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Breaking Australian immigration news brought to you by Migration Alliance and associated bloggers.
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Why I don't ring 131 881. Ever.
#boycott131881
I have just called the 131 881 DIBP number three times and asked the same question three times. Given the number of times the DIBP have wasted my time with pointless requests since 2001 (when I became an agent), I believe that I am perfectly entitled to ring the 131881 DIBP number and ask a question to test their knowledge and service. This was my question:
I am married but me and my husband have been separated for 2 years. I have been living with my new British partner for 12 months. He is on a 457. Can I lodge a spouse visa now?
131881 staff member 1: No you need to be divorced first.
131 881 staff member 2: No you need to be divorced to lodge the application.
131 881 staff member 3: Yes you can.
After waiting up to 50 mins on hold to speak to someone who could 'help' I recommend that anyone seeking advice do NOT call 131 881.
The answer is YES YOU CAN LODGE A SPOUSE VISA APPLICATION.
When you need advice, my advice is ask a Registered Migration Agent who can give you the right advice the first time. You can find a Registered Migration Agent at www.mara.gov.au or on this website using the search function.
On 8 April 2014 an agent was asked not to call 131881. In a turnaround, approximately two weeks ago I was told to ring 131881 by a Director at the DIBP when I tried to email a delegate directly. My advice to agents is to ring another agent. DIBP cannot help and even if they try, their advice will not be at the same standard as another RMA.
Comments
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
I am the sponsor. I was ringing as an Australian citizen with an Australian accent. I never told them my husband was also an Australian.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015Liana thank you. I just did the same thing with a different but equally straight forward question and received not two, but three different answers. You are right. DO NOT RING 131881.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
The DIBP are likely to get a lot of 131 881 systems and knowledge testers after people read this blog item. I called them and asked whether I could submit an application in person in Perth and they didn't know. I gave up waiting for an answer whilst they scrambled to understand, read and interpret schedule 1.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
Nobody would dare to test their system like this and then say so... but you Liana. You have now moved from 'most wanted' to 'really most wanted'.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
I just rang them and asked the most simple question:
Hello are you open at the moment?
DIBP 131 881 response: 'What do you mean are we open?'
I hung up. Case in point. -
Friday, 18 November 2016
Wait, you asked a call centre if they were "open" then hung up? Okay how about you idiots stop calling and keep the like clear for those of us who actually need the assistance and advice. "Are you open?"...right, you realize you were the idiot in this conversation, right?
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
Did you know that the 131881 number don't refer people to find an agent to ask questions? They do not refer callers to their division of DIBP called The Office of the MARA. They prefer to give bad, incomplete and often incorrect advice than to refer people to someone who can actually help them. Plus they are not insured for the advice they give. The only time they refer people to the office of the MARA is when someone wants to make a complaint about an agent. #boycott131881
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
It's about time someone had the guts to say it how it is with this bloody 131881 number. It's pathetic. It is not a service it is almost a service. Almost doesn't count with immigration law.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
Unfortunately the advice received from the 131 881 number is notorious for being unreliable.
I once had a client who had lodged an 856 visa application on the advice from DIAC (or was it DIMIA or some other acronym of the time) that they did not need to meet the 2 year requirement at time of lodgement.
This was incorrect and they lost their lodgement fee when the application was refused.
The problem is that they are not liable for the advice they give and they do not need to be Registered Migration Agents to provide advice.
Considering that they advertise this service on their website as the number to call to “obtain general information on all temporary and permanent visa categories (including visitors, students, family migration, temporary business visas and refugee and humanitarian applications)”, it is not unreasonable for the public to assume that the advice will be reliable and given by trained professionals.
Apparently only Registered Migration Agents are accountable for their advice, everyone else, including the Immigration Department, are not. -
Thursday, 05 March 2015
The Department talk about wanting to protect consumers. If they were serious about that then they would stop unregistered practice and that includes themselves giving half-baked visa advice. The number of times their advice has conflicted with mine is too many to number. The clients always believe the Department, thinking that the Department is the fountain of all knowledge. Why doesn't the Department come clean and let the public know that they their knowledge is not all that great and that they have no evidence of being fit or proper to answer questions in Australian immigration law. And yes no insurance. And the outreach officers of the Department are worse than anything.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
True guys,different staff members,different answer always to the same question,totally unreliable source of information.....
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
What they (receiver when that number is contacted) should do is tell the caller to contact MARA to check on the nearest RMA that they can go to. Rather than giving invented answers. The department should advertise RMA's because we are their partner
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
over the counter officers are equally disappointing.
Recently i tried to lodge a request for movement record at the Sydney Lee Street Office.
The first officer ask me to provide a document because he interpreted the form incorrectly and refused to listen to my interpretation. The second one said I filled the form incorrectly... when I insisted on lodging, he accepted and said it might not be processed. A day later it was processed and I had the results..
Imagine if it was a client and got knocked back... -
Thursday, 05 March 2015
The 131881 number is a problem. So too is the alternative of sending an email to the various mailboxes. Messages seem to go into a black hole and I never seem to receive a reply. When are RMAs going to receive some respect and be provided with a dedicated link to DIBP which will be manned?
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
Think they are bad, try dealing with their overseas partners, TT Services in Fiji. Each time I try to lodge an application I sit in their office and listen to the information they provide to visa applicants. It can be really scary. I nearly called the complaints section in Australia while I was sitting there one day.
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Thursday, 05 March 2015
Yes, unfortunately we cannot make mistakes as we will be reported to MARA, but Immigration can give wrong information that sometimes relies on problems with our clients that think WE ARE WRONG AND THEY RIGHT!
But, I think we are living two big problems at the moment and I would love if a movement could be done against that:
MRT hearings: The tribunal does not make our submissions and documents forward to the Members. I had this experience 3 times; 2 times I got the hearing postpone and had the decision set aside. Third time, the member did not want to postpone thus, took 15 minutes to read a 20 pages submission and more than 30 documents and affirmed the decision on the following day that was ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR
DIBP - I had experienced twice case officers calling me asking for documents, claiming that the duo date was expired and, when I checked, the documents were sent but, there was 2 cases officer looking after the same file. What would happen if the one that did not receive the documents refuse the application???
I THINK I CANNOT BE THE ONLY ONE HAVE THESE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. I WOULD LOVE IF MIGRATION ALLIANCE THAT IS A GOOD FIGHTER, DO SOMEHTING ABOUT THAT!!! -
Thursday, 05 March 2015
Hi Liana,
Similar situation, I rang the DIBP to ask about step-children that are counted towards BoF test for a Parent Visa. The staff said that all step children are counted. I asked about the definition of step children in r.1.03. They had no idea whatsoever.
Please do not ring the DIBP customer service to get advice. It is useless!
Svetlana -
Thursday, 05 March 2015
Calling 131881 takes an eternity to get someone on the line, altho' the deptt sometimes gives an option to leave your number and name and they do call back, but the quality of information after all that wait is a big joke. Too much waffle and no real answer to your question. They appear too scared to give you a definite response.
Yes you will get different responses to the one question from different people.
One big joke for the amount of fees being charged.!!!!! -
Thursday, 05 March 2015
I was told in a very rude manner few times last year that I should not call because I should know the answer. I was trying to find out why online application is not available for particular client who was lodging online visa 457. So this was question I could never know how to answer by myself. The correct procedure is to call 131881, talk to someone and then get manual lodgement if approved by IT. This one took 3 calls, lots of repetition and I finally got the right person who knew what was I asking in the 3rd call. I even wrote to the global feedback unit to complain about it and got apology letter few days after. So I stopped calling and saved myself lots of time since then.
Immigration blog
i think you can only lodge a 457 secondary applicant application? your British parter isn't even a PR yet...how can you lodge a spouse application? who's your sponsor?