The happy family! Well, Satomi's legs and me with my beautiful. Oh, how I miss them both.
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Random pic
The happy family! Well, Satomi's legs and me with my beautiful. Oh, how I miss them both.
Visa? What Visa? Oooohhh, THAT one!
Yes... Visa, visa, visa. You know, there was a time not so long ago when I was genuinely confused as to what a credit card company had to do with being able to visit another country. Yep, it's true (although, i probably just let slip how worldly daft I once was). But now, the word visa brings up in my mind images of a hell filled with a million and one check-boxes, mountains and mountains of paper, and the never-ending search for a reliable Justice of the Peace to witness everything (does anyone else ever get nervous when presenting paper to JPs to sign... like, fearing the may not actually sign it for some arcane and bureaucratic reason??? No? Oh, it's just me then...)
The good news, however, is that we're a lot closer to actually getting it all sorted and submitted. Well, to be more correct in the reference to 'we' there - it's actually just me. Due to some strange twist of fate, I've been able to resist most procrastination-ary distractions and completed something relatively on time. Satomi, on the other hand, is slowly crumbling under the weight of her own beauracritic governmental system; which, I'm glad to say, seems as daft and devoid of logic as our own.
So what, precisely, are the hoops that Mr Australian Government is making us jump through in order to allow Satomi to live in Australia so that we can get married and live happily ever after? Well, as you can imagine, it all starts with a form. Oh no, not just one... one each! The forms are pretty standard Australian Government fair, apart from one particular question which struck me as a bit silly. "Q74 - Did you enter into this relationship with your partner solely to gain permanent residence in Australia?" Now, I know I'm not the quickest of wits, but I doubt anyone would be so flippant with this process to actually mark Yes to that question. But you never know, and it's worth the asking to weed out the particularly dim of our prospective Australian residents. Actually, it reminds me of a question we were told to ask when someone called the newspaper with a bomb threat after September 11: "Where are you right now? What is your full name and address?". I've never had the documentary evidence to prove it, but was reliably informed by the friendly HR manager administering that training session, that it sometimes works! Wow... the sophistication of the criminal mind, hey? But I digress...
So the form... Check. Well, actually no, not check. Haven't even looked through it, really. But it doesn't look that taxing.
Next up we have to prove our identities and residence status. Not as easy as it sounds... well, not for me. You see, I've never had a real birth certificate, just a birth certificate extract. Which did me well up until I need to get my passport (which I needed not only for this visa, but also my trip). So on the bold mission I went into my fist foray of Australian Government bureaucracy in order to gain all the necessary pieces of paper that tell me and other people that I actually exist. I won't bore you with all the details, but needless to say that it resulted in numerous requests to "provide additional information", and a number of fiery run ins with Australia Post workers. But, I have the A4 piece of encrypted paper stating that I was born, and fingers crossed, I will have the little blue booklet letting me cut the apron strings to the motherland in my hot little hands shortly.
Satomi is facing her own task, having to have the equivalent of her birth certificate (I think they call it a family register, or something like that) completely translated into English. In addition to this, she also has to prove she is of "good character and heath" in order to have the visa accepted. This involves getting police and medical checks done. Sounds simple when you put it like that, doesn't it? I can assure, it's nothing but easy. As we speak, paper work is flying back and forwards around Nippon as various government departments decide if Satomi is, indeed, "of good character".
In addition to all of that, we also have to prove that our relationship exists and is genuine. This is an absolutely awesome task and, at this moment, just a bundle of messed up papers sitting beside my desk. So far, we have gathered witness statements and identity documents (yes, apparently only Australian Residents are allowed to judge if Satomi is fit to be a fellow country-man) from 3 friends, with 2 more currently on the way. Along with a few Christmas and Engagement Cards sent to us, this should prove the "social aspects" part of the deal. We also have to have financial proof - so I have included bank statements from the joint account we opened in January, as well as money transfer receipts. We also have to show proof of the "nature of the household"... as Satomi and I lived together as flatmates before this amazing adventure began, this shouldn't be too hard, right? Oh no, it is. You see, I don't have a lease - well, nothing written down anyway. Just a gentleman's agreement between the landlord and I. Also, as Satomi was only going to be here for 9 months, we decided just to keep all the utilities bills in my name, to save the hassle. So, in actual fact, we have no hard evidence that Satomi and I actually lived together, apart from some odd bank statements that were sent to her here. To meet this requirement, I've secured a statement from the landlord confirming Satomi's existence at the Love Den, and his knowledge of our living arrangements. Also, a few people have mentioned our living arrangements in their statements to us. That should suffice... we hope.
Last part of the proving our relationship is showing evidence of our commitment to each other. This is hard - apart from the obvious proof of actually getting engaged and intending to be married... how do you "prove" this aspect? Apart from mentioning our future plans heavily in our History of the Relationship documents, we don't think we can do much more. Apart from attaching records of our nightly MSN chats, morning telephone calls and daily emails - this should prove that we've been in almost constant contact with each other since she left. There's plenty of all of those, so maybe the assessing officer will get a kick out of flicking through them, voyeuristically.
And that brings us nicely on to the next part of visa application. We both have to write our own "History of the Relationship". Satomi has already started on hers, but I am yet to. This is basically a written free-for-all where you can indulge your ego a little and wax lyrical about the events and feelings that have led to this momentous occasion (much like this blog, really). We're being all creative with this and adding heaps of photos and funny little stories from our times as flatmates and then as a couple. We'll also be attaching records from our trip to Byron Bay together in November, as well as records of my trip to Japan in August - this should show that we're serious. One thing does fill me with dread with this History part... I'm in two minds as to whether to be brutally honest in explaining how I proposed, or to embellish it a little? I proposed while we were lying in bed one morning on a lazy weekend morning... need spicing up, do you think?
And the final thing we need to do is prove that we're actually going to get married. I've now met with two marriage celebrants and have registered with one. So we have the Notice of Intent to Marry, as well as a letter from her confirming that she has been booked to do the wedding. Done.
Phew... I'm exhausted! And this is just for the application! Goodness knows how many more hoops they'll invent for us to jump through while they're assessing the application. In amongst this, we're also planning Ben's Big Adventure to Nippon (also titled Ben's Big First Overseas Journey). We've sort of delayed planning the wedding at this stage (by delayed, we've just stopped talking about it... there's waaaayyy too many things to do before that nut gets opened) and also some tentative plans for The Big Move to Melbourne, which we're hoping will happen close to the end of the Wedding Madness.
So thanks for reading, and I promise, we'll get to the good mushy romantic tales of how we sustain our relationship while being hemisphere's away from each other shortly. I promise - technology these days will have you flabbergasted! We've even had real "online" dates!!! Gone to gigs and the movies and everything.
But next time...
Love ya.
Ps - Oh, we're both doing fine. Although Satomi's got a cold at the moment, but is enjoying the week long bludge-fest Japanese-style, which is also called Golden Week (basically a week of public holidays back to back... not even us legendary public holiday bludgers here in Oz are that genius... yet!)
The good news, however, is that we're a lot closer to actually getting it all sorted and submitted. Well, to be more correct in the reference to 'we' there - it's actually just me. Due to some strange twist of fate, I've been able to resist most procrastination-ary distractions and completed something relatively on time. Satomi, on the other hand, is slowly crumbling under the weight of her own beauracritic governmental system; which, I'm glad to say, seems as daft and devoid of logic as our own.
So what, precisely, are the hoops that Mr Australian Government is making us jump through in order to allow Satomi to live in Australia so that we can get married and live happily ever after? Well, as you can imagine, it all starts with a form. Oh no, not just one... one each! The forms are pretty standard Australian Government fair, apart from one particular question which struck me as a bit silly. "Q74 - Did you enter into this relationship with your partner solely to gain permanent residence in Australia?" Now, I know I'm not the quickest of wits, but I doubt anyone would be so flippant with this process to actually mark Yes to that question. But you never know, and it's worth the asking to weed out the particularly dim of our prospective Australian residents. Actually, it reminds me of a question we were told to ask when someone called the newspaper with a bomb threat after September 11: "Where are you right now? What is your full name and address?". I've never had the documentary evidence to prove it, but was reliably informed by the friendly HR manager administering that training session, that it sometimes works! Wow... the sophistication of the criminal mind, hey? But I digress...
So the form... Check. Well, actually no, not check. Haven't even looked through it, really. But it doesn't look that taxing.
Next up we have to prove our identities and residence status. Not as easy as it sounds... well, not for me. You see, I've never had a real birth certificate, just a birth certificate extract. Which did me well up until I need to get my passport (which I needed not only for this visa, but also my trip). So on the bold mission I went into my fist foray of Australian Government bureaucracy in order to gain all the necessary pieces of paper that tell me and other people that I actually exist. I won't bore you with all the details, but needless to say that it resulted in numerous requests to "provide additional information", and a number of fiery run ins with Australia Post workers. But, I have the A4 piece of encrypted paper stating that I was born, and fingers crossed, I will have the little blue booklet letting me cut the apron strings to the motherland in my hot little hands shortly.
Satomi is facing her own task, having to have the equivalent of her birth certificate (I think they call it a family register, or something like that) completely translated into English. In addition to this, she also has to prove she is of "good character and heath" in order to have the visa accepted. This involves getting police and medical checks done. Sounds simple when you put it like that, doesn't it? I can assure, it's nothing but easy. As we speak, paper work is flying back and forwards around Nippon as various government departments decide if Satomi is, indeed, "of good character".
In addition to all of that, we also have to prove that our relationship exists and is genuine. This is an absolutely awesome task and, at this moment, just a bundle of messed up papers sitting beside my desk. So far, we have gathered witness statements and identity documents (yes, apparently only Australian Residents are allowed to judge if Satomi is fit to be a fellow country-man) from 3 friends, with 2 more currently on the way. Along with a few Christmas and Engagement Cards sent to us, this should prove the "social aspects" part of the deal. We also have to have financial proof - so I have included bank statements from the joint account we opened in January, as well as money transfer receipts. We also have to show proof of the "nature of the household"... as Satomi and I lived together as flatmates before this amazing adventure began, this shouldn't be too hard, right? Oh no, it is. You see, I don't have a lease - well, nothing written down anyway. Just a gentleman's agreement between the landlord and I. Also, as Satomi was only going to be here for 9 months, we decided just to keep all the utilities bills in my name, to save the hassle. So, in actual fact, we have no hard evidence that Satomi and I actually lived together, apart from some odd bank statements that were sent to her here. To meet this requirement, I've secured a statement from the landlord confirming Satomi's existence at the Love Den, and his knowledge of our living arrangements. Also, a few people have mentioned our living arrangements in their statements to us. That should suffice... we hope.
Last part of the proving our relationship is showing evidence of our commitment to each other. This is hard - apart from the obvious proof of actually getting engaged and intending to be married... how do you "prove" this aspect? Apart from mentioning our future plans heavily in our History of the Relationship documents, we don't think we can do much more. Apart from attaching records of our nightly MSN chats, morning telephone calls and daily emails - this should prove that we've been in almost constant contact with each other since she left. There's plenty of all of those, so maybe the assessing officer will get a kick out of flicking through them, voyeuristically.
And that brings us nicely on to the next part of visa application. We both have to write our own "History of the Relationship". Satomi has already started on hers, but I am yet to. This is basically a written free-for-all where you can indulge your ego a little and wax lyrical about the events and feelings that have led to this momentous occasion (much like this blog, really). We're being all creative with this and adding heaps of photos and funny little stories from our times as flatmates and then as a couple. We'll also be attaching records from our trip to Byron Bay together in November, as well as records of my trip to Japan in August - this should show that we're serious. One thing does fill me with dread with this History part... I'm in two minds as to whether to be brutally honest in explaining how I proposed, or to embellish it a little? I proposed while we were lying in bed one morning on a lazy weekend morning... need spicing up, do you think?
And the final thing we need to do is prove that we're actually going to get married. I've now met with two marriage celebrants and have registered with one. So we have the Notice of Intent to Marry, as well as a letter from her confirming that she has been booked to do the wedding. Done.
Phew... I'm exhausted! And this is just for the application! Goodness knows how many more hoops they'll invent for us to jump through while they're assessing the application. In amongst this, we're also planning Ben's Big Adventure to Nippon (also titled Ben's Big First Overseas Journey). We've sort of delayed planning the wedding at this stage (by delayed, we've just stopped talking about it... there's waaaayyy too many things to do before that nut gets opened) and also some tentative plans for The Big Move to Melbourne, which we're hoping will happen close to the end of the Wedding Madness.
So thanks for reading, and I promise, we'll get to the good mushy romantic tales of how we sustain our relationship while being hemisphere's away from each other shortly. I promise - technology these days will have you flabbergasted! We've even had real "online" dates!!! Gone to gigs and the movies and everything.
But next time...
Love ya.
Ps - Oh, we're both doing fine. Although Satomi's got a cold at the moment, but is enjoying the week long bludge-fest Japanese-style, which is also called Golden Week (basically a week of public holidays back to back... not even us legendary public holiday bludgers here in Oz are that genius... yet!)
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