charlie5

Hi Folks

What a difference a week makes!

We finally received the letter from our case officer at the weekend but it was not what we were expecting. There was no mention of queuing or visas to be issued in July/September. It just asks for AOS etc!!!

Does this mean that they have a few visas left for this year?

Charlie

sandch

Sounds really promising Charlie; perhaps all your careful planning will pay off! Watching with interest. We have still to wait for the meds to be done then assessed etc, which will be end of March at the earliest. So we're content with July 2009.
Cheers
Steve

donovandenese

wow - thats exciting news for you - hopefully that means you may get your visa sooner rather than later

haven't seen any official announcements to say they have run out of 2008/09 cpv visas yet so they may squeeze you into this year!

we've done meds, police checks and AoS now so back to waiting again

charlie5

Hi

Fingers crossed. AOS arranged for Friday 13th!!!

I have looked at Commonwealth Bank web site but I cannot find any details of the account that has to be opened for the AOS bond. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Charlie

sandch

Hi Charlie
This URL (http://www.commbank.com.au/search/se...+of+support%22) should point to 2 pdf documents; but they only provide details of the account and the interest. The Assurer will be given instructions by Centrelink on how to open the account, which will be in the name of the Assurer. About as much as I've found out so far. Our Assurer's interview is 19 March.
Cheers
Steve

charlie5

Steve

Many thanks.

Charlie

donovandenese

centrelink gave my sister most of the required info to open the account, but she only knew that you have to open it with a bank cheque or cash (not a personal cheque) by calling CB before she went in to open it.

charlie5

Thanks for this. We had thought that a personal cheque would have been ok. So, something else to sort out. I believe the cheque has to be made payable to the sponsor?

Charlie

sandch

Just as well I read this; my carefully constructed strategy was about to fail at the first hurdle. Right - plan B.

donovandenese

i think it needs to be a bank cheque (same as a bankers draft in the UK) because then the funds are already cleared, whereas a personal cheque is not cleared funds.

After my sister had the Centrelink interview she called CB to confirm what she needed to do to open the account. She then called her bank, arranged for them to prepare the bank cheque made out in her name (which they did within 24hrs), then she collected the bank cheque, went to CB and opened the account. Once the account was opened CB gave her a confirmation letter which she then returned to Centrelink. Apparently Centrelink then write to Immigration to confirm the AoS is done.

If your sponsor wants to do Centrelink and CB in one day it may be worth a call to the local CB to confirm what they require so it is all ready in advance. (I assume each CB branch will follow the same process - but you never know!)

sandch

Folks: did she include the $150 in the bank cheque do you know, or pay that separately? I really should read these threads properly!
Cheers
Steve

sandch

Very useful advice - thank you!

donovandenese

I will check re the $150

FYI - Its worth mentioning that you do get 14 days from when you have the Centrelink interview to open the account at CB and return the confirmation letter to Centrelink, which may be useful if you need to move money around to the right place.

donovandenese

just spoke to my sister about the $150 account opening charge - apparently she took it separately in cash as she had been told to on the phone, but the person who opened the account opened it without asking for the account opening fee.

she also mentioned that the interest which will accrue on this amount has to be paid into a separate account every 6 months - so she gave her own bank details (at a different bank) for this to happen, and then she will transfer on the interest to mum herself (as in our case the $10k belongs to Mum). She said that she would have given mums bank details for the interest if she had known them, but she didn't and they wouldnt open the account without someones bank details for the interest.

sandch

Once again, thank you. I'll tell him to keep the $150 handy then, and give him our account details for the interest. Rates might be higher one day, you never know! Now I just have to extract a bankers draft from an Aussie bank (I'm trying to save our Assurer time you see...!)