I received the following email from a case officer at one of the overseas offices of the Department of Home Affairs recently:
Dear Kathryn,
Thank you for your email and the pictures of the baby. Please send my warmest regards and best wishes to the applicant and the sponsor.
The PICXXX is considered as met and no further information is necessary.
As soon as you will have uploaded the Australian birth certificate of the child we would be in a position to finalise the case.
I hope that this is of assistance to you and wish you a beautiful day.
Kind regards,
XXX
Case Officer
Position number: XXX
Her email made my day.
Anyone who works in this area knows that for the last few years, the Department has forced us to operate in a faceless, sometimes nameless world of Position Numbers, with no direct email addresses and definitely no phone numbers. To get an email from an actual case officer is very rare, let alone one that is so personal and so – dare I say it – human.
For me, this is a timely reminder that case officers are more than just a Position Number. They can and do get invested in visa applications, just as we do, and every now and then, they take the time to let you know that they are aware that the process can be extremely stressful for many visa applicants.
The client was thrilled. He had been fighting for his permanent visa since 2015. His previous representative referred him to us because his immigration history was particularly complex. In his application, we were dealing with a history that included a visa refusal, a health waiver and multiple criminal convictions from his teenage years. It seemed an insurmountable battle, so he was thrilled at the outcome we achieved for him.
A successful visa application involves a number of moving parts, and liaising with the Department of Home Affairs is a key component of the process. It’s always nice to know that there are case officers who recognise the efforts you put into an application and who work alongside you to ensure a swift outcome for the clients.