Apply for an Aussie spousal visa

Just a few hours after his phone interview, Matty got the news that his visa has been granted! Not the tourist visa we were hoping for (at this stage), but the real deal – his spousal visa. So, my hubby is coming home, for good!

My head’s still spinning, and it all feels a little surreal… I’m so happy!

:-D

Paperwork has taken forever. My being incredibly anxious about getting everything ‘right’ (so that we don’t get rejected) hasn’t helped the situation any. I need to have faith in the system, and get the last bits and pieces sent off to Matty. We’ll simply have to deal with what comes, when it comes. (If it does, at all.)

I want him here, dammit.

I’ve been going through the forms we need to hand in with our application. There are no tick boxes or ‘fields’ to fill in that adequately describe our situation.

When did we first meet? Around April, 2006 (I have the first messages saved), and things really got het up in the November (I have those messages, too). Where? Well, here on 43T… but can I fill that in under ‘location’?

If they want a physical meeting, that was in February 2007… but that’s after the date that we decided we were committed to each other. The application people are going to be scratching their heads over that response.

My place of residence is another funny one. Technically, it’s with my parents. That’s where all my bills, bank statements, and so forth are sent. It’s the address on my driver’s license. But I’ve been temporarily residing here in the UK from January 2007 until now… how does that fit in?

I may have to make some phone calls to the Aussie embassy (or whomever) to clarify some of these issues. Hopefully they’ll cope with the incredibly long statements we’re each going to have to write, explaining our situation.

On top of that, I’ve spoken to a couple of people from a migration agency. One here, one in Australia – but both from the same agency. The advice I’ve been given is conflicting. One said, “yes, we think you have a good chance”, whilst the other said, “sorry, I wouldn’t take you on”.

Mind you, the latter queried why we’d waited so long to apply, rather than applying as newly-weds back in November last year. Erm, that would be because we only just received our marriage certificate. From what I can figure, having read the application guide, you kinda need a certificate to prove that you’re married – which I explained, but she’d ignored that little detail. Aaarrrgggh!

Crikey. Never mind. I’m thinking positive thoughts, and keeping in mind that our situation is not run-of-the-mill. We’ll be fine. More than fine. It’ll be great.

_{I’ll do it, and do it again if need be. Matty is totally worth it.}

We may actually be getting our marriage certificate after all.

After a number of emails to the lawyer asking to respond, she finally did. I suspect she was avoiding contact whilst she ordered another copy (goodness only knows what happened to the copy that went to Brooklyn). She replied back, asking for our address. I resisted the urge to respond with “wtf do you think the address was that I repeatedly included in all of my emails?” I gave her the address, and she wrote back with the EMS tracking number thingy.

Sadly, the Costa Rican site doesn’t seem to want to play, so I’ll wait a couple of days until the USPS takes over, and track our certificate’s progress from there. Thankfully, one of Matty’s neighbours speaks Spanish, so we’ll have him read it ASAP, to check that all the details are absolutely correct.

However, I’ll wait until Matty has it in his hands before I start celebrating. Just in case.

She’s already sent the certificate. On April 11th, apparently. It should already be here.

But it’s not. So, where is it?

She included a ‘bill number’, but did not say which company she used. I tried it on the USPS site, and that letter was sent from Costa Rica on April 15th. To Brooklyn, NY. Anybody ever recall that either Matty or myself had moved to Brooklyn? I sure don’t. Either she’s given me the wrong number… or sent our certificate to a complete stranger.

::sighs::

I’ve almost reached the point of it not being quite so funny anymore.

Almost.

Good thing I have happy thoughts to distract me today!

Our options are to apply for either a US visa for me, or an Aussie visa for Matty. As we both want to live in Australia, it makes sense to forget about the US visa. For now, at least.

It seems it’s all about the evidence. ‘They’ need proof that the relationship is genuine. Makes sense. At the moment, we’re unfortunately still missing a key piece… our marriage certificate.

It seems the only downfall to getting married in Costa Rica, is the snail’s pace registry system. That wouldn’t be so bad, if it weren’t for the lawyer stuffing up two important details in the application, thereby adding another couple of months to the wait. Need to chase her up, and check that everything is still going through okay.