visa stuff

So, they received my application. I now have 46 days (and counting) in which to get certain information to them (or at least prove that I have tried to get said information, which given the rate at which police process stuff, is more likely to be the case). In the meantime I'm keeping myself busy by being completely accident prone (I broke one of mum's REALLY good wine glasses the other day, tipped our dinner over the carpet and split the bottle of wine as well - was not impressed. Also watched a biker nearly slide his bike under my car. How he managed to get back upright I don't know, and I suspect the driver of the car coming the other way doesn't either and I broke a till at work - all in all a good weekends' work) and continually going back to the website of the place where I want to get married and looking at nice pictures of the cove where I want the wedding to be and the reception and the rejuvenation spa... But for now, I'll just keep counting the days...

*phew*

Well, I can breathe a brief sigh of relief. After the initial panic I realised that I had read it wrong. What it meant was that 2 statements from friends and family will not be enough on it's own. So I need other evidence. Which I have. It was a bit ambiguous though hence the flap about not enough statements. All in all this means that I don't have to wait for another 2 months or so for someone who may, or may not, send me a certified copy of their birth certificate and can, in fact, lodge my application. Which I will do tomorrow. Yay! Still have to wait for the police and health clearances though. Can't win them all. *Do not ask me why, but this post although I posted it, didn't actually appear. For an update, I have now sent off my application. Woohoo!

I screwed up

I am so furious with myself. In all of the stuff I read about getting this stupid visa it said that ANY medical checks and police checks that I do prior to applying for the visa would not be valid and I have to wait for the department to request them before I do anything. So far so good. In going over everything with a final toothcomb I came across one little NB at the bottom of a page that said something along the lines of 'some countries allow you to apply earlier'. Having emailed the embassy in London I've found out that here is one of them. Great. If I'd found this earlier I could have HAD all my police checks READY rather than having to wait for them now. I can't believe that I missed that in all the times I read all the info on the visa. AAARGH! Mind you, I still can't apply for the bloody thing as the other thing I've found was another little NB that said normally witness statements from only family will not normally be considered enough. Given that the only one that I have from a reliable source that isn't his parents decided not to furnish me with a copy of their birth certificate or passport, needed to prove that they're Australian, I've got to wait for them to do that anyway. Given that it's taken me 2 months for them to give me the right information about Graham's work (we asked for it in May, I got it last week) I think I've got a little time. For crying out loud! All I want to do is go back and marry my fiance - WHY IS THIS SO DAMN DIFFICULT?! I've also had another tooth out so am sore and grumpy. Grr.