Once I signed my employment contract for the relocation things started happening pretty quickly with my companies human resources and mobility groups. They got all the information they needed together to send The lawyers who are working on my visa application.
The visa application process was much more stressful than originally thought it would be. From reading the EU Rules on citizens relocating it seems pretty straightforward that we could move. The lawyers initially had major concerns because I was the one with the job yet I was not a citizen. As we got into more details they quickly came back and said our application should be pretty straightforward. However they were being lawyers initially and to me seemed all doom and gloom. It boils down to the more information we gave them when they asked for it the better our chances became that this would be pretty straightforward.
Surprisingly the hardest part in this entire process was the time zone difference with the lawyers. The other challenge was around document Catherine. For the visa application I needed to provide a huge amount of documentation. Most of it was pretty straightforward however I ran into a snag with my bank statements. Generally are use an online bank for most of our finances. It works great and I typically have no problems. The only time I recall there being an issue was when we bought our apartment I needed a bank certified check that I simply could not get from them. For the visa application the UK government requires a physical copy of statements. I opt to get electronic distributions of my statements. The lawyer said that’s not a problem print them out and have the bank sign and stamp them to certify they are authentic or simply order print outs and have them delivered. That was easier said than done. One bank we use housing for a walk down the street and have some statement signed and stamped in 15 minutes. Do you mean online bank however originally gave me a lot of back-and-forth on that they would not even do what we needed.After finally getting fed up with the back-and-forth I actually got results by sending a Twitter message to their support group. They confirmed that could go to a branch and have documents printed stamped and signed. Like I said they are an online bank however they do you have a few branches in the United States. Big challenge for me is the nearest branch is an hour and a half drive from New York City.
MC and I opted to drive out there together with the girls and make a morning of it. She took the girls to play playground while I got the documents printed. We then met up with her parents for lunch. They lived only about 30 minutes from where we were so we thought was a good opportunity to see them.
In the end things worked out and I was able to get all the documents I needed however it was extremely challenging pulling all the information together. I was glad that I keep really good records of things. Not having lots of readily available digital copies of information to send the lawyers would’ve drawn out their preparations.
Once we got all the documents together we all had to go to a visa processing center to get pictures and fingerprints. Only my youngest daughter who is under five did not need to have her fingerprints taken. I’m glad for that since she barely would look into the camera to get her picture taken.
After we had that done the application was submitted with all the documentation to go along with it. We were concerned that we wouldn’t get it back in time for the trip we were planning to house hunt in London. The guidance we were given what is up to 15 business days to get a reply. It turned out we got an email saying the visas were being printed within two days of it being submitted. Total duration between when we submitted the paperwork to the lawyers and when I picked up all the papers and the pieces was one week or five business days. It was a major relief.
But wait we’re not done. What I learned on this process started because you get a visa for six months that get you to United Kingdom. Once you’re there you apply for five your visa that you can only apply for if you’re actually living there. This might be different depending on your situation however for that type of visa that we are getting at is what we had to do. That means once we get there we start the process over again. I’m not sure what documentation we need to provide for that however i’m assuming it’s going to be as much or more information then we’ve already provided for the first visa.
In the next part of the series talk about money. I am told they don’t take US dollar:)