Capital investment scheme

[Guest markjohn]

hi all,

is anybody else still waiting for news on the capital investment scheme debarcle.

its been 5 months now and all i keep hearing is that minister evans will be making an announcement in the next few weeks.this has been going on since january now and we are getting tired of being in limbo land.rant now over

 

mark and sara

[Guest everhopeful]

Hi Mark/Sarah

 

We haven't heard anything directly, as we got a case officer in January and already had ours meds and PC's done in October 2007 but the other couple on this forum who are also in this position have now been asked to get their meds and PC's done. I take it that as the news broke just after you had your acknowledgement that you haven't had yours done yet. Have you now been given a CO and been requested to do them? We are hoping that as this means a cost for those involved that a solution is on the horizon. I hope so as we need to activate before 23/10/08!

 

Let me know your position-we could all get our visas on the same day!

 

Jo

[Guest markjohn]

hi jo,

we havent been given a case officer yet but did have a letter from dima in feb saying application looked fine.keep hearing rumours that an announcement is imminent but nothing seems to happen.we are tired of being in limbo land and just want to know one way or the other.i take it you are on a 495 visa.im glad to hear you have a case officer and things are still moving forward and will keep fingers crossed for you.

 

mark

[Guest everhopeful]

Hi Mark

 

We are actually going on a 138 family sponsored skilled(I think). We applied in June 2007 and like you are five points short now there is nowhere to put our money. As far as I know there are three of us in this situation on this forum (let us know folks if there are any others) you, me (everhopeful) and "Selah". As I said we had a case officer in January and already had our medicals in October so since the announcement about the bonds demise, we have just been waiting like you in limbo.

 

As I said "Selah" has now been asked to get their meds and PC's, I think they applied in August 2007. So I was hoping that you would have been too. My agent phoned last week to say there was no news yet but I get the impression they don't have any other clients in this situation so I'm not overly confident that they are too worried about it.

 

I noticed on the DIAC notice of processing that they are now into May for allocating CO's so they have jumped a few months as I seem to remember that they were only in Feb 2008 the last time I looked sometime in April.

 

We were hoping to go in July/August this year but now don't expect to hear before July (Selah's deadline for meds is 24/6/08) but have just put the house on the market as it will probably now take months to sell and then at least we can go by the end of the year.

 

If you have an agent maybe ask them now about your meds etc as they may have other clients in our situation who have been asked now.

 

Hopefully it won't be too long now. Just my luck I applied in June hoping to beat the thousands that applied in August and it seems we are all going to be processed together anyway. The last I heard was that they would process all outstanding in this situation on the same day.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Everyone

 

I am not caught up in this debacle but I have been followinng the threads about it on the various forums. I assume that you are all aware of the big sticky thread on British Expats, in the Australia Immigration sub-forum of BE?

 

One of the group has now started a thread about it on Poms in Oz, which is here:

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/34724-capital-investement-bond.html

 

I plan to sign the petition, and I hope other Poms in Oz members will too.

 

I'm also keeping an eye on the News section of Go Matilda because as soon as Alan Collett hears anything definite he will put a new article in the News section. Please see here:

 

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/index.cfm

 

With regard to the validity of Meds and Police checks, your situation is not dissimilar from that of the applicants waiting for Contributry Parent Visas. What has happened with the CPVs is that only 3,500 CPVs are available each year, the Program Year runs from 1st July to 30th June in the following year, and by 30th November 2007 DIAC had granted or reserved all 3,500 of the CPVs available for the 2007/8 Program Year.

 

When crunch point was reached they started an unofficial "queue" for CPV applicants. The applications are being processed normally for 9-10 months, and then the Parents are asked to undergo meds and produce police checks. If those are OK, the Parents are added to the queue though DIAC have confirmed that there will be no more CPV grants until the 2008/9 batch of 3,500 visas becomes available on 1st July 2008.

 

Some of the affected Parents completed their meds and police checks as long ago as October 2007 and there is no possibility of visas for them before 1st July 2008. The Perth Offshore Parents Centre which deals with the majority of CPV applications is starting to confirm to the Parents concerned that where possible they will be given 6 month extensions on the time they would otherwise have had in which to validate their visas.

 

Before my mother's own CPV was granted I asked her CO what date the CO had in mind for validating the visa. Mum had to see a specialist as part of her meds process. The CO said that int this situation the 12 months is calculated from the date on which the MOC gives the eventual medical clearance. That gave us more than enough time in which to get Mum's visa validated.

 

However, as soon as I raised the question, Mum's CO told me that she could extend the Initial Entry Date for 3 months on her own discretion, or for six months if she first obtained the OK from the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth. Did I want her to ask the MOC for a six month extension for Mum?

 

In our own case there was no need so I asked the CO to stick with the original date she had planned. However there is nothing special about CP visas. The nuts and bolts of this element work in exactly the same way for all offshore PR visas.

 

Therefore I think you will find that if your group asks your rerpective COs, you will find that you can negotiate extensions of time in which to validate your visas. Scant comfort I know, but better than having to do two sets of Meds or a hastily-arranged, short and expensive validation visit to Australia, I suspect.

 

Good luck and best wishes

 

Gill

[Selah]

Dear Mark/Sarah/Jo

 

Jo is right. Our application was received on 21st August for a 138 skilled sponsored visa and we were quite shocked to be allocated a c/o. We're off for meds on Thurs. Didn't know whether they were going to try & process all within this issue before the new visa year (1st July). Maybe Gill has ideas about that. My brother/Sister in law are about 5 days behind us application wise - don't need the capital investment and they haven't heard anything about a c/o.

 

Liz

 

PS signed petition per gill's post earlier.

[Gollywobbler]

Hello Liz and others

 

I did some digging into this question last night. I am shocked.

 

The Minister has not said a public word about the question. There is no reference whatsoever to it in Hansard or in any speeches, media releases etc outside of Parliament. I would have thought that at least it was worthy of mentioning in Senate but apparently not if I was searchng Hansard even half-competently.

 

Then I tried Google UK and the whole web, plus Google Australia and Australian web-pages only. The only real public discussion about this seems to have been on British Expats and to a much smaller extent Poms in Oz and one or two others. I am astonished that there is so little about it on the web.

 

I have signed the petition. According to the confirmation I am the 169th person to have done so, though I gather from the BE thread that the petition is only a couple of days old.

 

The Contributory Parent visa applicants have been told that the Minister is ecpected to make an announcement about the quotas for those in the second half of May 2008, which ties in what what someone on this thread has been told about the capital investment scheme too. Seemingly the DIAC Budget for 2008/9 will be published in the second half of May and announcements about both questions are expected at about the same time.

 

I think both are seen as issues which affect only a comparitively small number of individuals (in DIAC't terms) Which is scant comfort to both groups. On Poms in Oz we have seen a lot of new Members joining since Christmas, of whom the majority are new to the visa process and unaware that the capital sinvestment scheme problem even exists I strongly suspect.

 

In the same way as Pollyana has said on BE, I don't think making the Poms in Oz thread sticky would have any effect. Only Montymon and I have contributed to his/her thread so far. Instead I will keep bumping it back up to the top. II

 

will continue to think about how I can help to raise the profile of this problem. Montymon told me that the Press have shown no interest in it. There must be another way......

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Selah]

Dear Gill and others,

 

My mother/father in law who live in Adelaide called Diac on Tuesday to ask what the capital bonus point status was and were told once again the a decision was "imminent" and that no one was expected to be "disadvantaged." He pushed to find out if they were leaning toward abolishing the need for the investment and he alluded not (but not with any real conviction either way.) I would like a definition of the word "imminent" as this has been part of their communication for several months. We just had our meds yesterday so with any luck we will hear at about the time that we would need to hear. However, those who were so close last December - I can't even imagine! My inlaws were shocked at the low numbers on the petition but I just have to imagine that a very small number of those affected subscribe to this type of forum and that we are not reaching the vast majority affected.

 

Liz

[Guest Rajan]

Hi mark and other friend,

 

Guys have you heard anything about capital investment scheme. I am waiting for Immigration decision regrading Capital investment. I nearly waste 1 year behind it. I dont know when they will release any decision. I heard from my solicitor that chief officer said that it's not their prioprity to make decision but still thinking. So, guys if you get any message then please forward it to me.

 

Thanks.

 

Rajan

[Hayshake]

I have been advised quite recently that the CPV Visa's per year have from July been increased to 6500 from 3500. There were also other changes to processing centres, but I am unable to remember what these were. I subscribe to a newsletter, but unfortunately erased it so am unable to advise any further.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

The latest that I've heard about the Capital Investment Scheme is from Steben O'Neil's June 2008 Newsletter, which is here:

 

http://www.pomsinperth.com/discussionboard/viewtopic.php?t=14309

 

Steven says he has heard a "strong rumour" that DIAC have decided to waive the captal investment and also waive the extra 5 points so that they can grant the visas and draw a line under the fiasco.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest markjohn]

Hello again,

How are things going with you now.We have the house on the market .Medicals and police checks done.Just waiting for a decent exchange rate to invest the money

Mark