C&R

How long after your assurer had their interview at Centrelink, did it take for them to
a) deposit the money at the bank
b) your visa to be granted.

Am interested to hear your experiences, and where the Centrelink interview took place. Many thanks : )

ljk888

Ours was a bit of a weird one, as our sponsor was in the UK when the bond was supposed to be lodged, and our medicals etc expired on the 11th November (so if we didn't get out to Oz by then we were b*ggered)...

as soon as Centrelink received confirmation of the bond (by fax and email)which had been witnessed by the Ozzie embassy, they emailed our case officer (within minutes of receiving it), and our case officer (lovely woman) granted our visa on that same day I think - but the thing is if she had done it any later we wouldn't have got our visas in time (we got them on the Friday and flew out the next Tuesday) - this is probably the quickest possible timescale (basically a day or 2), but it shows it can be done!!

C&R

flippin eck that was close! I take it your sponsor was your assurer too then? You had a VERY nice case officer, lucky you!! : )
Our assurer has been waiting a week now for instructions on depositing the bond, and because of that I was wondering what other peoples timescales were.

Sleeping Beauty

have a look at my timeline. brothers centrelink interview was at gosford, NSW. but, he had the choice of having a telephone interview as where he lives is classed a semi-rural.


04/04/05 TRA sent to Australia
13/04/05 TRA acknowledged
15/06/05 TRA approved (9 weeks 2 days)
26/08/05 138 visa application to Australia
06/09/05 received acknowledgment
25/10/05 police checks sent for
10/12/05 police checks sent to agent
17/03/06 medicals done (unrequested)
24/03/06 medicals sent
10/04/06 rcd confirmation off LCU that meds okay
10/04/06 adv by agent that CO allocated who has requested brother has meds and pccs
13/5/06 brother sent most documents to CO
16/5/06 brother had interview at centrelink
23/5/06 bond lodged
26/5/06 last document (aussie police checks) sent to CO - thats should be it now!
16/6/06 VISA GRANTED - AT LONG BLOODY LAST!!

C&R

Thanks SB, so he waited 1 week before depositing the money, was this his choice or when centrelink instructed him to do so?

Sleeping Beauty

brother in law had to help us on that one, and he couild only transfer 1000 pounds at a time from his bank in the uk to australia, hence the slight delay. although knowing my brother, it could have well been his choice

i think if you have got a really good assurer, who is organised, it can be deposited the same day as the centrelink interview, and the receipt taken back on that very same day. ..........but........i didnt

shouldnt be too long now for you, hopefully. its awful the waiting isnt it?

C&R

how strange - my post disappeared, anyway... We transfered the bond to our assurer in time for the centrelink interview. We assumed after the interview they could deposit the cash, and it would all be sorted...But they came back to us telling us they had to wait for centrelink to give them the go ahead and deposit the cash when instructed to do so. Does this sound right??? This is the only part of the visa process we have been unable to control, and yes, the wait is frustrating...

Sleeping Beauty

......we were unable to control any of it! brother held the reins on his part, the application was in the hands of DIMA, and therefore the CO. we just felt so helpless once the application had gone in, living in limbo land, ours lives in teh hands of somebody else....uuugggghhhh, wouldnt want to go through that again <<<<<<<<<shudder>>>>>>>>>>

C&R

yep, I know exactly how you felt!! it worked out ok for you though, so congrats on getting through the worry!!

Sleeping Beauty

yep, it was a long 17 months though

we are here now, and all the hassle and problems that we encountered along the way, seems so long ago.

whats your timeline? when are you hoping to be over here for?

C&R

We applied in March this year. Though it has taken over 16 months from getting all the initial info together to sending the actual visa app off.
We are hoping to have the visa by xmas, and validating either then or in Feb next year. It looks as though I will live on my own for a while when we move, OH will stick with his job for the next 2 years or so, and then move over to Oz permanently. How are you enjoying things in Oz, have you settled down ok?

ormrod7

Hi there,

We were on a 138 non MODL, we were ack at the very beginning of February. Mhy husbands brother and his wife are sponsering us they had there interview in Adelaide and it took about 3 1/2 weeks for Centrelink to ask for the money and another 2 for the Visas to be granted which we got last week!!
We are heading to Brisbane in mid March. I'm a bit like you im going to be on my own for quite alot of the time with my 7 year old son, as my husband is keeping his job from the UK as he works Offshore 8 weeks on 8 weeks off.
Where are you off?

C&R

Hi Omrod7, we may be off to Victoria, we are debating right now! So it took over 3 weeks for centrelink to ask for the money, good grief, but congrats on getting your visa, you must be so relieved after that wait, but looking at the time scales we are similiar as we applied at the beginning of March, so we *could* have the visa by christmas. How do you feel about the prospect of living by yourself when you move?