So....another curveball. I am still heading back to Australia, I'm just not exactly sure when. Originally I thought I could get a work and travel visa for another year, but I can't. So then I said, "Ok, I'll go over on a tourist visa and get my spouse visa granted while I'm there on the other visa" but today I got back a notice from the Immigration Department stating they needed some more info from me before they'd grant my long stay tourist visa and that oh, p.s. on a 12 month visitors visa like that, they attach a stipulation that says you can't apply for any other visas while you are on that one so I'm back to square one. That means that I will have to apply for the spouse visa from here in the States and then wait for it to be granted before I can go to Australia again. The process can take anywhere from 1-6 months, I think, depending on how long it takes for you to gather all of your documents (like fingerprints that you have to send to the FBI for a criminal history check and that can take 10 weeks to be sent back) and send them in and then have an Immigration Officer assess them. Ugh!
I wish I would've known it was going to be months instead of days before I saw Boyfriend again and then I would've given him a few extra hugs and kisses before he left. We are both upset at the prospect of not seeing each other for awhile. I'm feeling sick to my stomach right now to be honest and really, really bummed. Not the Valentine's Day I was hoping for!
I'm going to try and stay positive. We have a lot of the paperwork already collected and I sent off my finger prints last week, thinking that my Mom or Dad would be sending them on to me in Australia. It is also cheaper, I've heard, to apply outside of Australia for this visa. And while I won't get to be with Boyfriend, I will get to spend more time with my family. I think I will start job hunting again so that I can earn some more money to bring back with me when the time does come.
I'm not so cheesy to say "absence makes the heart grow fonder." There is no positive to being away from Boyfriend for however long it ends up being. There is also no positive in missing out on seeing my favorite band, Brand New, for the second time in Sydney when I have tickets.
Sorry this is a Debbie Downer post. This afternoon I was totally going to post pictures of the cute little Valentine's surprises I made for Nae, the Camp Counselor, and their other good friend, D.C. Hope your Valentine's Day was better than mine!
OMG just catching up on blogs and saw this. That REALLY sucks! I hope the visa process goes VERY quickly for you. I know it must be so hard wondering how long it will take. :(
ReplyDeleteYeah, it does suck, but it's my own darn fault for not researching this stuff better! I just received his half of the paperwork in the mail today and I'm just working away on my end of it trying to get it ready to be sent out tomorrow. We're hoping it goes very quickly, too, thanks for saying so :)
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