Greetings to all clients of Down Under Visa, both old and new.

A reminder that our last work day will be Friday 19 December 2014, and we will start back on 5 January 2015.

This is the only time of year when we get to truly take a break, and we are really looking forward to it. As usual we will celebrate with a large collection of nieces and nephews from the province, ie. about 10 extra kids to add to our lot. Christmas and New Years in the Philippines is great fun. Anyone who hasn’t been here at this time really should try to.

Wherever you will be, and whoever you will be with, we hope you have a blessed and peaceful Christmas followed by a promising New Year with lots to look forward to.

To anyone waiting on visa applications, we sincerely hope they’ll be granted in time. The Embassy only close the public holidays. Last year the final visa grant came through on 23 December, and the next one came through on 2 January. Even on holidays we will still pass on visa grants. They are definitely trying their hardest to get through what they have in front of them. And again, there really truly is nothing we can do to make things go faster or to get progress reports. If we could, we would happily hire a staff member to do nothing but that. But it simply doesn’t work like that.

Re the published results of the CFO Survey (www.downundervisa.com/cfo)

We still can’t advise on the CFO. We have no communication with them, and Registered Migration Agents don’t have any particular authority over them. Our sources of information are their website (www.cfo.gov.ph) and the survey results which former attendees have been kind enough to send us.

Despite this we’ve still had some people email us and ask what they need to bring, etc.  Plus a few have said “….but I already sent that to Australian Immigration!” The CFO is operated by the Philippines Government, and therefore what they do has nothing to do with what was sent to the Australian Embassy. And if they wish to demand further documents, they are allowed to do so. You’ll note also that 90% of the former attendees had brought everything anyway, so it’s not a pending nightmare. Try to organise yourselves with everything possible, and that number should go up to 100%!

Re the published visa grant averages

Thank you all for your positive comments. I’ll be doing this regularly, and I hope it gives you all some clarity.

And thank you all for NOT emailing me and saying “But mine is taking longer than the average…..so there must be something wrong! Call the Embassy!!” There are usually huge variations in processing time. All normal. If the application was a good one to start with, it will be granted.