So I have officially been in the UK for just over two weeks and it’s absolutely flown by.
My last week in Sydney seemed to do just that too.
All of a sudden it was my last monday meeting. My last WIP with my manager, my last lunch with my work wives, my last eNewsletter, my last social media post and my last Friday afternoon music sesh.
I am a lover of lists. Lists are fun. I write multiple lists a day. I think it has something to do with the crossing off part.
Sometimes I will write a new list and include some things I’ve already done just so I can cross them off…
Anyway, with that embarrassing OCD confession out of the way, I thought I’d write a list of the top 5 things to do before you leave the country – on whatever journey you may be taking.
I’ve always thought of how cool it would be to actually be a spy. Like 007… but, you know, a lady version.
I reckon I’d go ok.
Be a classy, suave, boss-spy with kick-ass fighting skills; sophisticated and totally able to take down 15 enemies while being shot at and show off those ninja, matrix bullet dodging skills. Walk out, unscathed, still dressed impeccably, with the building I was just in blowing up in a timely manner behind me (when do they have the time to plant the bombs? Do these buildings just self-destruct from too much awesome?) while the wind blows my hair back and I step casually into my black Maserati and drive off into the sunset.
Welcome to Part II of the visa process. In this section I talk about applying online, going for the interview and what happens after you’ve had your application sent off for processing. If you’re after info on what you need to prep for these stages please click here.
Phase III: Apply online
Once you’re ready to apply you do so here.
You need to create an account and then follow the steps for the Tier 5 working holiday visa.
The form is pretty straight-forward but you do need to be ready with certain bits of info and not take too long because it does time out. If it does you have to start that part again.
The form does probe – it’s a government application and they want to know everything about your mother’s uncle’s sister’s daughter’s husband’s pet dog twice removed and what you had for breakfast that day.
But in all honestly if you have nothing to hide it’s fairly straight forward. Answer it as honestly as you can and if you don’t know, you don’t know. Don’t stress if you can’t remember every little detail.
This post became muuuuuuch bigger than I expected it to be – I forgot what a beast this process was (…not to scare you or anything) so anyway I’ve decided to split this into two parts. Enjoy part 1 🙂
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The Tier 5 visa.About 4 months of my life was focused on that little, sticky piece of paper that would either make or break my plans to go and live in that city I’d fallen in love with.
I asked friends who had done it for all their advice (poor dears). I scoured the internet looking for help. I read and re-read and re-re-read all of the UK Visa website information. And I patiently (ok, ok, fiiiiine –impatiently)… (ok, very impatiently) waited for the time to come for me to apply.
Right now, my current state is a mix between feeling like I have absolutely no time to do any of the things I need to do, and feeling like the next five weeks couldn’t be taking any bloody longer.
It’s an odd mixture. Very confusing. I’ll go from running through my “to-do” list in my head and thinking: “how in the HELL am I going to get all this done in a measly five weeks?” To then thinking about being in London, meeting up with my friends, finding a job and traveling, and feeling like it’s just never going to happen.
My life changed so much in just those 2 months I traveled. The people I met, the things I saw and did and just the changes and challenges I went through. I thought: “if that’s what 2 months can do… what about 2 years?”
So I got home. I paid off the debt I’d accumulated on my travels and I (with some help from an amazingly loyal friend) applied for the visa, picked my date, submitted all the documents, handed over my passport, gave them my fingerprints and allowed them to take a god awful photo (thank god I decided to actually put on make-up that day!).
And then I waited.
Y’know, one of those people you hear about who decides one day that they want to quite literally (metaphorically?) flip the beautifully, classily and lovingly styled table that is their life, chaotically spilling their shit everywhere and happily skip off onto a big jet plane to start decorating a new table with new shit in some galaxy far, far away.
(Ok, yes. That was a star wars reference. No, I won’t apologise. And also yes, that was a slight hyperbole – but living in Aus we are so far away from everything that basically any country besides New Zealand is considered a universe away.)
But yes, metaphors, sarcasm and descriptive language aside, I will soon be taking part in one of the biggest moves of my life.
Lozz in London 