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i dont want to sound insane but please could somebody tell me exactly what a case officer does , are they the desicion makers regarding the visa application , what questions do they ask if any , also if you meet all the visa criteria , ie medical , police checks etc , when do they get appionted , and approx how long does it take to have the visa granted , regards . karl.

tawkins1

Hi Karl (this process does make you insane!)
From what I can make out, the CO goes through your application with a fine tooth comb & requests any outstanding documents you haven't already included in your application. Once you have a CO you can email them direct with any queries or relevant information to your application. When your application if complete it is forwarded to a Decision Maker who grants the Visa's.
All visa's vary in processing so there isn't an exact timescale. CO's are appointed when the visa has been validated & is next in the pile to process I don't know if anyone knows exactly what order they process them in tho.
Hope this helps a little.
More information should be posted soon.

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thanks for the info that clarifies things a lot , it seems a lot of faf to be given the rights to live in another country , i suppose you have got to respect them for it , it keeps out the bad sorts and free loaders , if you dont mind me asking what part of lancashise are you from , i live in rossendale , regards , karl.

tawkins1

I live in Skelmersdale. Between Wigan & Liverpool

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i know the place very well , i worked for a refrigeration company based in ormskirk , and a lot of the service work was based around liverpool and skem , small world isnt it .

vickyandrob

hi karl, sorry to interrupt but i used to live in rossendale, whereabouts are you? i live in sheffield now though but it's a small world!

vicky

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i come from rawtenstall but now live in waterfoot , cheers , karl.

tawkins1

Indeed it is

vickyandrob

hi karl, where are you in the visa process? i am a sept application and if you frontload pcc's and meds visas seem to get granted soon after you get your co (that is if everything is straight forward). we applied 25 sept, co 10 dec and asked for additional info, visa granted 21 jan. our meds and pcc's were there by the time we had our co allocated.

i too have lived in waterfoot and rawtenstall, probably know you! still have friends and family over there. where are you heading for - we are going to perth, went out last feb and loved it. hope you don't mind all the questions!

btw have you had snow there today?

vicky

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hi vicky , regarding the visa process i have just had the first part of the vetassess stage approved , now i have to sit a practical skills assessment , regarding my trade , at the moment i am just getting the main visa lodge together , yours seems to have gone through quite fast , what type of visa did you go for , we are going for the 175 , if we get there we are thinking about brisbane but still havent fully decided . what school did you go to , regards karl .

vickyandrob

hi karl, we applied for 175 and it seems to be a lot quicker applying online rather than paper based applications. take a look on www.beupdate.co.uk everyone's timelines are on there. the 1st online 175 for sept was granted in 6 weeks, everything frontloaded (pcc's and meds) but then things slowed down a bit but many sept applicants had received their's by xmas.

good luck with the practical - this whole process for us started in march 07 collecting references, transcripts etc for skills assessment, took 12 weeks for that, needed permission from ex to take children, that took a couple of months and then we were finally ready to submit application! so it is a long and drawn out process but worth it in the end, luckily i didn't have a practical to do - what trade are you? i'm a midwife and nurse.

i went to all saints, did you go to alder grange? we went to perth last feb and liked it, and know a few people over there so that's where we're going to head as soon as we get this house sold (still doing jobs)!

vicky

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hi Vicky god i wish i had gone down the same rout as you , yes i did go to alder grange , i probably know some people you know over here [ you know what its like in the valley ] , regarding the visa i have shelled out nearly £3500 on migration agent fees , yes they are good but its a hell of a lot of money , we started the process in late july , originally i was getting assessed through the tra , so i had loads of evidence to gather regarding my trade , employers references , stat decs etc , we were told that the form had to be in before the end of august , the reason is that the assessing body was changing to vetassess , we did get the form in before , and didnt hear anything for over two months , then out of the blue the form was returned and we were told that because the tra were overwhelmed with late august applications ,they had to return them back , to the agent , so now i have to go through vetassess at the aditional costs of £900 , i have passed the first stage and now are waiting for the practical assesment date , my trade is a refrigeration and air conditioning engineer . i find it bonkers that my city and guilds qualifacations are not good enough to confirm my skill and competance as a engineer , considering there is a skills shortage of my trade out there , they dont make it easy , we too had to get permission off her ex and same again have got to sell the house , but in fairness i am not in a rush to go , i think about this time next year is good , it gives us time to save more money , regards , karl.

vickyandrob

sent you a pm
vicky