For much of yesterday, I was tense. It all started with FedEx delivering my long-awaited UK work permit. When I opened up the package, I discovered that I still couldn’t go back to the UK, even with this permit. I had to apply for an additional ‘entry clearance certificate’ from the British High Commission in Canberra. It would take another two+ weeks and A$500.
I spent the rest of the day rebooking air tickets, deferring accommodation, renegotiating my work start date, photocopying letters, passports and degree certificates, getting passport photos printed, filling in and printing out online forms…
Little things that I would normally shrug off made me snap and glare. I was angry at no one and everyone. My poor family!
It was a strange feeling, being that angry and, at the same time, knowing how useless and irrational my anger was. I couldn’t blame anyone for anything. I was just generally frustrated with the world.
This made me think about a man I saw on the Dr Phil show last week. He had spent the last sixteen years of his life, angry at the world. The littlest things would trigger him off, like cars driving too close to him, or waiters taking too long, or people disagreeing with him.
Now, I have a faint idea of what it must be to live like him. It’s not nice, being constantly and pointlessly frustrated. It’s also difficult to let the frustration go. I can imagine that if you are like that for a very long time, you wouldn’t know how to be any different even when you want to be. I wonder if Dr Phil understood that?
Joan, I’m very glad you worked out you also need some other stupid visa or permit as well as the work permit!
A mate of mine recently found that out the hard way – turned up at Heathrow, newly married (via Vegas) and was promptly deported, sans wife!
I’m heading over there in January myself.
Cheers, Ben
Whaaaat… that’s crap, Joan. Now you really may as well stay for Christmas.
Hey Joan, couldn’t you have applied for a Highly Skilled Migrant Scheme/Program? Or is the work permit one better for you?
This visa stuff confuses me… I have to apply for the holiday working one and I’m probably going to pay someone to do that for me because I also don’t want to get caught out!
Don’t stay too mad, enjoy the sunny weekend 😎
Oh, how come you need two weeks to get the entry clearance certificate??? For my case in HK, I just need one day. I just filled in a form and handed it in together with my passport in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, I got the certificate printed on my passport already!!! But, I needed to pay HK$3300, which is approximately the same as A$500. Just wondering if my company is going to pay me back? Probably not.
🙁
You are not alone — I also felt frustrated when I read that…
Thanks, everyone. Your comments make me feel like I’m venting to people out there!
Ben, it’s good to hear from you after such a long time. I feel for your mate. I hope they just sent him to France instead of back to Australia or Las Vegas.
Vera, yeah. It’s a bit annoying that Damjan will be in Melbourne for all of a December so we’ll overlap a little (and only on weekends) at the end of November.
Hi Lainey, I didn’t think about the HSMP. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it. Probably because I’m not thinking of living in the UK in the long term — and I thought it might be easier and cheaper to get a work permit. But after these dramas, maybe it wasn’t!
Kiki, I might have been able to get the clearance certificate in person more quickly. I thought briefly about doing that but I’d have to go to Canberra, which is a plane trip away.
Mo, thanks for the empathy. I had a bit of a whinge to my future boss and they were so apologetic that I felt bad about complaining! But all frustration can be solved with a cup of tea, right? 🙂
Blah, Dr Phil is like a high class Jerry Springer. I can understand your frustration, especially when you want to get things done asap but have to wait for everyone else to get their act together. Grrrr… Something that I have to deal with at work almost everyday. Hope you feeling better now.
Joan, I think you’re entitled to be grumpy in this situation! I would be too. I thought you could apply for the entry clearance at the same time you apply for your visa, did they not tell you that, or is it not true?
Hopefully you have lots of fun adventures in Melbourne in the coming weeks. Remember, once you’ve been in London for three months you’ll be thinking ‘I wish I could just be faffing around Melbourne right now…’