5 years back, I got married to my soul mate, left my home country India, childhood friends and family and came, with a bagful of clothes and starry-eyed dreams of starting my life afresh in Australia. I had 5 years of experience as an Architect prior to that, under my belt and the confidence that life will be easy to (re)start, albeit in a new country and with different people. Oh well…
I landed on a cold chilly evening of 25th June 2013, on a humble tourist visa. My plan was simple and sorted! I will enjoy my newly married life, doing things I’d always wanted to do (but never got a chance), thanks to a 5 year long (and gruelling) Architecture student life plus another 5 years of 9-5 work, with no break taken. All this while waiting for my Permanent Residency or Partner visa (which by the takes around 12 months). Sweet, isn’t it? Well turns out, it wasn’t that sweet a journey for me, after all.
Let me introduce you to my best half. Apart from being my best friend and partner in crime for enjoying the tiny little moments of life, he made my break off work so beautiful! We went on unlimited travel explorations, in Australia and abroad in the first year after marriage. At this point let me tell you that I didn’t get a year-long tourist visa, I had to fly out every 3 months. It was all fun and games the first one year, then we started getting excited and anxious about the results of our PR.
We waited and waited and waited (you get it!). We were told, that they have put my case under scanner for..hold your breath, another ONE year! Yes, and this is after already waiting one year. Didn’t I tell you my journey was adventurous!
The next few months were very tough on us. We were worried why have they put our case aside, while most of our friend’s partners got their PR easily within a year of applying. Around the same time, my tourist visa was ending and I needed to head back to India. My hubby, stuck in a non-progressive job was itching to leave it all and come with me. It was a tough call! But we decided he should quit his job if he isn’t happy, and do what he loves…travelling! After all, it was now or never. Once we got settled, with a bigger family and mortgage on our heads we would never be able to make a move like this. How we exactly decided to leave everything and backpack across India for the next 6 months, is matter for a whole new post!
We took an adventurous backpacking trip for the next few months, with the hope that towards the end of it we would get my PR and I would fly back with it. But the immigration didn’t budge, they refused to give us that PR and yet again, I had to fly to Australia on a tourist visa. Mind you, this was 18 months after application. 18 months of being jobless, 18 months of living like a nomad across different destinations. Nevertheless, we put one foot ahead of another and decided that we will not lose hope. Few more months of being jobless, so what?
The one fine morning, a good 2 years after applying for PR, we finally got the call we were waiting for, since forever. Yes!! they decided to FINALLY approve my Permanent Residency in Australia. Yayieeeee. Do you know what happens when something you are waiting for, for the longest period comes to reality? Well, you either dance in excitement or put your eyes on the next thing that you need. What do you think I did? Well, me being me, the girl who loved knowing and planning what the next step was; I chose the latter. My mind was racing, I was aware that I had lost 2 full years of my work life and time was rushing out. There was so much to do, and so many more dreams to be achieved.
That, my friends, is how adventurous and exciting my 2 years to Australian PR was. I would love to know if any of you had a not-so-great experience with getting your PR. Please share in the comments section below 🙂
