Huge News!

..........I GOT MY VISA!!!!! 

It feels so good to be able to breathe again. I feel like I have been drowning in nerves and anxiety and now all of a sudden I CAN BREATHE. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has sent me well wishes, messages of good luck, and positive vibes. Thanks to everyone who has sent so many emails and texts saying "Did you hear anything yet?". It means so much! 

For those of you who don't know the story, this is my third time, yes THIRD, applying for a spouse visa. The application process is not very clear, and there really isn't anyone to help you along the way unless you pay for someone to help you along the way. 

The first time, I was living in Shanghai and all of the instructions seemed pretty clear. Fill out the application. Submit it at the visa office in Shanghai. Awesome. What I didn't know is that you need loads of physical evidence of your relationship and marriage. Duh. But it did not say anything about that on the government site. So we paid and got denied. 

Second time, we learnt our mistake and got loads, LOADS of stuff. Photos of the wedding, pictures of us together from the past (nearly) three years, letters from friends saying that we were a legitimate couple. The whole nine yards. We got denied again. The certified copy of marriage in the states is not the same as in the UK and they did not believe that it was a real marriage certificate. There was also a money issue since both David and myself did not yet have a job in the UK. I completely understand, but we had saved loads of money. That was not enough. 

It came time for David to leave the states and we found out that David's dad had cancer. It made sense that he should go back to the UK to spend time with his dad, and start applying for a job. David got a job almost instantly and his father was getting treatments. He said he wanted to make it long enough to see me get my visa. So we were not messing around this time, and had a solicitor help us to apply. The idea was to submit the application six months after we met the money requirement, which meant we could apply May 11. Davids dad passed away on May 14. We got the visa back on June 8.

It has been a crazy process and I cannot believe we have had to go through all of this. We will have been a part for five months by the time I get to see David again, and we have spent our first year of marriage mostly away from each other. And of course there was a huge car accident in there somewhere, but thats a story for another day. 

I'm sure there will be a mushy "I love everyone" post closer to the time I leave the states for good, so until then, all I can say is THANK YOU. 

Now I need to plan my next adventure.