Visa Application Complete and the Waiting begins...

Employment

Steve began at his new company, here in Vancouver, on June 16th. They want him to start at the Reading office on July 28th, but they're already asking if he can go over sooner. Well, not until he gets his passport back with the brand spankin' new Visa stamp in it!!!

UK Application

Wow. What a long process to prepare a Visa application! It has certainly not made me any fonder of bureaucracy.

On June 3rd we submitted Steve's online application (VAF4) at the Visa4UK website.
On the same site, you must immediately

• Sign the Declaration
• Book an Appointment (for having Biometrics taken)
• Make your payment in US$ by Visa/MasterCard/or, I think PayPal. Ours was US$1504.
• Print out the Application (to include with your other documents)
• Print out the appointment confirmation page as the Biometrics company may require to see this. (Just print our everything, including emails they send, you never know!)

After that, we immediately went to the VFS Global site to pay for the biometrics appointment. This is the 3rd party who will take the applicants fingerprints and photo. Here we had to pay for

• Priority Visa Service (optional): US$510
• The appointment (not optional in Vancouver): US$100
  Note: This does, however, include the courier costs to and from, so not too bad.

On June 10th, Steve had his biometrics appointment at VFS Global (2000- 1066 W. Hastings St.)
In Vancouver they also have a DHL courier box to submit your complete application. The appointment consisted of

• Presenting all documentation (and copies of everything) which they went through with a checklist
• Applicant completing another checklist stating what is included in package
• Fingerprints and photo taken
• Seeing all packaged up, "Priority Visa Application" written on the front, and dropped in their internal DHL courier box to be collected at 3pm that day

and the entire process only took about 1/2 hour.

Steve said he was seated at a table across from two staff with a security guard standing behind him. Only the applicant can go into the actual office, I had to wait downstairs in the building lobby. After working on the package so hard together, I hated to be excluded at the very end, but such is their process.

On June 12th, we received an email from Sheffield:

 Dear Applicant,

Your UK visa application has arrived safely at the UK Border Agency, Sheffield and is currently being processed.

Priority Service:

Your application will be placed in the front of the queue and assessed ahead of other non-priority visa applications.

Please note, as indicated in the terms of service, the amount paid for the priority service, as well as visa fees, is not refundable if the visa application is refused or due to delays in processing times.

You will receive a further e-mail advising you when a decision has been made on your application. This e-mail will also provide you with details of your return package.

We are unable to respond to status enquiries. Further information on UK visa services is available at www.visainfoservices.com

This is an automated e-mail. Please do not reply. Your reply will not be received.

Kind Regards,

UK Visa Section, Sheffield

So, today marks 12 business days since Steve's application has been received. Their old wait times said 2-3 weeks for priority visa applications, but there are backlogs at the moment and the timeline seems to currently be about 3-6 weeks for priority. This will just be in time for Steve's start work date of July 28th. The non-priorities seem to be taking between 12 and 24 weeks. Ugh.

I'm really hoping to hear by the end of the week.

Physical Move

Our spreadsheet outlining the dates to start and finish each task in this move has been serving us very well indeed. Each Sunday we sit down and go over the tasks for the week, and make sure we know what we have to tackle in the coming week. The weekly task sheet is then pinned up on our cork board to be checked off as completed. Only then do we reward ourselves with a large drink and plan the fun things we're going to do once we're safely in England.

Because life never happens as planned, we have made changes on the fly to many things but the spreadsheet has helped us maintain a complete overview of tasks to come and "stay...on...target."

I've made one run around the used bookstores, hitting 2 places and managing to sell about 40 books. I'm going to do one more run this week to 3 other bookstores. Then the rest will come with us or be donated.

Steve has sold our 2 TVs to friends. With the last being picked up just before we pack up this place.

I've had some email exchanges with people on Craigslist over furniture but haven't sold anything yet (they've flaked out), nor have I posted my own ad yet, just replied to "wanted ads". This week I'll post my own to get rid of the decent furniture.

We're planning on selling all furniture and taking only personal effects, and re-furnishing in England, or renting a furnished place to start.

Finding a New Home

I'll add more to this category later, but for now just say that I daily check the rental listings in Reading. Having a cat will severely limit our choices it seems, but she's part of the family. If the six-month quarantine requirement on pets was still in place, we wouldn't be making this move.

It also seems that Property Agents have a reputation in England akin to used car salesmen - usually for good reason. Let the adventure begin....