In January 2009 my husband’s entire family, his parents and his siblings immigrated to Australia. They have now been living there for almost 4 years and will all obtain their Australian citizenship in 2013. We subsequently decided to apply for a permanent resident visa in January of 2012 as it is very difficult to live away from the family and I would like my children to grow up with their cousins, grandparents, etc. I approached Global Visas after extensive research and I was advised by them that I easily qualify for a Skilled Visa due to my degrees and working experience. After the initial assessment, and much convincing on their part that I was the perfect candidate, I paid them R20 000 as part of their initial consultation fees. After the amazing sales pitch from a gentleman named Daniel, I was handed over to my first consultant Jonathan.
The first step of the visa process was to obtain approval from the skills assessing authority, Vetassess in Australia. I was very concerned that we were going to be declined and followed up regularly on the progress; however I was advised by Jonathan that it was “impossible” to be declined at this stage of the process as my skills were “highly relevant”. I am, by profession, a Financial Planning consultant and I have my Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning, but Daniel and Jonathan both though it would be best to apply as a marketing specialist as I have only had my Postgraduate Diploma for less than a year, however I have had my Degree in Marketing Management since 2010. Naturally I was concerned about this as I am not a marketing specialist, but both gentlemen assured me that I matched the criteria. Not surprisingly, I was declined by Vetassess in May – the reasoning was not 100% clear, but I had to resubmit most of my documentation and then they stated that they would reapply at their own cost as it was an error on their part. They once again listed my profession as a marketing specialist and I was once again declined in November, because they don’t feel that I fit the criteria of a marketing specialist; surprise, surprise! During this time, (since my second application in May to November) my consultant had been changed twice; Jonathan had resigned and then a very rude gentleman was assigned to my case, I promptly requested that he be removed from my case and replaced with another consultant; Michael.
In early November I had followed up with Michael via email several times regarding the outcome of the assessment and the reasons for being declined, but he did not respond to my emails, I therefore called his office to be advised that he was on leave so I left a message for him to please call me upon his return the following Monday. I did not receive a call on Monday so I emailed him once again reminding him to please call me. Early Wednesday morning, I had a very irate Michael calling me and accusing me of phoning his manager and verbally abusing her! I was shocked, bemused and furious all at the same time as I did no such thing! I immediately called his manager, Candice, and asked her why she made such accusations; whilst I was on the phone to Candice, she proceeded to confront Michael regarding these accusations and they engaged in an enormous argument while I was waiting on the other side of the line. I then told them that I found their behaviour extremely unprofessional and advised them to call me back when they had resolved their internal issues. Michael called me back 2 hours later and briefly said “sorry for the confusion” and proceeded to talk to me about the case as if nothing had happened.
Even at this point, I was willing to stick it out with Global Visas and see if we could reapply for a 3rd time, but this time at my request as my true profession – a financial advisor. They said, “Certainly, however it will be at my own cost”! I was astonished at their lack of remorse and unwillingness to accept responsibility for their part in this entire debacle. I then sent a written request to cancel my contract with them and request a full refund as their contract states the following with regards to refunds:
“Refund policy
Global Visas provides a full refund if our Board of Directors deem we have provided incorrect information during our advocacy process, which led to your case being refused or that our services have fallen below the standards you can reasonably expect o[censored]s. We are only liable to refund the fees paid to Global Visas.”
Was this clearly not the case? Since I have sent my written request to terminate my relationship with them and request the refund, I have not heard from them, I have left messages and sent numerous follow-up emails, but they continue to ignore me. I wish that I had read the many complaints about them on various websites before paying them the R20 000 as well as the R5000 that was paid to the assessing authority, as this has caused me and so many others endless frustration and financial losses.
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