Jamie Smith

Suggestion to applicants.

Write to a) the CEO of DIAC, b) the DIAC manager for Migration and Visa Policy and c) the Minister of Immigration (their details later).

Something like this:

Dear Sir

I wish to lodge a formal complaint about the handling of my visa application by DIAC.

The application was lodged at a time that the most senior people responsible for running the Australian migration programme (being the CEO of DIAC, the Manager of Migration Visa Policy and the Minister of Immigration) knew Skilled Independent and other MODL based visa numbers were becoming higher than the programme could allow for in any year.

You were made aware up to two years ago that DIAC modelling indicated that the numbers of students who were likely to apply for permanent residency would compound the problem.

Yet you let the student numbers develop unabated and did not change policy settings or processing priorities in a timely manner.

You failed to advise me that these rising volumes meant there could be delays in deciding my application, the likelihood as you knew was that the visa grant date for my case would go well beyond the processing times shown in recent visa grants being tracked by applicants and agents the world over.

I had a fair and reasonable expectation that my visa would be processed within normal timeframes as DIAC advise in budget estimates and service quality standards on their website.

I also made the application under Australian laws, knowing that I would not be discriminated against based on my occupation and necessary choice of visa subclass.

You failed to advise me that the Minister instructed DIAC in January to hold off processing visas in my subclass, based on my non-CSL MODL based occupation.

This may have caused me to withdraw my application, but it would certainly have given me pause for thought before incurring any additional costs as processing continued.

You failed to advise me that DIAC continued to process my application against the Minister's wishes, with DIAC asking me to incur significant costs plus expend a great deal of personal time.

Your neglect to advise me properly also raised my expectations that due process was being applied to my application such that these new costs and requests for information would soon result in grant of a visa.

As these requests for more information and documentation with associated costs were evidently against the Minister’s instructions and my visa would no longer be granted in a timely manner, so you failed to ensure that I was properly informed and I thus have had my rights as a consumer of Australian Government services impinged upon.

You are responsible for my recent costs and frustration, and I require compensation.

That compensation can either be by way of:

• Immediately restoring the assessment and decision making process for my visa subclass and ultimately granting my application within two months, or
• Agreeing to accept a claim from me for costs that I have incurred since the Minister instructed DIAC to restrict processing on my visa subclass in January PLUS restoring the visa decision making process for my visa subclass and ultimately granting my application within two to six months, or
• Cancelling my visa application without future prejudice to my making subsequent applications and offering me a full refund - including all third party costs incurred relevant to making my application and complying with DIAC requests for information and documentation, of course this claim will be backed by receipts. Costs will include police clearances, migration agent fees, medical checks, skills assessments, post and courier, visa application fees and anything else reasonably documented and related to my application.

The Minister mentioned to the Senate on 20 October that a number of Sri Lankan boat people just wanted to work in Australia - well so do we!

The Minister also mentioned on that same day that he insisted on doing the morally right thing by the family of the 5 people drowned on an unseaworthy vessel purchased as a result of DIAC cost cutting, regardless of legal technicalities.

We believe the Minister should show us that his moral character is not limited to a one off event where people had to die to get his attention. We are after all following the proper procedures and legal requirements, we are not trying to jump any queue or provide false information.

We believe that the Minister should take responsibility and demonstrate that his moral position is consistent, that it extends to cover the thousands of customers affected by your combined lack of earlier action in managing the inflow of MODL applications once the problem was brought to your attention.

Setting limits and shaping migration programme volumes was your job to do at the time you knew the inflow was changing, and you missed that opportunity.

DELETE AS NECESSARY – My family now suffers as a result of this lack of timely decision making.

The late response and subsequent over-reaction to the rising inflow of MODL based visas means we will now be ineligible to migrate as a family if we wait the two years advised to us. My son/daughter will then no longer be able to be included in our application and thus will not be able to migrate with us. We will migrate as a family and add to the Australian workforce for years to come, or we will not migrate at all.

It is your job to help lift the unfair and discriminatory suspension of processing of non-MODL cases.

We ask for nothing more than a) that our natural rights be accorded us and b) that our reasonable expectations be met - rights that were created in dealing with your Government and expectations that were formed as a result of information provided by DIAC on many occasions.

We trust that you will do the morally right thing, "regardless of the legal technicalities".

Yours sincerely



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CONTACT DETAILS

Senator Chris Evans
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 2 6277 7860
Fax: +61 2 6273 4144
Email: [email protected]



Mr Andrew Metcalfe
Secretary, Department of Immigration and Citizenship
PO Box 25
Belconnen ACT 2616
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 2 6264 2560 / 2561
Fax: +61 2 6264 2670
Email: [email protected]


Mr Peter Vardos PSM
First Assistant Secretary
Migration and Visa Policy Division
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
PO Box 25
Belconnen ACT 2616
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 2 6264 1888
Fax: +61 2 6264 1887
Email: [email protected]


Come on everybody!

chrissy990

Thanks for that template Jamie.

We are planning to write and complain. There must be so many people in the same position as ourselves.

Up to now we've spent £5000 (AQF assessment, agency fees, visa fees, solicitor fees, IELTS exam, 2 TRA applications ...) and we really feel we will never be granted a visa.

Our children are in their teens and by 2012 one will be 18 and my husband will be 47 and will probably find it hard to gain employment due to his age.

Our lives are on total hold as we have no idea if and when we'll be granted a visa.

Good Luck to everyone waiting!!

Jamie Smith

Go for it Chrissy!

Chris N Lora

That is really the issue with us, our daughter will be 18 nearly then and if she is over 18 she cant come on our application even though she was just past 13 when we applied but oh no DIAC wont say it is ok the child was the right age at lodgement they will just sting for more money.... we have seriously considered saying F U to Australia !!!!

Chris.

missa

We are in a similar position. Both our sons will be 18 or over if & when we get the visa. Our eldest i think will try to get one in his own right as he is all for going, however our youngest doesn't really want to go, but has to as he is still a child. The deal was that if he couldn't settle within 2 yrs ( by the time he is 18 ) then he coiuld return. However once he's 18 he will probably choose not to go at all, therefore not even giving it a chance, & its looking like weve little chance of getting it within next couple of years. Then will come the decision!!! If he decides to stay do we go & leave him or do we forget our dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jamie Smith

WRITE!

Add A human side to the discussion.

Dorothy

Huh? I'm 47 and have never found it difficult to find work here. Unless your husband is a male model, his age (47) isn't going to make much difference. It's not like he's going to be 67 when you arrive.

George Lombard

The letter writing campaign suggested by Jamie will provoke a standard reply concerning pass and pool marks and the standard advice that DIAC gives to applicants not to take any action with respect to assets and employment prior to visa grant. I would suggest that those applicants who are family sponsored might have a stronger case to put forward in a letter campaign, since in most cases there is a voter involved.

However if those who are state sponsored write to their sponsoring state explaining the difficulties they face, that is more likely to arm the states when they confront DIAC about these changes and overall program numbers.

Writing to the Secretary of the Department of Immigration, however, seems to me to be particularly pointless and will only generate bog standard responses.

Cheers,

George Lombard

Jamie Smith

George, a standard reply will follow as per policy requiring a response, however non-committal it may be. I mean, who at this stage would want to admit fault?

Behind the secenes it will be a different matter - the Minister made clear in Senate that he responds to expressed human desires - the Sri Lankan boat people just wanting to work, for example.

The letter will also end up in unimagined places, such as with the media, who might then ask the Minister for comment - and that opens up another front in the battle to get a proper hearing.

The last thing well intending migrants want is to be sidelined and then ignored.

George Lombard

Judging by our last experience of a similar issue, the collapse of the statutory deposit scheme, and what I know about the Department's take on media investigation, I am not sure anyone really wants this on the front page, it might create a defensive situation and we already know the Department may be prepared to compensate those who have paid for medical and police clearances obtained at Departmental request.

I really do think that those SSers with hard luck stories need to share them with the sponsoring states first.

Cheers,

George Lombard

Jamie Smith

Hi George

It's obvious that DIAC and the Minister learned nothing from the statutory deposit fiasco and Pathway D sudden close off.

DIAC can be as a defensive as they like, the way to keep this stuff from the media is to avoid creating the problem in the first place.

You're an agent of good reputation and long standing, when was the last time DIAC or the policy wonks consulted you about proposed changes and possible effects on clients and the industry as a whole?

Had they done that more often, do you think DIAC would still be kneecapping applicants and showing their weaknesses in service volume management?

George Lombard

Jamie,

Don't mention the S word :-)

Cheers,

George Lombard

Jamie Smith

Why not? I pay T for tax and I expect S for service from P for ......

chrissy990

That's good news Dorothy if my husband won't be seen as being over the hill at 47!!

We are family sponsored so we will still write and give details of our case (It's been a long and expensive road up till now and we're not going to give up yet)