Hey Friends!
Welcome back, or maybe welcome for the first time. I have good news that I can’t wait to tell you, so I’m gonna tell you right now:
We got our partner visa approved!
And I want to tell you all about that process today. But before that, in case you wanted to catch my first newsletter, please click right here. BUT also be aware that it is all about Australian perspective on American politics, and if you’re over it, I totally understand.
Back to me, obviously. And Viv. And Happy Valentine’s Day! We don’t actually care a super lot about this “holiday,” but the visa grant was good timing in terms of approving our love. I should probably go buy Viv a plant or something. We already have “Love Succs,” like a “Love Fern” from How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days except it’s a pot of succulents. Behold.
So, visas. What a mess. Six years ago I didn’t even know what a visa was unless you were talking about a credit card, but in the travelling world a visa is your authorized pass to enter another country. Your visa defines your rights in that country, how long you can stay, whether you can leave and return on the same visa, etc. Some countries require them even if you are only intending to travel as a tourist - Australia included! (So when y’all decide to visit me down here, please remember to apply for your tourist visa in advance!)
For the last two years I’ve held a Working Holiday Visa in Australia. This visa allows you to stay in Oz for up to one year, with the possibility of extending the visa into a second and third year IF you complete specified rural work in a given time frame. For instance, when I was on my first year WHV, I worked for three months at a remote roadhouse that counted towards my next visa. In order to receive my second year, I had to submit pay slips and other evidence proving that I worked in that area which qualified me for a second year. The people on these visas are most commonly referred to as “backpackers” - young, poor, living out of backpacks, wandering around the world. You have to be young to hold a WHV actually, as the cut-off age is 31 (meaning you can still apply at 30 so long as you are approved before you turn 31.)
Out of interest, this was the town I lived in during that time. We’re talking rural.
Most of the work that backpackers undergo for their second and third year visa is farm work, usually picking and/or packing whatever produce is in season. I have friends who are currently picking lemons and limes somewhere in Queensland, and before that were further north picking mangos. However, as you may have guessed, Covid has thrown a major wrench in the system. Now that borders are closed and there are no new batches of backpackers, farmers are having a tough time finding people to do the work - which is why the incentive program for backpackers to do the work exists in the first place. The government basically has to coax backpackers into doing the job with the reward of another year because nobody born on Australian soil wants to do it! This year has been hard enough on farmers, but according to my friends up north, next year will be even harder.
Which sort of brings me to my fortuitous visa. The timing of everything happening in the world this past year has been vaguely convenient for a person (me) who was planning to apply for a visa that essentially forced me to stay in one place. Because Australia currently has no incoming foreign workforce, which we’ve learned they greatly rely on, they are expediating visa applications for people on-shore who wish to stay longer. Essentially, they need us. Their economy is built on it.
Conveniently, when I left home in Wisconsin for the last time in 2019, I gave a lot of warning and many, many extra hugs to friends and family with the understanding that I wouldn’t be home for a while. We knew our visa was in the plans. We knew it meant I would have to wait for answers while staying on Australian soil in a process that could take two years or more. We knew I couldn’t leave to visit home unless I applied for special exemption, and this was even before Covid! And so, bearing all this in mind, Viv and I trotted off to Australia with the assumption we wouldn’t be visiting my Motherland again for quite some time. All of this, strangely, made the rift of the pandemic much more bearable for me - at least when it came to missing my family and friends. My mindset was already there. (Though please be assured, I have been stressed out of my mind for everyone’s safety these many months.)
So, come November 2020, with two months’ time left on my second WHV, we decided to submit our application (and more than $7,500 AUD) to the Australian government. Getting to that point took months of planning and organizing our paperwork. We’re talking old plane tickets, hotel receipts, handwritten letters (which my blessed mother had to scan and send to me from back home and OH THE EMBARRASSMENT), joint bank statements, certified birth certificates, certified statutory declarations from people who could attest that we were in a legitimate relationship, photos, screenshots of messages, proof that we were public about our relationship, proof that we hung out with mutual friends, proof that we share household responsibilities, proof that we keep in touch during time apart, proof that we know each other’s families, lease statements, police clearance checks from three separate countries, phone records, and dear god it goes on and on. Can you imagine digging back into all of these records with your partner? Showing some faceless government entity your most cherished and private messages, your most sincere sappy love letters? And to have to ask friends and family to fill out a government document on your behalf, and make them go get it signed by a justice of the peace? It’s so much to ask. It’s been a long, long road.
That being said, we love each other.
And the really amazing thing (though maybe it shouldn’t have come as such a shock considering we were so well-prepared) is that the first part of our visa was granted in only three months!
But now, yes, as if this wasn’t confusing enough, this was only “part one.” Essentially my time line goes like this:
Working Holiday Visa (submitted partner visa application within this time)
-> Bridging Visa A (visa that holds me over until a decision is made on our partner visa. I was on this visa from January until just now when our new visa was granted, but it could have lasted years)
-> Temporary Partner Visa (we are here; the visa that was just granted and will last until they make a final decision on…)
-> Permanent Visa (the final stage where I will hopefully be granted permanent residency and can then move on to applying for citizenship)
I realize this might be a lot of blah-blah for many of you, but I had no idea until I was in and amongst it how very confusing, intrusive, and yet exciting the whole process can be. When I got my email from the government, I was sitting at the break table at work and immediately burst into tears and had to run and find Viv, who was slightly mortified of my reaction, but also relieved to know that nobody had actually died!
So where does this leave us for now? Still kind of in limbo, I guess, but the fact that they’ve approved the temporary visa more or less means they just have to wait us out for the permanent one. By that I mean we might get a call in about two years to check on whether or not we’re still together, and if we are, voila! Permanent visa granted. (This is literally what happened to my two very good friends here, and they were married.)
As for me and my mindset, everything feels a little bit brighter. Somehow the country feels even more welcoming to me now, more like home. No matter how minute, there was always the possibility that they could reject our application and send me packing. It was unlikely and we knew that - we had done everything right as best we knew how (and people often hire immigration agents to do this stuff because that’s how crazy it can get) - but there was always the chance. So I walk through our garden with a great sigh of relief. I feel proud to know that I am accepted here. I can study, work, travel, have access to free health care, and live here with the woman I love.
It is a beautiful day.
OH, one more thing, we even used our chickens as evidence of our love and commitment together!
Front left is Madga, just behind her is Val, next to them in the front right is Dotty, and the fluffy bum in the back is Big G. We’ve wanted chickens for a long time, and considering our lease doesn’t allow dogs and cats but DOES allow chooks, we thought why not? (I really did submit them as evidence, too. It shows mutual responsibility for pet ownership! It counts!)
They’re cuuuuute little bastards, always clucking around the garden picking up snails and grubs and whatever else would otherwise be eating Viv’s plants. They’re very helpful! And sometimes a little heavy-footed when they land on a beanstalk or something, but V has mostly learned to share her plants with them by now.
We’ll leave it at that, my friends. I find it hard to stop blabbering because what I would really like is to sit down with a beer or a coffee and have a good old chat catching up with everyone. But alas, thank you for sharing in my joy with the visa business, and please go back and admire my chicken butts one more time. They are so fluffy.
Sending so much love,
Maddy
Very Good News
Omg what a nightmare. You sure are tenacious. I am glad it all worked out SO FAR! That is pretty rediculus. Miss you so much lots of love to both and the chooks, of course! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Oh my gosh Maddy! I just love these updates; and those butts are so fluffy indeed!!
I missed seeing you all this year of course but I am so excited to hear the excellent news and I want this dang pandemic to end soon so adventures can ensue!
Much love to you and Viv!! Xoxo