Wizard

Hi I have read on here about decision makers?? Where do they come into play? I thought you were assigned a Case Officer and they made the decision based on your application? Does the decision maker do all the work of the Case Officer again before making the decision? All very confusing this process is!! ;

hereshoping

Case officer checks the whole application, collects the information and then passes it to the decision maker who reviews the application and makes a decision.

You never get to know who your decision maker is, and they are normally very quick.

FluffieFaerie

"Normally" being the operative word - our file has apparently been with the decision maker for well over a month now...

Hey-ho, at least the weather is improving here ...

Wizard

So two people doing the same thing hey ho!! No wonder it all takes soooooooooooooo long!!!

tawkins1

The only thing my CO was waiting for was our new pcc's. When we sent them on 23/2/08 our visa was granted 4 days later!!! Decision maker was very quick with ours!!!

wardy2

Our decision maker has been trying to make their decision for 6 weeks, I didn't know such a person existed I thought the CO made the decision

steveandtina

The DM as had ours for 6 weeks too!

Pollyana

To my understanding, the CO will compile all the necessary paperwork. It is their job to check that every part of the application is covered, all the paperwork supplied. It's their job to chase up with the applicant anything which is missing, and to check out anything like references which need to be followed up.
Only when the application is complete, all the necessary papers supplied, all the requiremens met and nothing left to chase, then it will go to a decision maker (of a higher level) to confirm whether the visa can be granted or not.

So it's not really two doing the same job, its one compiling the info and doing the leg work, and a higher authority actually saying "OK all in order, here's the visa"

Fugazi1000

It makes sense, as there are less people susceptible to bribery, and a separation of duties can be maintained.

Apparently the mechanism for a CO to notify a Decision Maker that a file is ready for approval is via an update to an Excel spreadsheet! I'm sure there's scope for error and room for improvement....

NikiL

The segregation of duties does make a lot of sense as you say. I would have thought the system could be automated though, the details entered by the CO with access to one part of the system, and the decision makers with access to another part of the system could have a "job queue" for want of a better phrase which automatically brings up the details of those waiting on a decision. That could automatically send the email once the decision maker finalises the application.

I would have thought it should be fairly straightforward to design, and would probably save quite a lot of cost and make the process quicker as well......

Might look at aiming for Adelaide instead and offer my services I really can see how it could be put together and I reckon it would save a fortune!