A quick call to the ASPC

[froobie]

I posted this on PIO a couple of days ago, and thought I would put it on here too so if you have seen it already sorry!

 

We called the Adelaide skilled processing centre today, and are pretty glad we did!!

 

As we don't have an agent, we really didn't know what was going on so we stayed up and rang the enquirees line. The guy we spoke to said that the Visas being given CO's are from December 07.

 

He then went on to have a look at our application and because it was so simple (just two 22 year olds, police and medicals front loaded) he would pass it on to his manager who may pass it on to a CO!!

 

This, we were told, could take two weeks to get feedback and then another two to be passed on to a CO! Apparently, all going well, he reckoned it was possible to be granted a visa within the month

 

I would most definately reccomend giving them a call, they are very useful and the guy we spoke to was hapy to give helpful information. Acouple of things we found out:

 

They are still processing the same amount of applications as ever before. For nyone who has heard that they are goign to cut back on skilled migrants, it hasn't started yet and there is no immediate plan for it to start.

 

Also, for online applicants who are constantly checking their 'visa progress' and document checklist, don't pay too much attention to it as they had forgotten to tick the box saying our medicals had beeen recieved apparently!!

 

Anyway, thanks for putting up with the long post!! lol

 

Lucy

 

x

[Janine and Richard]

Hi Lucy

 

Would it be possible for you to give me the number of the aspc and what information did you need to hand. And... sorry just one more question. What time did you ring them?

 

I keep speaking to my agent who says we check your application every week!!

Just thought I would ring and see what they say.

Regards Janine

[froobie]

Hi Janine,

 

We called them on +61 1300 364 613, and I think we only needed our TRN and for it to be the main applicant calling (I phoned and they wouldn't tell me much, even though I'm the de facto!) and I don't think we needed anything else.

 

We calle daround 10.30pm our time, which at the moment is 9am their time, when they open.

 

A really easy way to check the time over there is by typing 'time in adelaide' into google and it appears above the search results!

 

Good luck, let us know what they say,

 

Lucy

 

x

[Janine and Richard]

Thanks Lucy will ring them tonight to see what is happening or if they can give me any info.

Will let you know what they say. Keep your fingers crossed this whole adventure has been going on for us since Jan 07!! But our application only went in Mar 08.

 

Thanks again Janine x

[Denise]

Let us know what happens, I might give it a try myself.

[froobie]

Thanks Lucy will ring them tonight to see what is happening or if they can give me any info.

Will let you know what they say. Keep your fingers crossed this whole adventure has been going on for us since Jan 07!! But our application only went in Mar 08.

 

Thanks again Janine x

 

Did you call in the end?? What happened? Just wondering if we were lucky with our call! Hope its all going ok

 

Lucy x

[Guest brandyslad]

Did you call in the end?? What happened? Just wondering if we were lucky with our call! Hope its all going ok

 

Lucy x

 

 

Just wanted to ask are you applying on a 475 or a 175??

[froobie]

Oops I thought I had said!

It's a 176 visa we're applying for

 

x

[Guest brandyslad]

Oops I thought I had said!

It's a 176 visa we're applying for

 

x

 

 

I am gobsmacked they were so helpful, I dread ringing any sort of official department over here, I had to ring the Driver Licence Authority for NI this morning and was just hating the thought. Its good to know that we can ring up with questions and they will be friendly although I am still at early stages so will be a while before I can ring about anything yet!! LOL

[Guest brandyslad]

But our situation sounds similar, there is just the two of us, no kids, and we are in our late mid to late twenties, my OH is younger than me, LOL, toy boy, our case is pretty straightforward but we have to the de facto biz as well.

[Janine and Richard]

Did you call in the end?? What happened? Just wondering if we were lucky with our call! Hope its all going ok

 

Lucy x

 

Sorry did mean to repy tried all week and kept getting the call centre was busy please try later and getting cut off. Anyway got thru Thursday/Friday am for them. Eventually after trying for two hours.

 

Spoke to this really nice man who also said they were only looking at 475's from Dec 07 at the moment. He did look at our application and said that it is front loaded (that means all the paperwork is there) and when they do look at it, it could be in a week's time or two years!!! He couldnt put a time limit on it. (There is five of us) and he was very sorry. I have now applied for another job as I cannot wait any longer. If or when we do get the visa's depending on what is happening with the kids education we might not go now. This has been going on for us since Jan 07 due to getting qualification varified etc

 

Sorry to sound so negative Lucy good luck to us both take care Janine x

[froobie]

But our situation sounds similar, there is just the two of us, no kids, and we are in our late mid to late twenties, my OH is younger than me, LOL, toy boy, our case is pretty straightforward but we have to the de facto biz as well.

 

Well, as I have posted elsewhere, they have put it through now and we have a case officer! All has been approved but the defacto bit and we are waiting for a letter outlining the extra info they need!! So we may have a nice christmas prezzie if we are very lucky. I think it's just luck, the guy we spoke to must have been in a good mood. I think it helps that it's just 2 of us although it is a unfair to those taking children, as I don't think that should make it more difficult to give them a visa.

 

I would reccomend calling to anyone, just to ask the question (it can't hurt, and look where it's got us!)

 

Sorry to hear they couldn't help you janine, but I'm glad you found them friendly.

 

Lucy

 

x

[Guest brandyslad]

Fingers crossed the de facto info they are looking for is simple enough and maybe you will have it before Xmas.

 

Any time I think to myself 'this is too much, we are mad' I think of all the people going through it with kids and then I remember how much harder it is for them, all the extra info, meds costs, homesickness, having to think about schools etc plus at least if we don't get accomodation at the start we don't mind roughing it for a while but that would not be an option i'd want to take with kids.

 

Anyway hope you get good news for xmas.