Today I officially officially kicked off the start of the visa journey to get my darling man into this country for good. Or at least for longer than 3 months.
I got the information I needed from Immigration.
I got my passport forms completed, got my passport photos, and made an appointment to lodge my passport paperwork. If you're anything like me you're totally astounded that I need a passport to bring my partner here when I'm not actually leaving the country, but let's agree to move part that for now.
We've decided that we're going to go for a Prospective Marriage Visa, rather than a Partner Visa, despite our motza amount of evidence to prove our relationship because the processing times are shorter, and less evidence is required so we have a slightly better chance of getting things approved.
The downside is it cost us an extra $1000 to convert it to a partner visa after we get married, but if that means he gets here sooner and I get to get hitched sooner, then so be it.
It takes about four weeks for my passport to process, which gives us four weeks to get all our paperwork together, and for us to get the last little bit of money we need to lodge all the forms, and then, all things going to plan we're lodging this sucker in early August.
I'm not the optimistic type so I'm trying not to let the words "christmas miracle" get into my head, but I've seen Miracle on 34th Street a few too many times, so you know....
No doubt you'll be seeing updates as they occur, if you're interested in that kind of thing.
I wish you and Americo good luck with this process. I hope it goes as smoothly as possible (as smoothly as any gov't red tape can go). I am interested in the updates...
ReplyDeleteThanks David. I'm sure you'll see the journey via twitter and significant updates here.
DeleteI'll be using #RuthandAmerico2014 on twitter so people can mute if they want.