ndaltonb

Fellow citizens of Limbo

A PETITION
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I don't know about you but I want to make myself heard and express my frustrations direct to Philip Ruddick (Minister for Immigration) and after a bottle of wine, we thought about getting together a petition from most of us in the UK to send to him. All we are looking for is a fair crack at the whip and this is a fairly low key way of doing it.

I'd like to hear your views as this would only work if we got a lot of signatures. e-mail me at [email protected]

Not Whinging
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I thought about drafting something and an Aussie friend of mine said he would check it through to check for any "whinging". It would be along the lines of "there are many qualified professional people who have made the emotional decision to be upstanding and contributing Australian taxpayers/voters and we are looking for a fair crack of the whip etc......"

No-One singled out
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If we have enough signatures, no-one could be singled out as a whinger or trouble maker

Getting signatures
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Whilst there are a few people on this ng we would need to spread the response wider. we could
- set up at Emigrate 2002
- put a coupon in Australia News (that emigration newspaper)
- ask all the agents if they would consider posting a copy to their UK clients for all of us

I would be willing to collect all the responses and then DHL them over to P Ruddick, or I could ask my agent to forward them to the agents representative in Canberra to hand over personally to P Ruddick.

I'd be really interested in your views. Personally, I just feel that I have to do SOMETHING.

By the way, I could only do this for the UK. If readers elsewhere also want to do this, I'd be happy to post a copy of the text of the petition once I have it finished and checked for non-whinging.

Taking it wider
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If we feel brave enough, we could raise it with the newspapers in Aus as well.

Let me have your views

Nigel and Sally

nixstuff

Hmmm. Don't think that's a good idea - it'll just backfire. It's buggered our plans completely and is going to cost another year of expensive UK living effectively - car and bike insurance and tax are all due, another set of winter quarterly bills etc. etc.

But. Who are we to say ? We're ASKING to be part of their country, it's their prerogative.

My only comment is this..seems to me like agencies taking a govt. initiative to the extreme, much like happens here now. They issue a dictum calling urgently for more IT, and this gets interpreted down the line as 'at the expense of all other cases'. Maybe, who am I to say. Remember they have overall visa capping limits to meet.

But, perhaps rather than 'complain' about the wait, one point should be made - this short term initiative may well be at the expense of longer term prosperity. Surely it can't allow for balanced economic growth. What happens if and when the IT sector gets saturated ? What if IT goes pop again, and they're left with 20,000+ new highly skilled and highly paid immigrants demanding their promises of a new life are met ?

Furthermore, if resentment really does build, they're alienating thousands more (potentially) economically beneficial immigrants. Even my eternal optimism about the county has just been deflated that one bit more..we're heartbroken right now. All this and I'm a new media developer anyway...I just happen to have a business not IT degree. And of course we all want to enter Oz with the right attitude, but they shouldn't allow it to cross over from grateful to expectant. I think the programme needs re-balancing for the greater good.

We'll just keep quiet, keep our heads down and work, and hope for the best. And then it'll be an even greater achievement if we ever actually get there..

Petecito

I've been applying for employer-sponsored immigration to the US and have been waiting
over four years. If you consider a country's identity, culture, safety from foreign
infection and overall prosperity, immigration is a very serious matter, and the
granting of which should be seen as a huge privilege to be respected.

If you really want to 'do something' tell Ruddock you're going for the sun and the
exchange rate. He'll bury your application on Bondi Beach and you'll be out of
your misery.

Britain enjoys a more vibrant economy than Australia at the moment, so you can hardly
consider yourself in limbo. You do need to get things into perspective, however.

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Chris000

Its another country and another government, they dont owe us anything and they've got somthing we want.

Nuff said?

Chris.

Mark :-\)

As my old granny used to say ..

"the best things in life are worth waiting for"..and believe me a PR for Oz is
definitely worth waiting for....

" You get nothing for nothing in this life"....There has to be at least a little
anguish and pulling out of hair follicles to make the process of actually getting the
visa in your passport all that more enjoyable.

And finally my own tuppenny worth...."hang in there and you will eventually get what
you so desire."

Regards

MD

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nixstuff

If you consider a country's identity, culture, safety from foreign
infection and overall prosperity, immigration is a very serious matter, and the
granting of which should be seen as a huge privilege to be respected.

Britain enjoys a more vibrant economy than Australia at the moment, so you can hardly
consider yourself in limbo. You do need to get things into perspective, however.

-----------------

Couldn't agree more. No one is in any position to complain about/demand anything. We've all got to be appreciative of even being given the chance to emigrate, so be thankful of ANY result no matter how long it takes. Despite the personal difficulties, I still totally respect the Oz govt.'s stance on this, and their system - seems far more sensible than the UK's debacle.

Back to reality...

Julia

Well, as I see this it's not the question of whether the country wants us or not. It
is just the question of lack information. Why can't they say how long it'll take them
to process the visa and what's going on with all this. Do u know that some people who
have sent their docs to Adelaide are going quicker then we do? Is it normal???? I'm
in Moscow. Russian national and we have the same problem at our lockal DIMA
department. They give no answers, they don't know what's going on and they have no
idea when my visa could be granted. Looks like they just doing nothing waiting for
some mythical instructions from Central DIMA office. I think the process must be a
bit more clear for the applicants - that's all I want. To have the opportunity to
plan my life. So it seems to me that the situation is like that among the whole
world. Regards. Julia

ndaltonb

To those who responded, many thanks for taking the time and letting me have your views.

As you might have guessed I wasn't entirely gung-ho about this suggestion and wanted to see what everybody thought. Thanks for letting me blow off a little steam here. Also, many thanks for all the “hang in there, it will be worth it� comments, they kind of brought me back on keel.

Just need to get the last little bit off my chest (see below) so thanks in advance for your understanding.

I’ll get back in my box now, grit my teeth, get my head down and hang on.

Looking on the bright side the trees are budding so spring is definitely on it’s way. That’s always a lift in any hemisphere, north or south.

Nigel
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Final comments
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We do need to remember that whilst we are asking for entry into someone else's country, as a group, we do have a lot to offer. We will be bringing all our skills education, assets, money and all our collective experiences. I’d like to believe we should be able to ask politely (not demand) to be dealt with a little more understanding.

Agreed, immigration is a privilege, however we are following all the rules as requested. A contract is a two-way street, as should be common courtesy. Fully agree it is their prerogative, country, government, culture etc, it’s just that the Aussies I’ve met and known are generally up front about things and this lack of info feels just a tad unfriendly when we are following the rules.

All of us, I’m sure, are quite willing, nay happy, to put up with the wait and take our turn. (I don't think anyone on the ng has advocated queue-jumping and I think they would be lynched if they did ). Also I think we are happy, in the main, for certain professions to be given priority; go nurses! Any country must be able to prioritise its requirements. I just believe providing a bit more information would go a long way to help taking the stress out of the whole process and many of us are in professions that are on the wanted list already. (Personally, I’m not and so will have to take my turn and fully understand that)

Also reading some of the Aus newspapers on-line (The Age) the whole immigration process is mainly about the illegal immigration debate. I thought we might, in the politest possible way, want to point out that there are a lot of us following the rules and patiently waiting our turn.

I’ve tried to write down why I feel I am in limbo and here’s why. It’s not an economical point. There are some sweeping generalisation so apologies in advance if you don’t quite agree.
Being in this land of limbo means we can’t plan anything
CAREER – can’t talk about it or else the boss might get to know and we are seen as no longer committed and could get passed over for promotions, training opportunities, etc. So we may have to live a double life at work. If it was only 9 months, not too much of a problem, but 20 months is a little more significant.
FRIENDS – may not be able to tell friends as some of them work with us and we don’t want it to get back to the office. See above and again a double life.
FAMILY – may not want to tell family just yet in case it doesn’t come together or don’t want to hear “I’ll never see you again�. Illogical I know but family are family.
FAMILY – may not want to start a new family just yet as it just brings in another complication.
All this is bearable for 9-12 heck, even 15 months, but in the last 9 months, the delay has shifted 11 months.

All in all I’m sure many of us feel trapped and not in control. Any news, bad or good, would help. A monthly announcement from the various embassies on where they are with the processing and how many are in the backlog would, I believe, go some way to relieving the pressure. We can’t expect any guarantees (that would be arrogant) but pure facts would at least let us know how things are moving along. Heck, even an announcement that all the visa’s have run out and we have to wait until the next year would be useful, because it is real solid information and we could all go out and celebrate July 1st and wish those at the front of the queue “bon voyage�. Actually, that sounds fun.

Also I agree the whole UK immigration process (or lack of it) is deplorable.

Again, to end on a positive note, for those who get visa’s in July/August time, they will get 12 months summer. What a great thought.

Thanks all for your understanding and I'm closing the lid of my box and going back to lurking and helping.

Jsuppal

mincey1 <[email protected]>
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Tricky, eh!

Talk to your family, bank manager, accountant and/or solicitor about how you can
raise the funds. You need to make the investment only when DIMIA asks you to do so.

Also, check the fine print before you send off your application to
DIMIA. They do not refund any fees if an application is refused.

Best wishes.

J S Uppal Regd Migration Agent No: 9803103 http://firms.findlaw.com/JSUppal/ Tel: +61
40 344 9761