The New Year
Last year we spent a considerable amount of time preparing Eyal's spousal visa application to become an Australian resident ( and eventually citizen). It was a long process of gathering evidence and sifting through it, writing statements, getting friends to write statements and photocopying and certifying a whole rainforest of paper. We felt a bit sad to hand it over- at least we had the satisfaction of an hour long interview to show it off ( table of contents, colour coded and all), before leaving it forever with the immigration department.
Such personal research I have never done. We both wrote about a six page statement of how we met, fell in love and the significant times dates and places in our relationships. We carefully labelled and printed 14 pages of photos of us and family, friends and work colleagues from all over the world.
We have a case worker assigned to us, she was pleased with our thoroughness and indicated that if the police checks and health checks were finalised ( we are waiting waiting ...) then she would have granted it on the spot :). A+.
We have to get two police checks, one from Israel and one from Australia, both from the Federal police, which seem like a distant unknown entity, hard to find, hard to contact- with long tunnels of answering machines and postal addresses; as well as a health check. Which we did, and despite Eyal's lack of infectious diseases they persist in wanting specialist check ups (he has been in remission from cancer for 18 months).
Though the entire process has been relatively smooth- I am a little frustrated with practices that suggest that even though they believe our relationship and future wedding to be genuine, if it looks likely that Eyal might cost Australia more in health care than he can earn- he can/will be refused the visa.
What the?? Somehow this puts a bleak outlook on my faith in Australians being relatively humanitarian. Instead it works to the policy of simply turning people's lives into economy. Even worse, it seems short sighted- if one needs to argue the point- hasn't the Australian government already invested a decent amount of money in my education? Wouldn't it be a bummer to lose all those years of education to another country because my husband cannot be granted citizenship??Luckily Eyal can work and is unlikely to need any further treatment, so it is more a technicality than a real concern.
Other than that, the sun is shining, bright birds are hopping about the trees, and we are eating divine rockmelon. Nectar of the gods. If I were a believe in Creationsim, I would figure that the sweet fruits of summer must be there to make up for the parasites of the wet season.
Such personal research I have never done. We both wrote about a six page statement of how we met, fell in love and the significant times dates and places in our relationships. We carefully labelled and printed 14 pages of photos of us and family, friends and work colleagues from all over the world.
We have a case worker assigned to us, she was pleased with our thoroughness and indicated that if the police checks and health checks were finalised ( we are waiting waiting ...) then she would have granted it on the spot :). A+.
We have to get two police checks, one from Israel and one from Australia, both from the Federal police, which seem like a distant unknown entity, hard to find, hard to contact- with long tunnels of answering machines and postal addresses; as well as a health check. Which we did, and despite Eyal's lack of infectious diseases they persist in wanting specialist check ups (he has been in remission from cancer for 18 months).
Though the entire process has been relatively smooth- I am a little frustrated with practices that suggest that even though they believe our relationship and future wedding to be genuine, if it looks likely that Eyal might cost Australia more in health care than he can earn- he can/will be refused the visa.
What the?? Somehow this puts a bleak outlook on my faith in Australians being relatively humanitarian. Instead it works to the policy of simply turning people's lives into economy. Even worse, it seems short sighted- if one needs to argue the point- hasn't the Australian government already invested a decent amount of money in my education? Wouldn't it be a bummer to lose all those years of education to another country because my husband cannot be granted citizenship??Luckily Eyal can work and is unlikely to need any further treatment, so it is more a technicality than a real concern.
Other than that, the sun is shining, bright birds are hopping about the trees, and we are eating divine rockmelon. Nectar of the gods. If I were a believe in Creationsim, I would figure that the sweet fruits of summer must be there to make up for the parasites of the wet season.
posted by Sophie at 3:12 pm
1 Comments:
Thanks for writing again! When I read that you were waiting for "health checks" I immediately thought--what, would they refuse a sick person?! Then I went on to read where you answered my question. Uggh. As you say, that seems both ugly and short-sighted. I hope they see that it would be stupid to refuse your application. Best of luck to you!
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