steve99

Hi,

There have been a number of Centrelink, AOS, Bond related threads lately some of which I have posted my views on, as some of you may recall im the actual sponsor and assuror for my parent in their application for a 143 Contributory Parent visa, so im on the other end of the all this to you lucky people looking on from the UK wondering whats actually going on when your application gets to this stage!
Anyway, I thought id start a new thread to detail the involvement ive had as the assuror and to try and explain the processes ive been through, incase it helps some of you in any way.

So lets set the scene!
My parents applied for their Visa in May 04, (so there Pre July'ers)
I live in Perth and the processing cetre for these types of visa is in Perth, im also the sponsor and assuror for their application and am also the authorised recipient for all correspondance coming to and from the Case Officer, this seems to be quite important as it cuts the delays in communication between OZ and the UK down dramatically, the Case Officer has gone out of his way to be helpfull, he's taken my calls when ive called him, allowed me to fax copies in (to speed up originals that are in the UK postal system) plus seems to respond to emails almost immediately if I ask him anything. (Yes I know we're lucky!)

So, skipping through the process as normal, pay 1st VAC back in May, hear nothing for about 3 months, get bored of waiting so call case officer, everything springs into action, days later the request for med's/xrays/police checks etc come through, all these get done and sent back to the CO.
Then I get sent the letter (addressed to my parent in the UK) but effectively for them to send back to me in Perth telling me as the assuror to contact centrlink and arrange the interview for the AOS.
I call them up, cant get an appointment for 3 weeks, but heh ho...
Yesterday I went to Centrelink for the interview, fully loaded with completed application forms, as much proof of identity that i could find etc etc.
12 o'clock appointment, I get seen at 11:55, very pleasant helpful lady, basically she runs through the process of being an assurer explains your role in it and confirms you fully understand what your getting yourself into, she then checks the forms ive completed, checks the Tax statements to see if they match the qualifying earning thresholds for the last 2 years (and current year from payslips) she also checks your passport to check you have been in Australia for more than 2 years (it doesnt all have to be on PR by the way)
she then spends about 20 mins keying in all the info from the form to her system, and copies all the documents ive brought.

Once all this is done she generated me a letter to say its been accepted and now I need to go and lodge the bond with the commonwealth bank.
The letter isnt overly explanatory, but on asking her im told go down to the bank ask to have a term deposit account opened to lodge a assurance of support bond into, they'll then process it and give you a receipt. The letter says you have 14 days to get this back to centrelink and should make an appointment to bring it in, this isnt correct, you dont need another appointment you just take it to the front counter and they'll receipt it, take copies etc.

So off I trot to the nearest commowealth branch, its now 1pm and is packed, I queue up for a teller and after 15mins get told there not sure how to do it but wait in a room and someone will let me know, a lady turns up and says sorry we cant do this for you now, you have to phone and make an appointment, it takes about an hour for us to do it, and you can only do it before 11am and after 2:30pm.... great...
she suggest trying another branch out of the main city mall area.
I go there queue up and get told the same story, so I make an appointment for 9:30 the next morning (today infact)

9:30 this morning, I turn up with all my proof of who I am and the letters etc (the centrelink letter doesnt tell you your going to need this )
Heaps more forms get filled out signed etc I then find out that I need to give them a cheque for the bond they cant just transfer it from my normal account (again the centrlink letter doesnt warn you of this...I probably should of known though..) so off I trot to my bank to get the cheque issued.
Lots of photocopying and eventually we are done, I then get told ok you can come back tomorrow and we should have the receipt ready for you to collect (What!) I was expecting it there and then so I could take it to Centrelink, thankfully I pursued the her that I really need to get it back today, so she rings around and finds someone to do it. Phhhew!
So back to Centrelink, speak to reception and they take there bits and say that they now confirm on their system the receipt of the bond and then they send it over to DIMIA in Canberra to input on their system and it then can be seen by the case officer in Perth.... should only be a few days...

So back to my office, email the case officer to update him on the progress, I include a scanned copy of the bond receipt and centrelink letter, he replies and says, heres's you request for 2nd VAC charge, get you parents to fax it to me and i'll grant the visa for them! Tooooo Eeeeeeeasy! (sorry im quite excited, funnily enough!)
So its 5:20am on a no doubt cold wet english morning, cant think of a better reason to get them up a that time!, im off to make the call and give them the good news!
Hope this little story has helped some of you with the process from this end, I know some of you are having huge delays and problems with Centrelink, but from my first hand experience I couldnt fault the Perth office and how they dealt with me. Hang in there, your at the last hurdle.
Good luck to all of you currently at this stage.
Steve

steve99

[QUOTE=kg] Its pretty rough here too, its one of those horrible still days where the sky's sort of umm well .... Blue.... with little white wispy bits in it and its about 23C.... bummer eh!
Hope to see some good news posted from you soon, im sure it wont be long. Im happy to speak to your uncle if you think I can help him out in anyway, send me a PM if you want my contact details etc.
All the best
Steve

Stewie

[QUOTE=steve99]Hi,

There have been a number of Centrelink, AOS, Bond related threads lately some of which I have posted my views on, as some of you may recall im the actual sponsor and assuror for my parent in their application for a 143 Contributory Parent visa, so im on the other end of the all this to you lucky people looking on from the UK wondering whats actually going on when your application gets to this stage!


Steve
Thanks for the info. We've applied for the Cont. Parent Visa 143. and are waiting for DIMIA to let us know we can move to the AoS stage. Been waiting ages, we applied in June.

Daughter lives in Melbourne and she's waiting to get the letter from us via DIMIA to book the interview with Centrelink.
I'll e-mail your post to her so shes knows what to do.
Thanks again.

Regards

steve99

Steve
Thanks for the info. We've applied for the Cont. Parent Visa 143. and are waiting for DIMIA to let us know we can move to the AoS stage. Been waiting ages, we applied in June.

Daughter lives in Melbourne and she's waiting to get the letter from us via DIMIA to book the interview with Centrelink.
I'll e-mail your post to her so shes knows what to do.
Thanks again.

Hi Stewie

No probs, just one thing, is your daughter down as the authorised recipient of all correspondance relating to your application? the reason I say this is I wasnt originally so the mail had to travel from the Perth processing centre to the UK and vice versa, If the letter is just telling you to do something this can cause unnecessary delays.
Back around August time, (when things werent really progressing) I happened to look on Dimia's website at some sort of Perth Processing Centre quarterly bulletin they issue out (sorry I cant remember the exact title) in a round about way it implied that if they had someone in Australia to communicate with it would speed up the process for them. There's a form number 1231, (www.dimia.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1231.pdf) which needed to be completed.(a faxed version was fine with Dimia) My parents decided to give this a try so we completed it, I faxed it in to the processing centre and gave them a call to check it was ok and had arrived (I used the old problems with my fax machine line!) I spoke to the case officer, and from that day everything has flown along nicely.
It might be worth doing if you guys havent done it already.
Have you done your meds/xrays etc and got them back to Dimia? our request for AOS was pretty much days after they received these back.
If so id contact your case officer and say your getting a bit panicky because your booked on a flight to Aus for xmas and hope to validate the visa then!
You never know!
Regards
Steve

Stewie

Steve
Made the mistake of using an agent. All this does is cost money and put big delays in all of the processing. Used an agent cos I'm away from home frequently on business.
If I'd known the problems caused by agents then I would have done it myself. Meds etc have been back at Perth since beginning of August (or should be!)but nothing else has happened.
Anyone reading this and thinking of using an agent....don't. Even the well thought of MARA agents just delay the whole process, aren't personally involved and therefore just look upon the processing as a job.
The cost is excessive for the amount of work they do and in my case means I won't be getting the visa before I go to my daughter's wedding in Melbourne in December.
Two other people who have applied for the Contributory Parent Visa within 2 weeks of my application have both been issued with visas. Needless to say neither used agents!
That'll teach me!!

KenJan333

Hi Steve

Thanks for all the useful info.

By the way kg, its even more colder, even more darker and even more wetter here in Scotland.

All going well we also plan on Perth. Good to know our elderly sponsors/assurers will be dealt with some respect. Havn't told them yet about all the running around they will have to do though. I'll tell them once they have signed all the forms. Then I'll email over a copy of your post so as they know what they are up against.

Thanks again

Jan

kg

You are right Jan - keep the details of the messy stuff for later. We did this with our assurer - as it feels so awful to ask the favour, and then say - oh and by the way you'll need to... Not that they will mind, of course

KenJan333

Hi kg

Yeh. Don't want to put them off before they have even begun. They seem keen so far. Don't want to spoil it!

Good Luck with yours.

Jan

kg

Thanks, and good luck with yours... we'll all soon be there - complaining of the heat!

KenJan333

Too True!

Cheers

Jan

steve99

Just a quick update on this:

My parents paid the second visa charge on Thursday, had confirmation from the case officer on friday afternoon that he completed everything his end now the payment had gone through, and that he'd posted us out the Grant letter and had transferred the case over to London for the Visa to be evidenced!
So hopefully the letter will be waiting for me when I get home tonight, I can then forward a copy on to my parents in the UK and they can battle with the postal service to get their passports up to
London to be stamped!
They have flights booked for 7th November so fingers crossed!

vaerie

Many thanks Steve, this is really useful to me and to my daughter in Perth who is my sponsor and assuror. We are at the stage of an interview at Centrelink on November 4th. I hope it all goes as well as yours, wish me luck!

Valerie

Jonahs_mummy

Just wanted to say - FANTASTIC POST!
I sent the link to my Mum in Australia as she was at a loss to understand everything that was required of her as a sponsor - but now she knows EXACTLY what she is doing!!!!!

Karma supplied!
;o)

steve99

All the best with Centrelink Valerie, im sure it'll be fine and you'll have your visa before you know it.

Thanks for your comments Jonahs_mummy, glad it helped, and good luck with your application too.
Steve

jackie/steve

Hi Steve my sister is going to be our sponsor/assurrer she lives in mandurah,but she travels alot in and out of the country with her Job/visiting us in U.K do you know if this will cause a problem for our visa(139)many thanks Jackie