Visas agogo!

Wow, I'm impressed. As mentioned in my last post, I recently applied for my UK Ancestry visa - it was actually on Thursday, three days before that post. I had wanted to apply for my visa last month because the Britaus website says it takes around three or four weeks for the applications to be processed and they recommend not booking flights until the visa has been cleared. So here I am, watching the time fly by and flight fares rising along with it.

Okay, the reason it took so long to get the visa application completed is down to birth certificates and a bit of stupidity on my part. I misread the list of documents that were needed for the application and didn't notice that I needed mum's birth certificate as well as nan's (for some reason, I thought I only needed nan's). Mum already had nan's birth certificate, but it turned out she only had a copy of her own and the application required originals. If that wasn't enough, nan's birth certificate was lost in the mail on the way down to me (thankfully, it turned up a week later) - unfortunately, it wasn't what I needed! Once again, mum came to the rescue and ordered the right one for me online.

To cut an already boring story short, everything I needed arrived last Thursday which is when I quickly filled in the online application and sent my documents off express.

Cut to yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and getting home I find a parcel note in the mail. The first thing that occurs to me is that my package from China has been sent to the wrong address. It's too late to call the courier, so I figure I'll just pick it up in the morning early before work (all the way out at Tullamarine - near the airport).

In the morning, as I'm getting ready to leave, it suddenly occurs to me that a company in Hong Kong isn't going to send me a package using Australia Air Express. The only thing I'm expecting to come from an Australian courier is... oh shit. My visa. They can't have processed it in a day, there's something wrong. Looks like I'm going to end up paying a stupidity tax again. Maybe not, I'm not sure. But it looks likely.

Taking the morning off work, I drive off and pick up my package. First impressions aren't good - it's obviously a document pouch, no doubt returning my stuff and a list of things I've neglected to send them. No use delaying the inevitable, ripping it open something falls out... it's my passport. Wait a minute, what's this big sticker thing? Holy crap, it's my visa!

Suddenly I've gone from despair to elation - I ring dad to let him and mum know; I ring Alex to let him know, and I ring Johnny at work so he can berate me for being so pessimistic. Suddenly, everything in the world is good again. Suddenly, I realise just how close it is until I leave and I can finally book my tickets!

So, a big thank you to the British Consulate in Canberra! A whole day to process my visa application, I can't be happier.