Caitlin Goes Back to Canberra: May 2014

The story of my immigration is never going to be easy! A couple weeks ago, we found out that my visa application had to be sent to the medical officer for Australian immigration because of my past brain surgery. It has been six years and I am doing fine, but obviously it was something that we needed to disclose. We got a letter from my neurosurgeon explaining that I won't need another MRI for five years and if that MRI is clear there is no further follow-up needed.

While it shouldn't be a problem because it's not something that is contagious or will be a burden on the health system, it still needs to go through all of the steps to be cleared. The case officer working on our case sent it out a little over a week ago and told us that it can take up to 10 days for it to get to the medical officer and then a further 3 weeks for it to process.

This was a big blow because when we had rescheduled the flight in December, we had chosen May 15. It was a semi-arbitrary date. We thought that it would be enough time and it meant that I would be able to be back for Rohan and my 3 year anniversary. It was now pretty clear that it wasn't going to happen, though.

I had been talking to my migration agent, a different person than the case officer, about timing and if it was possible to expedite it. He wasn't sure, but we couldn't wait for him to get back to us since my flight was quickly approaching.

We called Delta tonight to get my flights changed. It was a BIG hassle. I can't even begin to explain. At first we talked to a girl and it seemed to be fine. She transferred us to a guy in another department to complete the booking and check out any fees that may have happened. It got really messy here and he said that they were going to waive the fee for changing flights but that it would cost money for the flight that we changed to because it was past the validity date or something like that. He came back after checking that cost with his manager and it was $1490, which was actually more than getting a new one-way ticket!

We were trying to figure out a way to get around that. We were even contemplating me going on my current flight and then I would pop over to New Zealand when my visa was granted since I need to be out of the country. After trying to figure out how to change it back to my May 15 flight from the one we tried to get, he came back saying that he talked to his supervisor. His supervisor was nice enough to waive the change for the new flight and only make us pay the changing fee, which was CONSIDERABLY less money.

After probably 3 hours, my new flight is now scheduled for June 12. The visa should be granted in that time assuming that everything does go the way that it is supposed to go. I will continue to be praying that it works out and would appreciate prayers, too!

It's already been 9 months since Rohan and I have seen each other in person, so we can make it one more! It's just going to make when we are finally able to be together that much sweeter!

Caitlin Goes Back to Canberra

12 May 2014

Hopefully the Last Bump in the Road!

Rohan and Caitlin's Wedding