Hi everyone! I've been reading this forum for quite sometime now. Now I'll try to get your feedback, comment and/or input.
Background: We have a son. He's 19 years old and recently graduated from CSA Makati with his HS diploma (March 2015). We have applied at University of Newcastle for Tertiary Preparation Program for Medicine whose intake is only every Feb hence the wait (and if successful he'll be taking up Bachelor of Medicine at the same university). We have the eCoEs for both courses.
We have lodged our application via VFS thru the guidance of BridgeBlue on Jan 11 2016. We got an acknowledgement from the embassy that they've received the application on the 13th of Jan. All documents complied to. Medical done as well. In fact, the medical was done ahead of the visa lodgment - SVP 573 visa. We never got any call from the embassy.
However, up until now, the visa hasn't arrived yet. His movein date for his incampus dorm should be on the 6th. Orientation is on feb 22 and school starts feb 29. His flight is suppose to be midnight tonight.
My questions are:
Has anyone applied around the same time as my son did? Did you get visa notices already?
In the service standards of DIBP, it says AL1 (or SVP) shall be processed in 14 days - is that working or calendar? Either way, we've been waiting longer than 14 calendar and working days already.
What do you suggest that we do? Can we follow up directly from the embassy? Is there a facility there where we could walk in and follow up the visa status?
Has anyone tried emailing them? We've tried yesterday and haven't gotten a response except the auto-response email
Are there cases that there will be no calls and interviews but visas are still granted? Or we should really get a call before a visa is granted?
Your inputs pls?
Your inputs, comments and suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.