Twelve months.
Stacks of paperwork.
Some of the most stressful moments of my life.
One little stamp in a passport.
Ghost is finally a real boy. He has his temporary permanent visa (yes, I know, it makes no sense, but you need a temporary permanent visa before you can get your permanent visa) granted. That means that he can stay in the country, apply for welfare, healthcare and anything else the government offers its regular citizens.
Ordinarily, you have to wait two years to get a permanent visa. They have backdated his application to the day he applied, which means that as of July next year, he can become a permanent resident. He can apply for dual citizenship, vote and do all the things an Aussie can do.
But most of all, it is a huge weight taken off our shoulders. We no longer have to worry that his visa will be revoked and he'll be sent home.
He followed me home and now 'mum' is letting me keep him.
I see hundreds of other people struggling on the news to get the precious stamp that Ghost has been given. People who are locked in detention centres and treated like criminals. I appreciate deeply just how lucky we are.
Thank you all for your good wishes while we've been waiting on this. It makes a hell of a difference knowing people are in your corner, trust me on this.
Now all he has to do is be nice to me for the next twelve months so he can stay. [grin]
Nice! Congrats to you both. Sounds like everything is falling into place. One less thing to worry about, eh?
Try not to be too angry with our governments. It IS their job to fuck with our lives after all.
Do they have to do it so WELL though? Heh.
Shit, I'll probably be audited now. Anyway, congratulations again.
It actually took 1 day to get my temp-perm-resident visa. Yep that term does sound like an oxymoron. We did a thing called a one-step application. Got all the papers together and presented them in an orderly fashion...and whammo, 6 hours of sitting in line, and 20 minutes later I had a photo ID saying I was allowed to work in the U.S.
Of course, THEN we had to go thru the interviews and such declaring we were married. But at least in the U.S. it's 'stamp first and ask questions later'. To get my wife legal in Canada will probably take 2 yrs of question asking before they will stamp.
Very happy for you!!
WHOO friggen HOO!!
Allllllrrrriiiggghhhttt!!!
Go you guys! Big congrats to you both. It's about time, eh?
Hurrah!!! (and thanks for linking your xanga, I keep forgetting to check here on my daily rounds, mostly cause I'm an idiot. :) )
But enough about me, lets talk about you... hurrah! We must get together and celebrate.
hooorayyyy!!!
Yay!!! Good stuff.
I'm SOOOO Happy for you!!!!
Having been through the immigration process myself, I can totally empathise..I'm so glad it's over for you guys :) (well..the hardest part, anyway).
Miss seeing you on xanga :P
This is the bestest news I've heard in weeks!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sooooooo pleased for the
two of you I could burst.
Am so pleased to hear that! And finally I get around to catching up with your blog (last time I tried something was wrong, couldn't get at any of your site). So congrats on the wedding anniversary too and getting your business up & running.
YAY!!! I'm so happy to hear that!! But then I knew you two where meant to be and no silly government would get in the way of THAT!:)
Why are you over here now??
Immigration seems so needlessly complicated, doesn't it? I hope everything works out in the end. :)
Excessively belated congrats.
*happy dance!*
And song!
"He's kinda cu-ute, and Tree gets to ke-ep him, and they're gonna live in the happy little ho-ouse, with the batties and wombats and a Lisa Snellings pri-int."
Many happies.
Love, -P
(channelling Del)
Due to the amount of comment spam I'm receiving on old entires, comments are now closed for this entry. Please feel free to add a comment on a more recent post or drop me an email!
Congratulations to both of you!