So much to do

And so little time.

It seems that I'm constantly writing to do lists in my head and not achieving anything on any of them, which is quite stressful.

With around 11 weeks to go we need to sell two cars, clear a house full of stuff, decide what we're taking and how we're disposing of the things we're not taking, figure out when we'll complete on the house and where we're going to live afterwards before flying, work out if we're packing ourselves or having the shipping company do it, decide when is best to ship our things and figure out how we're going to pay for it, travel to London to get the girls' passports, buy and pack suitcases and try to arrange time to see people we'd like to say goodbye to before we go. And breathe.

That's not even taking into account Christmas and all the to do lists associated with that.

So rather than being proactive and doing something useful about it all I'm sitting here being all emo and blogging about it and getting annoyed that people aren't responding to emails and don't have the same sense of urgency that I have.

If anyone has any super organisational powers to spare, please send them my way!

The visa process

The process of applying for a visa differs quite a lot depending on the country, where you are applying from, and which type of visa you're applying for.

When we applied for my spouse visa here in the UK we needed to provide some joint bank statements and bills, our marriage certificate and proof of address. We went to Solihull and sat in the waiting room for a couple of hours. At the end of the day I had a stamp in my passport and that was that. 

To get my permanent residency I needed to sit the citizenship test. This involved answering 24 multiple choice questions in 45 minutes after studying the "Life in the UK" guide book which contained such vital information as what you should do if you knock someone's pint over in the pub and which benefits immigrants are eligible for. Four minutes after starting the test I put up my hand to indicate I was finished. I'd even had time to double check my answers. I scored 23 out of 24. With the result in hand we headed up to Liverpool where we spent 3 of the most depressing hours ever waiting for them to decide that our relationship was indeed genuine and I would be allowed to stay in the country indefinitely. I got a lovely coloured insert in my passport and the ability to come and go at will.

Applying for a spouse visa for Australia is a little different. After filling in around 15 pages of forms each, we then had to write a personal statement explaining how our relationship works, how we support each other financially and emotionally, how we divide up household responsibilities, etc. We also had to include evidence of joint financial arrangements, evidence that we are considered a couple by others (invitations addressed to both of us, Christmas and anniversary cards, etc), photos and other proofs of our relationship. We also had to account for any time we have been apart in the relationship. In addition to all of this we needed at least two Australian citizens to write stat decs asserting that our relationship was genuine and ongoing. Fortunately, I had two Australian friends here in the UK who'd spent a bit of time with us over the years, so they obliged.

After getting a giant post bag to fit everything in, we sent all this evidence off to the Consulate. Once he was assigned to a case officer, The Husband then had to get medical and police checks done. Several weeks later we heard that everything had come back ok and they didn't need any more information from us and we could expect to wait 5 - 6 months from the application date for the visa to be granted.

So now we wait. The waiting is long and boring and frustrating, but apparently necessary. I don't really understand why visas that are not allowed to be capped can be held up for so long once everything is in place, but that's bureaucracy for you.

At least we have it better than those applying for Canada. A friend has recently gone back there with her husband and she told me that not only are you not given any details for your case officer, if you do send an email to the embassy you're told that your application is taken out of the processing queue while they deal with your email, so any correspondence could hold your application up for a month each time.

We also have it better than those who applied just a few days after us. At the start of July the estimate for visa grants increased from 5-6 months to 6-8, and then 8-9.

Fingers crossed that we're at the short end of the estimate. We do have flights booked, after all...

A beginning and an end

I've been away from "home" for a long time. When you grow up in one place and move to another, it's exciting at first, and then the drudgery of grocery shopping, paying bills and doing the laundry takes over from the excitement of being in a new place and it becomes just another place that you live.

"Home" is a relative concept. It means different things to different people.  To me, it's something ethereal and not easily explained. It's a pull to a place, and to people and to a way of life. It's not so much about location, but about attitude.

I moved to the  UK in 2003. I was 28 and had no reason to stay in Melbourne. I wanted to travel and see Europe, and my job as a teacher gave me the means to do that. I was offered a couple of jobs and went with one that would allow me an instant social circle. They were employing a number of Australians and I thought it would be nice to be around others in the same situation, rather than stranded in a strange city by myself.

It was a heady time. Hey Ya! by Outkast and Are You Ready for Love by Elton John were the songs of the summer. Beyonce's Crazy in Love was filling the dance floors. I shared a house with 3 Australians and an American. We went out drinking two or three nights a week. One of my housemates got involved with the local rugby club, so we socialised a lot with them. We travelled to Paris in the half term and spent weekends in London. But soon the novelty wore off and one by one my housemates moved on. One went back to America, a couple moved to London and one went back to Melbourne. By then I had a local boyfriend, so I moved in with him and started a job in a different school.

That was over 9 years ago now and all that time I've been saying I'll go back to Australia "in a couple of years". My boyfriend became my husband and we had two children. We bought a house and built a life here, and going back to Australia became harder and harder to imagine. Our eldest daughter started school in 2011 and that was difficult, as I'd always said I wanted to be back in Australia before she started school.

When, in September 2011, friends of ours here in England upped sticks and moved to Queensland very suddenly, we decided that we'd spent enough time making excuses and it was time to do something about it. We downloaded all the forms and started collecting evidence for my husband's spouse visa application. We finally submitted the application in June 2012 and we are currently waiting for his visa to be granted.

We've purchased one way tickets to Melbourne and our house is on the market. So this is where my time in England ends, and my journey home begins.