zerosleeps

So I’ve had to send my passport to the Australian Immigration office in London so they can stick a label on it. I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of this label is, since everything is checked electronically anyway (and so say Australian Immigration and Citizenship themselves).

Since I now know I’m definitely going I can do things like ship boxes and transfer money to my Australian bank account. I still can’t make any travel arrangements, but baby steps eh?

Update

Friday 26th March 2010: A good summary of the visa evidencing process for British passport holders can be found here.

Woke up this morning to an email saying, amongst other things, this little gem:

I am pleased to advise that Scott Macpherson has been granted a Temporary Business Entry (Class UC) Business (Long Stay) (Subclass 457) visa. This visa allows you to travel to, enter and remain Australia and is valid until the date specified above.

I feel like the weight of Sydney Harbour Bridge has just been removed from my shoulders!

NO.

Feeling a bit blue today. The original plan was that I would have been in Sydney for about a week by now, but there’s still no sign of my visa. It looks like I’ll have to get stuck straight into work when I finally get there now which is a downer, because I was counting on having some time to explore Sydney and get settled in.

It’s all starting to feel like such a hassle now, and I’m sitting here trying to convince myself that it’s going to be worth it (again).

Yep, still here, in Scotland.

There was a minor glitch with my visa application last week, and Australian Immigration needed some additional documentation from me. That documentation had to come from a solicitor, which cost me a little bit and took some time, but I got what I needed and my case worker has what she needs now.

Back to the waiting again.

Little tip for anyone moving from the UK to Australia: you need health insurance, but not very much.

I signed up for a health plan which included out-patient care, but the folk contacted me to say that plan wasn’t really necessary when you get reciprocal health care.