Permanently migrating

I can’t remember how long I’ve been waiting for this but, let’s just say it’s been long overdue !

Last Monday, my boss got his notification that he was approved as sponsor for the “Employer Nomination Scheme”, the 186 Visa.  So naturally we both assumed it would be only hours before I got the good news too.  Then came Tuesday, then Wedesday, Thursday, and still no news.

What a roller-coaster.  In June or July, I got an email from the Immigration Department announcing that they had started processing the applications received up to January 31st, and the expected timeframe was six to eight months.  Ours had been accepted on January 31st, just after we found out that Hoath, the so-called immigration agent, had buggered off with his clients’ money.  So, I thought, we’re good.  Come July or August, we should have an answer.

Early-August, Claire and I were asked to provide a Federal Police Clearance, which would indicate that someone, somewhere in Canberra, was FINALLY looking at our file and things were moving forward.  This is it I thought.  But then 30th of August, my boss gets a phone call, asking why he had not responded to any emails nor supplied any of the requested files.

What files ? What emails ? Turns out none of the messages came through, and it’s only when logging onto his Immi Portal that he realised there were quite a few messages waiting, the last one requesting more files to be supplied before…August 28th, or the application would be rejected !  Two days ago.

Whaaaaat ? Not again I thought, no fucking way ! I got him to send the files, called and emailed and pretty much spent the day making sure the files had been sent, received, and approved.

Then, more waiting.  September goes by, nothing.  Baby is due in two weeks, it’s getting less and less likely we get the visa in time.

You see, this Permanent Residency is the key to a whole new world for us.  First, the baby will be born with the Australian residency if one parent is either Australian, or permanent resident.  So that’s a massive bonus for him/her.  Not only will they be automatically granted French and Belgian citizenship, and therefore free to come and go in and out of Europe, but an Australian passport means when comes the time of going to school, university, get a job, etc they won’t have to go through all these hoops, should he/she choose to live, study or work in Australia.  Same goes for any country in Europe, if there is still such a thing as Europe in twenty years that is.

Second bonus, as a permanent resident, I can apply for Parental Leave, meaning I don’t have to take two weeks of unpaid leave after the birth.  My salary may not be huge but it’s certainly better than zero dollar for two weeks.

Third, we also can properly and actively start looking for a house, and not just receive the daily updates from various real estate websites, look at pretty pictures and say “oh yeah that’s a nice house, we can’t fucking buy it, but it’s a nice house” !

So yeah, getting this visa in time was pretty crucial for a lot of things.  Last but not least, on our “bridging visa” (so from January 31st onward) we were not allowed to leave the country, or our application for PR would have been cancelled.  So, we could not have flewn to Belgium/France and have our families greet our little one.

We went for dinner last Tuesday with a couple of friends, and we were joking about the visa, that we had just about ten days to get it or we would be screwed.  But then, Wednesday, no news.  Thursday (that’s two days ago), no news.  Friday morning, I thought what the hell I’m going to call these guys and ask WTF where’s the hold up ? How long do we have to wait now ? Days, weeks ?

First attempt, 8AM, calling the Canberra office, it’s 11 over there, surely there’s someone.  I can hear the ringtone clicking and changing non stop, meaning I’m being transferred from one department to another, but nobody picks up the call.  I hang up.

Second attempt, 8:30AM, calling Melbourne this time.  Someone picks up, good morning this is Anna, how can I help ?  I explain we got the first approval for the employer on Monday, any status update on the employee’s situation please ?  She looks at the application, checks a few things, puts me on hold, and comes back saying “well everything seems in order, we have all the documents, I don’t really see why this is taking so long”.
I keep silent but under my breath I curse the department.  Then she says “I don’t know why you should wait any longer, I’ll see what I can do” and wishes me a good day.

8:57AM, ding, you’ve got mail !

“Dear Brice Gery Jean SERVAIS
Notification of grant of a Employer Nomination (subclass 186) visa.
A decision has been made on this application and visas have been granted on 07 October 2016 to the applicant(s) listed in the attached Visa Grant Notice.”

YESSSSSS ! Fuck yeah !!! Finally, two bloody years almost.  Between the time we first applied and this sonovabitch decided to do a runner with the register, and the second application, we finally got this god damn residency !  Actually, it was my long time plan ever since I left Belgium on February 9th 2008, that I’d get the PR.

Shit, now Claire can relax and baby can pop up any day.

PS: on the whole Hoath debacle (read previous post https://walkabout.be/?p=5138).  We did attempt to gather as many people as possible in the same situation as ours but when we got to discuss lawyer’s fees, they all vanished into thin air.  Eventually, we decided that the legal fees were propably to great a risk to lose.  This proces had already cost us 20 thousand in total, we weren’t ready to fork out another five or so.  So we dropped the case and decided to move on.
This bastard, Mark Hoath, was last seen on Facebook, probably enjoying his hard-earned cash very much.  His Facebook profile has since been shut down and I have no idea where he may be hiding.  Nor do I care really.  I’m just hoping he’s not opening a new immigration scheme to skim off migrants in Cananda, the US or wherever else.  There are a lot of Google hits for “Mark Hoath, Immigration” with countless forum entries of people he swindled, but no real lead to where he may be.  May he rot in hell.