carrieann8675

Hi There

Just wanted to see if anybody else is in the same situation as me and my family:

Applied in July 2009 - Application has never moved and now we have been dumped into the Priority Group 5 (personally dont think the word Priority should be used anywhere to describe this category)

So we applied through my husbands skill at the time of priniting machinist, not even sure if its still on the list....Its really unfair that the governement take everybodys money and then change the goalposts completely and leave people in limbo..If you signed a contract which is effectively what people have done you would not be legally allowed to change the terms and conditions halfway through..

I would quite happily take a refund and forget it as our lives have moved on here in the UK , but they dont even have the decency to offer you that, of course you can withdraw the application but what is the point in that if you dont get anything from it, its as well sitting in the never ending queue to see what happens

I know there is a lawyer in Australia fighting cases for category 4 and 5 visa applicants and hope this has a positive outcome for all involved, it is morally wrong what they are doing the fee you pay is for admin and processing and if none of that has been done you should be entitled to a refund...

Hopefully somebody somewhere will stand up and make a difference for all the poor people stuck in this situation...

To be fair I dont know if I would want to live in such an arrogant country any more, its the other side of the world..so you would never see your friends and family, yes its sunny and beautiful but if the governement get away with treating people like this its not a very fair country to live in, in my opinion..

Anyway Rant over (that feels better )

Carrie

Bermudashorts

You are definitely not alone, many people are stuck. My own view is that Australia has to be allowed to change their rules as they see fit, however I think it is very wrong to keep monies from these applications for years on end, perhaps they should only take their fees when a case officer is appointed.

carrieann8675

I would be ok with the whole thing if I got a refund but think its so wrong that they are keeping a hold of peoples money like that...

Pollyana

In the past there have been times when (like Canada) they have closed and refunded certain groups of applicants - whether that will happen again no-one knows.

carrieann8675

I really hope they start giving refunds as its a lot of money in a recession for people just to.throw away, that would be the decent thing to do as its very unfair ....when we originally applied we anticipatef about 12-18 months through to completion but to have tour application sitting dormant for 3 years is not right, i think and hope that this will end soon....hopefully the same thing that happened with banks being able to charge people ridiculous amounts of money for years and ending will happen with the australian government....its wrong and they cant just tell people to withdraw their applications if they are not happy...my husbands skills wont get state sponsorship and we dont have family out there so we really are stuck with no options in our favour

MarcAndHelen

You are in the same boat as us and and thousands of others who have now given up/divorced/died(!), we applied for 175 Feb 2009. At the time we were also told approx 12 months until allocation so paid our $2200 fees in good faith on that premise. In hindsight it was a terrible mistake as we and 32,000 others have been cheated royally by DIAC. They have withheld over $70mAUD from Cat 5 applicants for 3-5 years - enough money to fund all Christmas Island detainees for 2½ years - think of the interest alone!

As soon as we faced the realisation that we would always be at the tail-end of what is an infinite queue we knew it was time to forget Australia and look at other options. We applied for NZ residency and got PR in 5 months, well within INZ's prescribed timeframes. We love it here in Auckland. Now it would seem DIAC are following the Kiwi model by employing skill select. All Cat 5 Ozzie visas may well be processed in the next 3-4 years but by then we will have kiwi passports and therefore be eligible to work in Oz anyway! (if we still wished to pursue that avenue) Love the irony in that one.

The hardest thing to swallow is that they refuse point blank to refund us, even though they have not yet looked at our files! We paid for a service for which they have failed miserably to deliver. Period. If DIAC was a private enterprise they would be either sued or had their trading licence revoked by now. But who realistically has the resources to take on an entire government dept in court? Sadly, David Harvey doesn't stand much of a chance and the case alone would prob take a minimum of 3 years, he is challenging some archaic legislation from the Migration Act of 1958.

Disgraceful breach of fairness and shame on you DIAC, your arrogance sends a terrible message to people around the globe who have/had a love for the wonderful country you represent.

....but I guess $70m is worth a bit of bad press eh!

Rant over too

mrsgreenstar76

It's unlikely that DIAC will refund any monies unless they apply a cap and cease again. Whilst on the one hand, would at least end the long wait. On the other, I wouldn't want that rug pulled out from under me like it was for the pre-September 2007 applicants. I don't think there's a hope in hell for any potential court case. I've noticed that a lot of people jumped at the chance to take it to court & contributed to the legal costs, but the solicitor has been remarkably silent since.

I do agree with Bermudashorts though. Whilst it's difficult for us as applicants, Australia is entitled to alter the rules in whatever way they see fit. Immigration is run for the benefit of the country, not the potential migrants.

It would be nice if they at least gave us the option of a possible refund though.