to explain: YAY!
sorry for the lack of explanation in my last entry, i just felt i had to archive my feelings upon finding out about a working holiday visa via lj. :'x no, i haven't gotten the visa yet, but thanks for the congrats in advance. ;)
since last saturday up until last night me and David had diligently been looking into & preparing to apply for a Partner Visa which was generating a lot of stress and some uncertainty for various reasons including:
we were looking at that visa because it would best suit our goal of living together permanently and because any other visa would require a rushed marriage or was out of my reach.
and then David found out that there is a Working Holiday (more accurately refereed to as a "Work and Holiday") Visa available to Americans! i knew that such visas existed but had never looked into one as i was under the impression that no country liked America enough for such visas to be an option for Americans. Japan doesnt even offer such a visa to Americans even though it does to other nationalities. :/
for those who dont know what a Working Holiday/"Work and Holiday" Visa is or atleast not what Australia's version of one is and cant be bothered to read the link, it's basically a visa that lets you
it gets even better. no skills are required (unlike many other Australia visas), all you need is a HS diploma, 20,000yen/221USD/246AUD for the app fee and no sponsorship is required, you just need to have 5,000AUD/4,507USD/406,797yen to start out on.
the BIGGEST catch is that you must be between 18 and 30 years old to apply and that you are restricted to 6 months of employment per employer.
this visa is JUST what we needed! that isn't to say that we are forgetting the Partner Visa for this one-- of course not. this is just what we needed in order to GET a Partner Visa in the future. we intend to use the W/H Visa as a means of acquiring the Partner Visa.
you see, for the Partner Visa you are expected to have lived together for atleast a year and have financial evidence from this to support your claim of a "genuine" relationship. obviously we will never get anywhere with that as long as we live in different countries, but in using the W/H Visa we CAN live together for atleast a year, gather the evidence that the Partner Visa wants during that time and THEN apply for the Partner Visa with a lot better chance of it being granted. if you apply for another visa and your current visa expires while a decision is being made on a new visa, you are automatically granted a Bridging Visa to allow you to stay in Australia in the meantime.
SO! in conclusion, the plan is...!
Work and Holiday Visa (1 year) ---> Bridging Visa (???) ---> Partner Visa (temporary; for ~2 years) ---> Partner Visa (permanent)
i forgot to mention this above, but there are two different subclasses for the Partner Visa. the first is temporary and lasts for 2 years or until you are automatically upgraded to/denied the "2nd stage" which is permanent. once i get the permanent visa i wouldnt even be charged international student rates if i went back to school! :D
that is the ultimate goal... but one step at a time. first, the Work and Holiday Visa.
since last saturday up until last night me and David had diligently been looking into & preparing to apply for a Partner Visa which was generating a lot of stress and some uncertainty for various reasons including:
- it would cost a non-refundable 146,000yen/1,617USD/1,705AUD
- it would take ~3 months to be granted
- it required a lot of evidence regarding our relationship (copies of split bills, shared rent/bank statements etc) that we simply did not have because of the distance between us
we were looking at that visa because it would best suit our goal of living together permanently and because any other visa would require a rushed marriage or was out of my reach.
and then David found out that there is a Working Holiday (more accurately refereed to as a "Work and Holiday") Visa available to Americans! i knew that such visas existed but had never looked into one as i was under the impression that no country liked America enough for such visas to be an option for Americans. Japan doesnt even offer such a visa to Americans even though it does to other nationalities. :/
for those who dont know what a Working Holiday/"Work and Holiday" Visa is or atleast not what Australia's version of one is and cant be bothered to read the link, it's basically a visa that lets you
- come into Australia for a "holiday" of up to 12 months with exit & re-entry an unlimited amount of times
- finance your "holiday" by doing any kind of work for an unlimited number of hrs/week
- go to school for up to 4 months
it gets even better. no skills are required (unlike many other Australia visas), all you need is a HS diploma, 20,000yen/221USD/246AUD for the app fee and no sponsorship is required, you just need to have 5,000AUD/4,507USD/406,797yen to start out on.
the BIGGEST catch is that you must be between 18 and 30 years old to apply and that you are restricted to 6 months of employment per employer.
this visa is JUST what we needed! that isn't to say that we are forgetting the Partner Visa for this one-- of course not. this is just what we needed in order to GET a Partner Visa in the future. we intend to use the W/H Visa as a means of acquiring the Partner Visa.
you see, for the Partner Visa you are expected to have lived together for atleast a year and have financial evidence from this to support your claim of a "genuine" relationship. obviously we will never get anywhere with that as long as we live in different countries, but in using the W/H Visa we CAN live together for atleast a year, gather the evidence that the Partner Visa wants during that time and THEN apply for the Partner Visa with a lot better chance of it being granted. if you apply for another visa and your current visa expires while a decision is being made on a new visa, you are automatically granted a Bridging Visa to allow you to stay in Australia in the meantime.
SO! in conclusion, the plan is...!
Work and Holiday Visa (1 year) ---> Bridging Visa (???) ---> Partner Visa (temporary; for ~2 years) ---> Partner Visa (permanent)
i forgot to mention this above, but there are two different subclasses for the Partner Visa. the first is temporary and lasts for 2 years or until you are automatically upgraded to/denied the "2nd stage" which is permanent. once i get the permanent visa i wouldnt even be charged international student rates if i went back to school! :D
that is the ultimate goal... but one step at a time. first, the Work and Holiday Visa.