Recently in Visa / Immigration Progress Category
OK, so I handed my visa application in yesterday and it was probably the quickest I've ever been through immigration before (and in a bad way, that's later). I stood in line on the bottom floor for like 5-10 minutes; that's fine. They were crazy-busy. My partner was checking his email for work and/or chatting on the phone like a high school girl and they told me to go up about 20 floors. OK, that's fine. My partner was hiding somewhere I guess so I called him to go with me so yeah, he finally found me.
I went upstairs and there was no one in line so I walked up to the counter and felt like I left my brain at home. I paid half and my partner paid half. She said, okay that's it, you're on a Bridging Visa A after your current visa expires (which is tomorrow) and I sorta sat there staring at her for like 5 seconds said "OK..." And I left. I got downstairs and felt like I just dropped over $1000 and didn't get any satisfaction. My partner told me to go back up and start asking questions. I asked and got the clarification about what exactly a Bridging Visa A is. BUT. Now I have a problem. I thought I was supposed to get a label put in my passport or something. (I almost gave them my passport completely.)
Reading what a Bridging Visa A is, I feel like some kind of criminal or something. Weird, but true. I have had possible employers flat out tell me to come back to them once I got my visa mess sorted out which I THOUGHT that's what I was doing that day. Now I have no evidence that I can work! That bothers me because I really, really want that awesome nursing job that one of the hospitals offered me a few months ago.
It's funny, my partner Gilbert, you all know him, woke me up this morning and said "So how does it feel being a resident of this country now" and I said, "Hey, don't jump the gun here..." He's pretty excited about it and it's nice to see his excitement. He's going to be pretty mad today because I really needed to see if I needed a label in my passport.
BUT... but... the weather was so nice today. It was 17º C / 63º F today and the sun was out and it was awesome. I took the dog out instead. I thought it would be a good time to do it since it's not often at this time of the year when the temperature AND weather is nice. I couldn't pass up that opportunity. I guess that's procrastination talking!
Gilbert and I are supposed to go out to eat tonight to celebrate. I'm sure it'll be good. I don't plan on posting every single update to my visa stuff. We shouldn't hear anything for a week or two.
It does feel good to breathe again though I do feel like I was screwed in this deal.
Well, today is the day. It's really and truly amazing that I made it this far in both staying in Australia as well as in my relationship. Last night, we hurriedly worked on the visa application and getting our things together. I have to say that doing that together really brought together our relationship and in a good way. So it's all set to go. I'm still missing a few things though which I will be getting later.
So my little checklist of what I need looks like this: (everything isn't included but you get the idea)
Application Form
Sponsor's Application Form
Medical Checks
Passport Photos (2 for both of us, mine hasn't officially been done YET but I'm about to get it done)
Evidence of ongoing, genuine relationship (bank statements, pictures, travel docs, phone records, etc)
Evidence of living together for 12 months (stamps on passport, original mail envelopes with dates)
Police Checks for Australia (has been sent in, needs received)
Police Checks for the USA (has been sent in, needs received)
2 Statutory Declarations concerning our relationship (1/2)
So that's where things stand. Around 2 or 3 pm I'm going to bring this in, after I get a haircut and passport photos done.
I'm here, and I'm thinking "Wow." I didn't think I'd be doing this again so it's exciting in a way. Wish me luck because if I don't do this today or tomorrow, I'm shipping out on Saturday, legally.
Now I need to bathe, eat something and head to the shopping center where I'm going to whack a good bit of hair off my head. As my mother would say, I look like an orphan. Everybody says I don't need a haircut but I'd feel a lot better if I did. I'd be tempted to shave it all off if I could.
Bye for now, and I'll have an update soon.
Are you curious to know what I'm talking about? Click here.
Ah, I've made a new category called "Visa / Immigration Progress" for those people who kind of stumble on this website looking for Australian visa information. Especially those people who are from the USA and thinking about moving here.
I will be writing my progress notes here to let you know and hopefully that will allow me to get out of talking about it in my podcast. :)
If you already know what's going on, I'll spare you the repeated information. The other goods can be found in the extended entry. There should be a link below this if you're on my main page.
I also want to plug YanksDownUnder.net right now for being a nice support group for me and having lots of information to help me along. Good community there. It's for Americans who are living or have moved to Australia.
