George Lombard

I understand from the form letter sent out to former clients that VC no longer has the funds to return to applicants. This could never happen with a functioning registered migration agent as by law we are required to maintain a trust account, however to the extent that VC did previously have an agent associated with them, the professional indemnity insurance of that agent should be able to cover losses if your original costs agreement was with that agent rather than VC. Details of what insurance the agent held would be available from the MARA, www.themara.com.au .

Cheers,

George Lombard

kegz

after we left visa connection we went to a agent in edinburgh called overseas emigration visas they are great my partner is taken his trades test on the 16th of october and all is looking well we are really greatfull to all the team at overseas emigration they have been great we were left not knowing what to do after vc but now we are on track so i would recomendto contact them if you are looking for a agent good luck with all your visas xx

best4ever

Thank you for all your advice. George, I am hoping you can answer this! When VC sent our papers via elodge early in the year, does all our paperwork go with it to? 175 application. Or will all documents have to be lodged now, after the application? Thanks.

I dont know much about the process! Although we have had our medicals done and they should be away to Sydney now and police checks were sent to VC about 6 weeks ago, but I dont know if they have been sent to DIAC. Although I could contact DIAC to find this out I presume.

Pollyana

If you get the Change of Cntact Details form sent off to DIAC they wil be able to confirm what documents they have.

ozrocks

I could see this coming a mile off. We were promised half of our money back but they have been stalling pending "defamation claims" of people talking about them on the internet. Ha! That is a laugh...

As I understand it, people do not have a contract with the MARA agent, they have a contract with VC only. To my mind this is fraudulent trading. You can't advertise as MARA registered and then not be able to benefit from the registration scheme.

We have delayed our personal legal action pending our settlement. However, as it seems this is no longer forthcoming, we will start proceedings again. We will also be pressing for criminal proceedings. They are not going to get away with this.

By the way, we got all our documents back (except for a few they lost) and resubmitted in July. We had our visa by the end of September and the flights are booked for November 4th. So do not lose faith... take control of the situation and it will happen.

Cheers....

gibster82

I will definitely use a registered agent or someone that represents a registered agent. I hope all the people that were affected by this come out ok.

best4ever

We are only hoping and keeping everything crossed that when the documents were lodged earlier this year that everything went with that lodgment correctly. I dont know if this is the procedure, that everything from references, wages slips etc goes in with the application as a package or if all documents go after the lodgment of the application?

We have our TRN number and that seems to be okay, we can log in with it, but we have just had medicals and police checks done. VC had police checks, but I dont know if they have forwarded them yet. I have other copies if they havent. I have been told, hope it is correct that once the medicals and police checks are in, a case officer should be appointed. I think they are up to Dec 07 applications. I am going to ring DIAC on Monday am. This is an awful situation to be in. I cannot get my head around it - this is our life - or was, if it has all gone pear shaped thats us finished.

Pollyana

If you are feeling out of your depth - which, with all due respect, it sounds like you may be - why not give George Lombard a pm or email, as he suggests above?

best4ever

Thank you. Will do.

ozrocks

The docs get uploaded after the lodgement (or at the same time). Check you can see the docs that have been uploaded (from the upload screen when you log in with your TRN). It should say which ones have been added. You will only get your case officer a few months after you get your TRN number (this could be 2-3 months or 6 months+ - depends on your luck and how in demand your skills are...). If your docs have not been uploaded by VC then you will need to do it again - but speak to DIAC about it first to make sure you TRN number is valid etc. If you haven't got a case officer yet, it doesn't matter whether you have uploaded your docs or not as no one will have looked at them anyway.

When you phone DIAC, explain the situation and you will find they are very helpful and sympathetic. Try to steer clear of the emotion and just stick to the facts to get things moving.

As Pollyanna says - not all agents are bad - most are very good. You have just been really unlucky (like us and a number of others). If you are not comfortable with scanning and uploading docs etc, maybe an agent is the way to go to get things moving quickly.

Hope that helps.

Veronika

I can only add to what George has said already: if anyone needs help or advice please feel free to contact us. We will do our best to help out with advice etc.

best4ever

Does anyone have the telephone number for the Adelaide Processing Centre or is it easy enough to find? Thanks.

kegz

hi im sure this is the number 61 1300 364 613

Pollyana

www.immi.gov.au and follow the link for Contact US.

best4ever

I dont believe it ! Cannot happen to anyone else. Got up at 5am to ring Diac in Adelaide - automated answering machine saying the office is now closed. Worked out the time, it must be 2.30pm there. PUBLIC HOLIDAY 6th October. Not much going right for us. :curse: