Elza Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 (edited) On 08/12/2017 at 5:39 AM, DGT said: @Elza Please will you let us know whether your son has had the Telephone call from Cenrelink yet? If so, What was the call about? and how long after submitting the docs at Cenrelink did they call him. Also ,very important for me is: Did they call HIM directly or did they contact your agent first to advise them that they will call him....? Your answers will really help me a lot. @DGT...... Hi everyone.... well for us it's been 8 weeks since we submitted all our documents to AoS and still we have heard nothing. As @TinaH and @Elna57 have both heard and their applications were done after mine, I fear something is wrong! What advice would you guys give me, what should I do now??? I am terribly stressed at this stage..... Edited January 8, 2018 by Elza 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elza Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 9 hours ago, TinaH said: @KevinLee yes it's been approved. I've just come back from holiday and got a letter advised the AOS has been accepted. How come the processing time is still 12 March 2015. It's been 2 weeks already. @TinaH sorry for asking, what day did you get the approval and are you doing the 143 visa... Just trying to work out the time lines here, my AoS interview has not yet taken place and we've been waiting 8 weeks already.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGT Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 22 hours ago, TinaH said: @KevinLee yes it's been approved. I've just come back from holiday and got a letter advised the AOS has been accepted. How come the processing time is still 12 March 2015. It's been 2 weeks already. @TinaH. Good news . Please advise In what part of the Country did you submit your AOS ? @Elza and I are both in Perth area and perhaps the delays could be area related? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaH Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 15 hours ago, Elza said: @DGT...... Hi everyone.... well for us it's been 8 weeks since we submitted all our documents to AoS and still we have heard nothing. As @TinaH and @Elna57 have both heard and their applications were done after mine, I fear something is wrong! What advice would you guys give me, what should I do now??? I am terribly stressed at this stage..... @Elza for me it's been around 7 weeks. @DGT I'm in Sydney. Just make sure you submitted all requested documents, it can fasten the process I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGT Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 Thanks @TinaH. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIG Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) Hi to all in the waiting room hope we all move along swiftly this year. I have a question regarding unabridged marriage certificate. I applied for ours however Home Affairs can't give me one because they do not have the copy from the Priest who married us (LOST by them). Is this going to be an issue? HELP. PS: We are going to the GOLD COAST. Elna57 if you could update the schedule please. Edited January 10, 2018 by JIG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marchhawker Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) Hello everyone! Australia life is treating us very well. Still feels like we are just on holiday! It was just on the news that Centrelink have just employed 200 new staff.... I hope this helps with the AOS! Edited January 10, 2018 by Marchhawker 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 On 1/9/2018 at 5:10 AM, DGT said: @TinaH. Good news . Please advise In what part of the Country did you submit your AOS ? @Elza and I are both in Perth area and perhaps the delays could be area related? @DGT I have the same suspicion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 On 1/8/2018 at 3:29 PM, Elza said: @DGT...... Hi everyone.... well for us it's been 8 weeks since we submitted all our documents to AoS and still we have heard nothing. As @TinaH and @Elna57 have both heard and their applications were done after mine, I fear something is wrong! What advice would you guys give me, what should I do now??? I am terribly stressed at this stage..... @Elza I am sure they will phone him any day now. I agree that perhaps some Centrelink offices are busier than others as mentioned by @DGT Stay strong Buddy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaH Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) Guys, what will be happening once our application has been allocated to a case officer? Any other additional paperwork that we should be aware of? Edited January 11, 2018 by TinaH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elza Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, TinaH said: Guys, what will be happening once our application has been allocated to a case officer? Any other additional paperwork that we should be aware of? @TinaH Complements of Orphan..... If your sponsor's application is successful, he/she will be sent a second letter by Centrelink (again, by mail), requesting your sponsor to pay in the Assurance of Support. This can only be done at the Commonwealth Bank, who will open up a dedicated Bond Account in the name of your sponsor. If you are not an existing Commonwealth Bank client, there is an additional fee to open the Bond Account ($140, I think). To open the Bond Account, you will need to show the Bank the original letter received from Centrelink through the mail (they wont accept a copy). The AoS bond amount is currently $10,000 for the main applicant, and $4,000 for each additional applicant. Note that this bond money is held on account with interest for a period of ten years from the time the visa is activated. The Bank will issue your sponsor a payment receipt, and bond guarantee letter, which must both be scanned and sent back (by email) to Centrelink. Only upon receipt of these documents will Centrelink issue a final AoS approval letter, again in writing and again through the mail. Immediately upon receipt of the AoS approval letter, a scanned copy MUST be sent by you (or your sponsor), to the Visa Centre. Only this will trigger a resumption of your Visa granting process. Although this is a long, tiring, and at times, frustrating process. we found our Centrelink Case Officer (Victoria) to be extremely able, willing and helpful. Despite her being very busy, Victoria often went the extra mile in trying to expedite the process for us. Therefore, I would strongly encourage applicants to try and build a personal relationship with their case officers, as they all appear to be very empathetic and supportive, particularly towards us grannies and gramps!. 3/ Second VAC Payment Once all your requested documents have been lodged with the Visa Centre, the final stage takes hardly any time at all. It is not unusual for the Visa Centre to contact you within two days to request payment of the second VAC. At this point, you will now receive an emailed letter from the Visa Centre requesting payment of the Second Visa Application Charge (VAC), and giving you another 28 days to do so. For this, there are two payment options available - by Bank Guaranteed Cheque, or by Credit Card. The latter choice will obviously incur a horrendous bank charge of between 1.5% and 3%; but I also read somewhere that Immigration levy an additional credit card charge, so you had better research this carefully before deciding on this route. It may be the quicker payment option, but compare this to the $10 charged for the bank guaranteed cheque from an Australian Bank. Note that you cannot send cash or a personal Cheque, and that cheques drawn on a foreign bank will result in a 28 clearance delay. The Bank Guaranteed Cheque needs to be made payable to the "Department of Immigration and Border Protection" and should be sent by registered mail to the Parent Visa Centre in Perth. This cost only $6, and took less than 24 hours to reach its destination across the country. Once this Cheque has been deposited, the Visa Centre sends a final Visa Grant letter, containing, inter alia, your Grant ID number and initial arrival date. Note that for offshore visa applications, you need to be out of Australia when the visa is issued. The Visa Centre does give you the option of notifying them if you are in the country, and delaying the visa being issued until after you have exited. Your 143 Parent Visa is "Label-free", meaning that it is issued electronically and does not require a physical label to be affixed in your passport. This means you can enter the country immediately upon receiving the visa grant letter (just take along a copy of the letter in case!) As a final footnote, I want to pay tribute to the wonderful support we received from the manager and team of the Parent Visa Centre in Perth. Due to the unexpected delays we experienced with our Assurance of Support, we were under immense pressure to complete the process in time for our booked flights. Although we did so in order to secure our arrival in time for Christmas, I would not recommend you book your tickets until AFTER you get your visa. It is a sure-fire recipe for sleepless nights and more gray hairs! The staff at PVC were incredibly empathetic to our plight, and pulled out all the stops to ensure we got our visas in time. Therefore, don't be reluctant to give them a call if you have a problem or need assistance; they are a wonderful bunch of helpful people! Edited January 11, 2018 by Elza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elza Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 15 hours ago, Elna57 said: @Elza I am sure they will phone him any day now. I agree that perhaps some Centrelink offices are busier than others as mentioned by @DGT Stay strong Buddy! @Elna57 and @DGT My son did make a call and found out the following: I seems there was a new guy who was dealing with our application in the beginning, who had uploading all our documents and information into a different place on their system. According to the lady helping, they never upload it in that way... so she uploaded the documents into the correct place, so they were showing in both places on the system.... She did say that this should not have caused delaying as although it was in the wrong place she could still see it so therefore they would see it too.... She also commented on the 8 weeks time frame, apparently this is not abnormal! She also said she could see that a case officer had not picked it up yet. She would not give any indication of how much longer we would wait, just that 8 weeks is normal......... My son made the call two days ago on the 9th January. So once again i need to just take a deep breath and patiently wait........... So................. I'm thinking?????? Guys I need a hobby to keep my mind busy, so i decided to learn how to read music!!!!! Oh yes and play, have no clue how to do either!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2018 On 1/11/2018 at 6:51 AM, TinaH said: Guys, what will be happening once our application has been allocated to a case officer? Any other additional paperwork that we should be aware of? @TinaH. I don't think so. You will be requested to pay 2nd VAC and that is it. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2018 @Elza Keeping you in my thoughts Buddy. Sorry, we have been so busy doing our farewells and visiting our Kitty Cat in Paws Resort. We are hoping to hear from Aeropets soon confirming her flight. Have paid for her flight which we hope will be on the 30th of January. It is hard enough keeping track of our own process and paperwork! But we are getting there. I was so hoping to meet up with some Roomies in Pretoria and some in Johannesburg, but our days are so packed! Yesterday I went into a walk in Medical room for the first time ever! Had some skin stuff cauterized and very happy with the whole process. Gauteng is ridiculously fast pace but if it means better service delivery as I have found here compared to Durban, then let's hurry along people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthemove Posted January 13, 2018 Report Share Posted January 13, 2018 To those roomies still waiting for that contact for medicals, etc: Processing reached 19 March 2015 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
data Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Hi All, On 12 Jan 18 my folks received their email advising that they can submit remaining documents and do medicals. Will advise other dates in due course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthemove Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 @data nice 👍. Good news indeed. Thanks for the update 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaH Posted January 15, 2018 Report Share Posted January 15, 2018 4 hours ago, data said: Hi All, On 12 Jan 18 my folks received their email advising that they can submit remaining documents and do medicals. Will advise other dates in due course. @data What date did you submit your documents? Was it a preparation prior to the assessment date or they are now assessing your application? Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
data Posted January 15, 2018 Report Share Posted January 15, 2018 2 hours ago, TinaH said: @data What date did you submit your documents? Was it a preparation prior to the assessment date or they are now assessing your application? Thank you. @TinaH It was a preparation prior to assessment notice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTN Posted January 15, 2018 Report Share Posted January 15, 2018 13 hours ago, data said: Hi All, On 12 Jan 18 my folks received their email advising that they can submit remaining documents and do medicals. Will advise other dates in due course. Congratulations @Data - your folks must be over the moon. Best wishes to them - I hope everything goes smoothly from here on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaH Posted January 17, 2018 Report Share Posted January 17, 2018 Hi guys, any news on AOS? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 @TinaH . Not a word yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaH Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 @Elna57 can u pls update the spreadsheet? Thank you ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Name Date Lodged Meds etc req Meds done AOS submitted Police Clear AOS Approved CO appointed 2nd VAC req Granted😊 Destination Ashmount 1 Oct 2014 25 Jan 2017 May 2017 14 Jun 2017 3 Jul 2017 13 Jul 2017 JaneandGraham 20 Oct 2014 1 Feb 2017 20 Jun 2016 01 Apr 17 08 Jun 16 12 Apr 17 31 May 2017 2 Jun 2017 Noosa Dirkz 6 Nov 2014 1 Apr 2017 19 Apr 2017 21 Apr 2017 18 Apr 2017 25 Aug 2017 30 Jun 2017 25 Aug 2017 27 Aug 2017 Brisbane melbourne3000 22 Dec 2014 8 Oct 2017 23 Sep 2017 8 Oct 2017 26 Oct 2017 8 Nov 2017 14 Nov 2017 Elza 10 Feb 2015 11 Nov 2017 14 Nov 2017 13 Nov 2017 6 Nov 2017 Perth Elna57 25 Feb 2015 22 Nov 2017 23 Nov 2017 23 Nov 2017 24 Nov 2017 Brisbane Marchhawker 25 Mar 2015 24 Nov 2017 173 visa 18 Nov 2017 19 Dec 2017 Brisbane TinaH 13 April 2015 6 Nov 2017 Jan 2018 DGT 20 April 2015 12 Oct 2017 15 Oct 2017 13 Oct 2017 Perth data 9 May 2015 12 Jan 2018 Onthemove 24 Jun 2015 Melbourne Nannandbaz 25 Jun 2015 Melbourne JTN 10 Jul 2015 Nazmeen 17 Aug 2015 Sydney KevinLee 24 Sep 2015 Tazzy 9 Oct 2015 JIG 1 Nov 2015 Gold Coast Benoni 61 13 Nov 2015 Perth gsb733 Nov 2015 Robyn2259 Jan 2016 Jarryd13 Jun 2016 Brisbane PatPar Nov 2016 Bdupreez 20 Dec 2016 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elna57 Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 @TinaH Sadly not much to update. All Roomies We are sitting at OR Tambo waiting for our flight out of South Africa tonight. It has been very difficult saying goodbye to family and friends and Kitty Cat. She will only be flying out on 30th January. We have decided to put our furniture in storage and go on our 3 month holiday visa. Looks like we will be seeing Thailand or Fiji even though it was never part of the plan. It is all very exciting and we can only pray that everything will go well. Aos been paid but approval letter not yet received. It is quite frustrating. I would like to thank all the Roomies once again for all your support. We could not have come this far without this forum. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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