After visiting the Gold Coast with Dane over Christmas 2008, I knew that Australia was a place I could live in. I could see myself having a life there, and being happy there. I could see Dane and I having a future there. As much as I miss South Africa, and I do still wish to live there again one day, I knew that the next chapter in the life of 'Janelle and Dane' would lie in Australia and not South Africa.
It's a big decision to move to another country, let alone to move there with your other half, so it wasn't a decision we rushed or made lightly. We read everything we could read, researched what visas would be available to me, spoke to people who had already made the move, and weighed up all of our options. But, it soon became very clear that as soon as we could, we would move to Australia together.
At first I considered a skilled workers visa, but after speaking to a few agents and doing some online assessments, it became clear that this wasn't a viable option for me because of my age, and because of my limited work experience (also due to my age). So, we looked at option number 2 - a spouse visa. We certainly didn't want to get married for a visa, but all we had to do was live together for a year, and make sure we could prove this. Step 1: tick - we had just moved in together before our Christmas trip to Australia. Step 2: live another year in London and then complete visa application.
So, that is what we did. We made sure we knew exactly what was required for my visa, and spent the year compiling 'evidence' of our ongoing committment to each other. This meant keeping everything from our tenancy agreements, to bills with both our names on, setting up a joint account, photos from our holidays, statements from friends and family who knew us as a couple and so on and so on. The list seemed endless.
In December 2009 we reached the 1 year requirement of living together, so we began the process of putting together my visa application. As straightforward as the process actually is, it was still incredibly daunting and overwhelming. This visa would be such an important part of our life in Australia, that I didn't think I could, or should, be able to do it on my own. I enlisted the help of a migration agent, who was indispensible to me. I probably could have done it all on my own in the end, but the money we paid her was certainly worth the sanity I got to keep in exchange. She answered all of my inane and stupid questions, went through each and every document with a fine-toothed comb, and made sure my application had everything it needed to have.
It took us 4 months to put the whole thing together, and it was the thickest document I have ever worked on in my life. It was also the most expensive. After the medical checks, police checks, the visa fee and the cost of using a migration agent, I had spent close on £2000. Sjoe! My visa application was lodged on 26 April 2010, and then I was told to just 'be patient'.
I was told processing times could be anything from 3 - 4 months, and that is if there are no delays. But, I was also told there was a chance mine could go through quicker, as it was a straightforward application, no children were involved, no exes in the picture, nothing to really cause any alarm on behalf of the Australian government. And so, I waited. And waited. And waited.
On 26 August 2010, 4 months to the day, I received the much awaited email saying that my visa had been granted. I dubbed this day 'Visa day', much to Dane's amusement. The feeling of relief, the weight that was lifted off my heart and my shoulders on that day was unbelievable. I hadn't even realised it was weighing down on me that much.
At the moment, we are in the last stages of waiting - waiting to finally get there. Dane and I have been travelling since July, and right now we are in the last few days of our London chapter. On Saturday, 2 October 2010, we fly to South Africa to visit my family for a month, and then finally, on 30 October 2010, we will board our Qantas flight to Sydney, with a connecting flight to Brisbane and our new Australian chapter...
