investmant of time, commitment and brains than being a sheeple requires, but so what? Let us get on with it and do it - together. I believe that the game itself is vastly more important than a mere internet forum.

 

Not everyone will agree with me. Some people prefer being sheeple - which is fine. British Expats will suit them very well, I expect.

 

I don't hate Australia. My sister and my mother both like the place enough to want to live there, apparently. That is not a choice that I would ever make for myself. However my reasons for not choosing Oz for myself go way beyond a dreadful little Customs official whom I once happened to meet.

 

What she did do, though (albeit unwittingly) was to warn me. This lot are prize turncoats if they work for the Government and they get half a chance to try to bully somebody else, evidently.

 

They will NEVER bully me and they will never even get the chance to try the idea out.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

Hey Gilly,

It's hotting up. Let's cool it down. forget everything. And chill down. We are on this planet to enjoy life for whatever reason it has given. I know it's hard to do . But let us cheer matey. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

[rahulpatel1969]

Gill

 

How about organizing the applicants affected and getting one of your solicitor friends to file for those applicants caught out by the capping and ceasing. They could all pool the money.

 

Why dont we start a thread for that.

 

Rahul

[Guest babboo]

Hi VB

 

What you have told Babboo is 100% correct. Whether or not to litigate is something that will take several weeks (and maybe months) to decide and it will cost a lot of money just to reach the point of making a decision, I suspect.

 

The alternative options that the badly-treated migrants have are:

 

A. Find an employer-sponsor if possible and do things that way instead. This will be necessary in cases where the nominated occupation is not in Schedule 3 of the new SOL and is not in any of the new State Migration Plans either, and/or when the visa applicant is now 45 or above;

 

B. Apply again for a GSM visa if the visa applicant is eligible for one of the new visas, but bear in mind that the solicitors who have advised Babboo above are correct - if the proposed Cap & Kill Bill becomes Law then the same thing could happen all over again and it would be much harder to fight against that if it becomes law than it might be to fight against the existing Section 39.

 

C. Accept that the Australian Government have proven themselves to be a bunch of thoroughly fickle, two-faced, dishonest b*stards and simply turn their backs on Australia for good.

 

There are many reasons why I decided not to bother even to try to emigrate to Oz whilst I was still young enough to do so - many different reasons - but one of the reasons why I decided against it was because I was not prepared to put up with a bunch of ex-convicts trying to order me about, bluntly.

 

I had met a particularly officious and ghastly little female from Customs at 2am one Sunday morning at Perth Airport. I had a row with her when she told me spitefully that they could "prosecute" me for absolutely nothing. I told her in words of one syllable to go right ahead and try it, because the best firm of solicitors in Perth would defend me for free anyway, considering that I was a solicitor with the best firm of solicitors in the City of London, I had a box of their business cards with me with my name on them and there is no shortage of etiquette amongst sharks.

 

I told this little cow that if she decided to prosecute me for absolutely nothing, we would put her dreadful little self onto the witness stand personally and I would insist that the barrister defending me must ask her to tell the Court why she had not known the relevant blerdy Law. She had had to go off to ask somebody else.

 

My only "crime" had been that I had not signed the Customs manifest because I was not sure from the disembarkation card whether or not a Stilton cheese that I had bought from Harrods in London was a prohibited foodstuff or not. I had listed absolutely everything that I had bought en route (a duty-free gold watch, camera equipment etc and I had also listed the cheese just in case.) I didn't sign the manifest because I thought that I could sign it once I had sorted things out about the cheese with the Customs officer in the red "goods to declare" channel, in which I stood and waited to reach the front of the queue.

 

This bossy little female hadn't even read the manifest. She told me bossily that as it was Christmas there was an amnesty on taking duty free goods into Oz and she waved me through. I demurred because she had obviously not noticed the cheese on the list. What about the cheese? She agreed that just as I was not sure about the cheese, neither was she, so she went off to ask somebody else. When she returned, she said I could not have the cheese so I unpacked it and gave it to her.

 

Whereupon this female accused me of having tried to "smuggle" the cheese into Australia and having been "caught" by a vigilant Customs woman - herself. She was a white Australian and to judge from her accent, she was probably born in the place. I wondered whether the officials in Perth were corrupt since I had not encountered any similar nonsense during an earlier visit to Sydney? I decided that they were unlikely to be corrupt and that this moronic, poorly educated, bossy little cow was simply stupid instead.

 

Anyway, she threatened to prosecute me for alleged attempted smuggling, so I told her in no uncertain terms that she would be on trial for her own woeful ignorance of the relevant Law, effectively, if she tried it, whereupon she thought better of the idea and demanded nastily to see my passport instead.

 

By then I was furious and told her that my passport was none of her blinking business since I had already been through Immigration control and I had a perfectly valid visitor visa for Oz.

 

She then hissed, "Are you planning to come back to Australia at any time?"

 

I retorted, "If I should meet even one other Australian person who is anything like as ghastly as you, I will cut short my holiday, catch the next plane out of this dump and then I will NEVER return to Australia ever again. Malaysia deserves my tourist shekel far more than you lot deserve it and having spent my whole childhood in Malaysia I can tell you for sure that no official in Malaysia has ever, ever been RUDE to me - unlike your vile little self. I can meet my sister for holidays in Malaysia instead - where nobody would ever even dream of being rude to me - and I need never bother to return to this dump called Australia again for as long as I live, gedditt?"

 

She subsided and I remembered that my sister and brother in law were waiting outside to meet me, despite the ungodly hour of 2am on a Sunday morning, plus I would not have been so furious had I not also been jet lagged, feeling grubby physically and generally exhausted, so I decided to let this dreadful little female go instead of giving her what for until daylight, which she richly deserved.

 

That encounter put me right off the whole country for good, frankly. That sort of nonsense is not the way to win the heart & mind of a tourist who is being good enough to volunteer to spend her money in your convict colony of a country, bluntly. After that I decided firmly that Australian officials are the most officious little herberts on the whole planet and that the ones who have never been outside Australia are the best balanced people in the world because they have chips on both shoulders, evidently.

 

So if I were one of the affected visa applicants, I would simply walk away from Australia, to be honest. I would not waste another dime of my own money on their treachery and double-dealings. The Indian Ocean is absolutely stuffed with other places that are drop-dead gorgeous to look at, with people to match and beaches to die for, so who on earth wants to traipse to Australia for a holiday instead is something that I've always wondered. Suburbia in Australia is exactly the same as suburbia everywhere else in the world so there is no point in trekking to Australia in order to admire suburbia imho and WA is mostly desert in any case. As deserts go, I suspect that the Sahara and Gobi deserts are probably less boring than the desert in WA.

 

If the Aussies ever treated me as badly as they are now trying to treat some of you, I would arrange to meet my sister in one of the Far Eastern countries instead, where a tourist simply does not get - and would never get - the sort of c-r-*-p that Australia expects people to put up with. I'd deprive the Aussies of my own money for ever more and use the money in order to enrich some of the people in a country where I can be certain of being treated properly and well, instead.

 

A ticket from London to KL return is a fraction of the price of a return from London to Perth, too.

 

Carina Ford is correct in her submission to the Public Inquiry about the Cap & Kill Bill. With regard to Section 39, she says that the Aussie Government gave several months' advance notice that the system of skilled visas was going to alter dramatically on 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC went out of their way to encourage applications for skilled visas before the system changed, warning people that they might not still be eligible to apply after 1st September 2007. She says that DIAC absolutely assured her clients and herself that visa applications made prior to 1st September 2007 would be honoured and would be decided according to the rules that prevailed when the visa applications were submitted.

 

At the time, I had only just become a moderator of Poms in Oz. I figured that I would need to get to grips with and learn a bit about at least the more common skilled visas, since most of the queries on the forum are about skilled visas. However I decided that there was no point in learning about the GSM visas that were possible before 1st September 2007 because they would soon be closed to new applicants. I decided to find out about the then new and now current GSM visas only, instead.

 

So I have no idea what the Aussie Government actually said via DIAC, its public mouthpiece, but I have no reason not to believe Carina Ford 100%. She says that the Australian Governments, past and present, have simply misled visa applicants.

 

If a country could take your money whilst leading you up the garden path for 3 years, would you ever trust such people ever again? Personally speaking, I wouldn't.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

PS - I don't think Malaysia is fussy about foodstuffs being imported but even if they were, a Malaysian Customs official would have told me, "I am very sorry, Ma'am, but you are not allowed to bring the cheese into Malaysia, so could you please give it to me for destruction instead? Here, let me help you to carry your luggage off to this corner out of the way and please take your time about unpacking it. Please let me know when you have found the cheese and then we can correct the Customs declaration form and you can sign it." That would have been the end of the matter and it would leave any tourist with an excellent impression of the country concerned instead of a terrible one.

 

Hi Gill, Spot on...Clothier Anderson --- Yes

 

Let me give u my story...

I am not the first applicant.. My wife is as I am not qualified enough to migrate on my behalf.. My real and only brother migrated in 2000 as we lost a profitable business in one single day in 1996 as the government took over our land and the restaurant business my father established in 1971... This was done for the beautification of the surroundings around the Taj Mahal ... This joint was called the "Relax Restaurant and Lodge" just 20 meters from the gate of the fabled Taj Mahal. This place was recommended for its good atmosphere and Real percolated coffee and good food by the Lonely Planet guide book..

 

So, I decided lets move... I started traveling all over Europe ... My first stop was Switzerland where I stayed for 6 months and slowly shifted to Germany selling my Marble Peitra dura (Inlay work of Semi Precious stones on Marble)... This is my Job and this is what I do... My wife is well educated and she has all the degrees possible to migrate... I came back as my parents are in India and they told me --- Go stay with your younger brother instead of Germany... As the language is English and also your only family is there...... My Dad is 77 and in good health...

 

So, I came back from Germany in 2005 ...Established my business in New Delhi, India... And applied for migration in 2007.....

 

After reading your above mail and also discussing with my migration agent I have finally decided that I will not contemplate action and spend more of my hard earned money...

 

My brother has meanwhile settled in their system and is a Bank Manager in a reputed bank in Melbourne... He now owns 2 houses and doing very well...

 

I will still try one more time to migrate with the new SOL ... I hope they have my wife's education officer= education adviser( New name given) on the state sponsorship.....

 

I am a very emotional kind of guy and would give anything to be with my family.... Any way my KARMA will be with me ---- and I will do my KARMA and leave the rest and fate to my KARMA.......

 

Dear Gill, my wife and me think if given an opportunity we would like to meet u in person... I am sure lot of other members have similar regards for you...:hug: Thanks a lot for being such a beautiful person.

 

 

Cheers:notworthy:

[Guest babboo]

Gill

 

How about organizing the applicants affected and getting one of your solicitor friends to file for those applicants caught out by the capping and ceasing. They could all pool the money.

 

Why dont we start a thread for that.

 

Rahul

 

If possible i will do it... But seems a distance dream for us as the money involved and the time this will take will be a deterrent to most of us Indians and other applicants as we have already lost money(Agent, medicals, police clearance and IELTS)... I am already 42 now. See, bossfishy ...he is now 47... he was 44 when he applied...

 

The b****d minister knows that people will still come to them... And believe me we still will- because we are so many in this land and we need to migrate to balance the equilibrium of this planet... And believe me this is what is going to happen... They will still need us ...Cheap labor, some real intelligent people and some real hard working people -- USA, UK and Canada .....Many real stories to be discussed...

[electrical guy]

at last same mail to me .worst time continue .totally feeling rubbed by cheap oz minis

[Guest babboo]

at last same mail to me .worst time continue .totally feeling rubbed by cheap oz minis

 

Sorry to hear that dear. Take heart as this is not the end of the world... May be this was for the good.... Cheers

[virtual_bajwa]

Here is the list of unlucky applicants who got the notification regarding ceasing and refund of money..........

 

dasalcedo

Serial Number ----5

Date of application: 30 August 2007

IELTS: Listening: 5.5 Reading: 8.0 Writing: 5.5 Speaking: 6.5

Nationality: Colombian

Trade/profession: Architect

Visa type: 136 Skilled Independent.

CSL, MODL or SOL: MODL

Medicals submitted: Twice don't remember dates.

Police check submitted: Don't remember date.

Date CO assigned: No CO assigned.

Date visa granted: No visa granted so far.

Recieved the letter regarding Ceasing of application on dated 08-07-2010

______________________________________________________________________

babboo

Serial Number---9

Date of Application: 27-Aug-2007

Nationality: Indian By Birth

IELTS : L 6.5, R 5.5, W 6, S 6

Trade/Profession: Education Officer

Visa Type: BQ 138

CSL, MODL or SOL:

Medicals submitted: Feb 2008

Police check submitted: Feb 2008

Date CO assigned: Not assigned

Date visa granted:

Got the letter about ceasing.

______________________________________________________________________________

electrical guy(Changed to State Sponsorship)

Serial Number---10

Date of application :31 august 2007

Nationality : Indian

Trade : electrician 4311-11

IELTS: s-7,l-6,r-6,w-5.5(av-6) minimum criteria was 5.5 each

Visa type : bn 137

csl/sol :sol

co assigned :december2008

medical/pcc demanded : feb2k9

state sponsorship granted : feb/2010

visa : waiting

Got the letter about ceasing on 09-07-2010

______________________________________________________________________________

No Regrets

Serial NUmber 12

Date of application: 27 - June. 2007

Nationality: Egyptian

Trade/profession: Retail pharmacist

Visa type: skilled independent 136

CSL, MODL or SOL: MODL also CSL

Date CO assigned: 07 - 2008

Medicals submitted: 09/2008.

Got married, Hubby added on 7/2009

Date visa granted:Not yet(waiting)

IELTS : 8 ( 9,9,7,7)

Got the letter from department regarding money returned

_________________________________________________________________________

Apples

Serial Number - 15

Lodged the Application - August 22nd 2007

HR country applicant.: srilanka

Occupation :Analyst Programmer(2231-17)

NON CSL/NON MODL:SOL

Visa type: skilled independent visa subclass 136

IELTS : overall band 7

CO allocation –Jan 04th 2009

Job verification - Jan 9th 2009

CO Requested PCC,Medical,form 80

Visa grant : still waiting

Fees Refunded:Yes Got the letter from department on dated 07/07/2010.

_______________________________________________________________

Joana

Serial Number --18

Nationality: Romanian

Date of application 25 August 2007

Trade/proffesion: law degree, skill assessment_community worker,

visa type: 138 skilled sponsored

Case officer : dec 2008

medical checks submitted: 20 December 2008

IELTS - submitted twice

Police checks- submitted

Visa: no visa

Got the letter from department regarding money returned

__________________________________________________________________________

Mirelle

Serial Number : 25

Date of application: 20 August 2007

Nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Trade/profession: General electrician

Visa type: Class BQ, Subclass 138 Skilled – Au Sponsored Visa

CSL, MODL or SOL: used to be on CSL, removed, MODL

TRA: March 2007

IELTS: March 2007, overall band 6

Date CO assigned: November 2008

Medicals submitted: December 2008, and additional X-ray check requested and submitted 11 May 2009.

Police check submitted: YES, December 2008

Job verification: December 2008

Spouse IELTS: March 2009, overall band 8

Fees Refunded:Yes Got the letter from department.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

*****Please confirm if somebody left in this list who got the notification regarding ceasing and refund of money till date.******

[Guest Anya]

Hi Gill, Spot on...Clothier Anderson --- Yes

 

Let me give u my story...

 

 

 

 

What a lovely post and such beautiful sentiments.

 

I wish everyone on this thread the very best and hope all your dreams come true.

 

I strongly believe that what ever has to happen will happen.

 

Fight for your rights by all means but please remember that Australia is not the be all and end all of your dreams and aspirations and do not let this consume you.

 

Having lived here for almost a year now, am just waiting for my oldest to finish college and we're already planning on a move out of Australia.

[Guest babboo]

 

Fight for your rights by all means but please remember that Australia is not the be all and end all of your dreams and aspirations and do not let this consume you.

 

Having lived here for almost a year now, am just waiting for my oldest to finish college and we're already planning on a move out of Australia.

 

Hi Anya,

Thank you...

Can u please give us more on your experience in Australia and the above quote of thinking of moving out just after one year...

Cheers

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Here is the list of unlucky applicants who got the notification regarding ceasing and refund of money..........

 

dasalcedo

Serial Number ----5

Date of application: 30 August 2007

IELTS: Listening: 5.5 Reading: 8.0 Writing: 5.5 Speaking: 6.5

Nationality: Colombian

Trade/profession: Architect

Visa type: 136 Skilled Independent.

CSL, MODL or SOL: MODL

Medicals submitted: Twice don't remember dates.

Police check submitted: Don't remember date.

Date CO assigned: No CO assigned.

Date visa granted: No visa granted so far.

Recieved the letter regarding Ceasing of application on dated 08-07-2010

______________________________________________________________________

babboo

Serial Number---9

Date of Application: 27-Aug-2007

Nationality: Indian By Birth

IELTS : L 6.5, R 5.5, W 6, S 6

Trade/Profession: Education Officer

Visa Type: BQ 138

CSL, MODL or SOL:

Medicals submitted: Feb 2008

Police check submitted: Feb 2008

Date CO assigned: Not assigned

Date visa granted:

Got the letter about ceasing.

______________________________________________________________________________

electrical guy(Changed to State Sponsorship)

Serial Number---10

Date of application :31 august 2007

Nationality : Indian

Trade : electrician 4311-11

IELTS: s-7,l-6,r-6,w-5.5(av-6) minimum criteria was 5.5 each

Visa type : bn 137

csl/sol :sol

co assigned :december2008

medical/pcc demanded : feb2k9

state sponsorship granted : feb/2010

visa : waiting

Got the letter about ceasing on 09-07-2010

______________________________________________________________________________

No Regrets

Serial NUmber 12

Date of application: 27 - June. 2007

Nationality: Egyptian

Trade/profession: Retail pharmacist

Visa type: skilled independent 136

CSL, MODL or SOL: MODL also CSL

Date CO assigned: 07 - 2008

Medicals submitted: 09/2008.

Got married, Hubby added on 7/2009

Date visa granted:Not yet(waiting)

IELTS : 8 ( 9,9,7,7)

Got the letter from department regarding money returned

_________________________________________________________________________

Apples

Serial Number - 15

Lodged the Application - August 22nd 2007

HR country applicant.: srilanka

Occupation :Analyst Programmer(2231-17)

NON CSL/NON MODL:SOL

Visa type: skilled independent visa subclass 136

IELTS : overall band 7

CO allocation –Jan 04th 2009

Job verification - Jan 9th 2009

CO Requested PCC,Medical,form 80

Visa grant : still waiting

Fees Refunded:Yes Got the letter from department on dated 07/07/2010.

_______________________________________________________________

Joana

Serial Number --18

Nationality: Romanian

Date of application 25 August 2007

Trade/proffesion: law degree, skill assessment_community worker,

visa type: 138 skilled sponsored

Case officer : dec 2008

medical checks submitted: 20 December 2008

IELTS - submitted twice

Police checks- submitted

Visa: no visa

Got the letter from department regarding money returned

__________________________________________________________________________

Mirelle

Serial Number : 25

Date of application: 20 August 2007

Nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Trade/profession: General electrician

Visa type: Class BQ, Subclass 138 Skilled – Au Sponsored Visa

CSL, MODL or SOL: used to be on CSL, removed, MODL

TRA: March 2007

IELTS: March 2007, overall band 6

Date CO assigned: November 2008

Medicals submitted: December 2008, and additional X-ray check requested and submitted 11 May 2009.

Police check submitted: YES, December 2008

Job verification: December 2008

Spouse IELTS: March 2009, overall band 8

Fees Refunded:Yes Got the letter from department.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

*****Please confirm if somebody left in this list who got the notification regarding ceasing and refund of money till date.******

 

Hi VB

 

Please could you add Bossfishy1 to your list? He has confirmed to me in a PM that he has received a formal letter to notify him that his visa application has been terminated and requesting his instructions about a refund.

 

His details are as follows:

 

Nationality: British

 

Trade/Profession: General Electrician with a formal apprenticeship and full British City & Guilds qualifications, plus at least 25 years of experience at the time of his visa application. DIAC were NOT suspicious of Bossfishy1 because he had obtained his skills assessment under Skilled Pathway D (I will explain that below.)

 

Visa Type: sc 136 originally but then he obtained State Sponsorship from QLD early in 2009. I don't know whether that means that his visa application morphed into an application for an sc 137 visa or some other subclass number.

 

Visa Application Submitted: August 2007, when Bossfishy1 was 44. He is now 48.

 

CSL/MODL: Was on the CSL from 1st Jan to 16th March 2009. Was always on the MODL until the abolition of the MODL on 8th Feb 2010.

 

TRA: 2007, before the closure of Skilled Pathway D but that was not relevant to Bossfishy1, whose TRA skills assessment was awarded under Skilled Pathway A.

 

IELTS: Not necessary because Bossfishy1 is British.

 

Dates CO Assigned: First CO - 2007/2008. Second CO - early 2009. Third CO - 2009/2010

 

Medicals: 2008 on request from the CO

 

Police checks: I don't know but I assume that they were requested and submitted.

 

Job Verification: Completed via an in-person visit to Australia House in London in Dec 2008.

 

Fees Refunded: He has received the DIAC refunds form for completion.

 

***********************************************************************

 

TRA Skilled Pathway D. Since your own skills assessment was not done through TRA, you might not understand TRA and their "skilled pathways." They used to have 5 Skilled Pathways, numbered A-E inclusive. Very briefly:

 

Skilled Pathway A: Formal qualifications and a formal apprenticeship lasting for at least 4 years.

 

Skilled Pathway B: Formal qualifications and an informal apprenticeship lasting for at least 5 years.

 

Skilled Pathway C: Not relevant for a genuine tradie - used for Child Care Coordinators and Computing Support Technicians.

 

Skilled Pathway D: No formal qualifications, no apprenticeship - self-taught with informal assistance from colleagues and proof of at least 6 years of experience of doing the job.

 

Skilled Pathway E: The applicant holds an Aussie AQF III certificate. Training/experience is determined according to whether the visa applicant has learned the skills in Australia or whether s/he has learned the skills and has work experience in another country.

 

DIAC & TRA came to suspect that Pathway D was being scammed. There was some evidence that applicants were making bogus claims about their work experience, so Pathway D was suddenly closed overnight on 4th/5th September 2007.

 

To start with I wondered whether DIAC were suspicious of Bossfishy1 because maybe he had lost his C&G certificates and so he had relied on Pathway D? He confirms that that his not the case.

 

DIAC were suspicious of him because he had spent 2 years working in Georgia, in what used to be the USSR. Georgia is considered by DIAC to be very high risk, so the CO was suspicious about his work experience but eventually Bosshishy1 went to Oz House in London and it was sorted out in December 2008.

 

Bossfishy's wife became pregnant at about the same time as the visa application was made, which meant that she could not undergo a chest x-ray in 2007, when first requested. The meds were deferred until after the baby was born in 2008.

 

Working it all out with Bossfishy1, he was simply caught out by his wife's pregnancy, followed by his work-experience hassle, followed by the Minister's decision to change the CSL on 16th March 2009, followed by the Minister's further interference on 23rd September 2009, and followed by the Minister's interference again on 8th Feb 2010.

 

The upshot is that Bossfishy1 became an example of what senior DIAC officials have been pleased to describe gleefully and gloatingly as being "collateral damage." There was never any intention to refuse him a GSM visa and if he were still under 45, there would be nothing to stop him from applying again and getting a GSM visa under the new GSM system now.

 

As it is, if Bossfishy1 pursues the idea of moving to Oz, he would have to obtain employer-sponsorship, which would not be simple. Meanwhile Australia - which is short of experienced General Electricians who can speak good English and whose occupation is so urgently needed that they are on the new SOL - remains short of the necessary General Electricians.

 

It is a whopping Own Goal for the Minister of Immigration, it is an indictment of his own constant interference and inept meddling with the GSM visa application programme and it is also a clear example of DIAC's own bungling, fumbling incompetence.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Ozzieland]

I feel terribly disgusted at the Government's attitude to having absolutely no remorse for those people who possess the skills that they desperately need. Bossfishy1 was well within the parameters of a skilled worker that is even prevalent right now. If they think that he is too old, because I see no other reason, then why don't they change the age criteria ? Why don't they just reveal to us their minds on what exactly they want so that people don't go around investing hard earned money and their precious lives (which unfortunately will never be returned) on something that will never happen. This is, imo, open 'Day Light Robbery' and someone should be answerable for this.