And then there were 4.

I'm still here...the new year has been a busy one already. Since last writing we have gone and come back from a summer holiday in Australia. Bel marito's permanent Australian visa has been accepted. Bel bambino turned one and finally got his first tooth. And me, well...let's just say the new year started with another bel bambino making his way into my tummy!

So yes, it's been a busy year so far. We are still here in Malito, in Italy and will be most probably until November. Baby is due in September so one we get its citizenship sorted off we will migrate to Australia. Until then I will try and write. I have so much so say but just no time. Everything is still driving me crazy, the weather, my job, to cost of petrol, the unpleasant hospital staff, the chaos and the way that things jus don't work here. So yes, ideas for many a post!

2011 has finished and now we have to wait and see what 2012 shall bring. A lot happened in 2011, there has never been another year with so much activity. It all began with the birth of bel bambino which sadly coincided with bel marito's father being ill. I found a job, left that job and then found another job. In the summer a horde of Australian's flew over to celebrate our wedding and bel bambino's baptism. I got sick. We made the decision to migrate to Australia, leaving Italy behind for the sake of bel bambino's future. A lot happened in a mere 365 days.

With the festive season behind we are now preparing for our holiday to Australia. My brother is getting married and we are going to celebrate bel bambino's 1st birthday there too.There is still no word on our visa application, but we were told to wait at least 2 months if not a little more before being contacted by a case worker so we are in no rush. We won't migrate until after the Italian summer anyway. After all that happened in 2011 we need an Australian summer holiday.

I can't wait to leave this country. The new government, trying to clear some of the incredibly high public debt has risen the cost of petrol. Not 1cent not even 2cents but over night they rose unleaded by 9cents and diesel by 13cents!!!! Early last year a litre of diesel was about 1.18euro, now it's 1.67euro. Sorry, but have our wages risen during this time of economic recession. No, the opposite really. The Government wants to make us suffer even more for their mistakes. Wages have not risen since I've lived here but everything else is more expensive and now this!

Signed sealed and delivered

It's done. Our fate is in the hands of the Australian Embassy in Berlin. Last Monday we sent our very heavy application and now we must play the waiting game. I was told that they should take payment within 10 days and once done we'll get email confirmation. We should be contacted by a case worker in about 2 months time and then we will see... I'll keep you posted on how the application goes.

Other then that nothing new. Bel bambino is sick, or I should say still sick. He has been sick for 3 weeks now, since we spent our long weekend in Rome. He had a cold that got worse and worse so was put on medication. When finally he was better he woke up Friday night out of the blue with coughing spasms and we had to take him to the emergency room. Just in time the doctor said as his cold that had gone had secretly come back in the form of croup spasms and we caught it just in time. Now back on the meds and see if this time he finally gets better! He can't be so sick though if he shoves meatballs into his mouth (and eyes and nose.)

How to migrate

Many people are shocked when I tell them just how long the application is to migrate to Australia. They assume since I am Australian, and that bel bambino is now Australian that bel marito should be able to walk straight on in. No such thing. For those who have never visited Australia perhaps you didn't know that even a tourist requires a visa. A tourist visa is easy to get via the Internet and free too, but our application cannot be done online and is far, oh so far from free.

We are applying for the Partner Visa (subclass 309/100) which is for married and de facto couples. I am bel marito's sponsor and we are applying off-shore which means that when the visa is accepted (we are hopeful) we must be outside of Australia for it to be granted. If bel marito is granted the 309 visa this is a temporary visa which entitles him to live in Australia for 2 years. During this time anyone on the 309 visa can find work as this visa will allow it but they cannot claim social service benefits. When the 2 years are up each case is looked at again and if the couple is still together then a permanent 100 visa is granted which means the applicant can stay in Australia for ever and work and live as one of us, with access to benefits.  Sometimes a couple can be lucky and be granted the 100 visa immediately if they have been together long enough. Maybe since we have been together for 5 years and have a bel bambino we will be lucky.

We are not using an immigration agent since we don't think it's necessary. Perhaps if you come from a high risk country or have a criminal record then it would be advisable...I am no expert, but I think we can do it ourselves. Our application is about 2cm thick at the moment, and hopefully it will be finished this week so we can send it to be assessed. We need to show that we have a '..mutual commitment to a shared life as husband and wife to the exclusion of all others. Show that we have a genuine and continuing relationship. Show that we are living together and that bel marito meets health and character requirements...'

Now how do we prove that our relationship is genuine? Well, the Australian Immigration websites provides a  lot of information thankfully which goes a little something like this:

• History of relationship (statutory declarations from applicant and sponsor) - how we met, when the relationship developed, when we decided to marry or become de facto, how we support each other financially, physically and emotionally and when this level of commitment began, any periods of separation - when and why etc... and future plans. We have nearly finished these, mine is a whopping 5 pages since I can't seem to condense 5 years into less pages.

• Evidence of relationship FINANCAL aspects: evidence of joint ownership real estate, cars etc... joint loans, joint bank accounts, sharing of household bills and expenses. This is our problem area. We have a joint bank account and we both used my British bank account so I've printed off loads of bank statements. That's all we have for this section though...

• The nature of the household: we have to provide evidence of our living arrangements, joint ownership or rental of the place we live, joint responsibility of children, correspondence addressed to us both at the same address. We have some from this section. In the statutory declaration we've written how we look after the baby. We have residency certificates which show us as a nuclear family at the same address and we have letters and postcards addressed to us both.

• Social context of the relationship: How friends and family view the relationship. Joint invitations, statutory declarations from people saying they know us both as a couple, evidence of joint travel, joint participation in sporting, cultural and social activities.  This section is ok, we have heaps of joint travel evidence, photos of us with each others family, stat decs from family and joint invitations.

• The nature of our commitment to one another: Knowledge of each others personal circumstances, long term intentions, evidence of how relationship was maintained when we were apart. This section should be ok. We have bel bambino which is pretty good proof that we have long term intentions! Also we have emails from when we were apart.

On top of this we have printed off our facebook pages which shows our relationship status and comments from friends and family who make reference to us both. I've printed my mobile phone plan which shows bel marito and his parent's phone numbers as my deal. We have emails, health care forms, I've printed pages off this blog. To be bel marito's sponsor have to prove that I can support him financially in Australia. A little hard when I have worked a lot cash in hand and now get poor pay, but we have old and new payslips, contracts, bank statements and if this is not good enough for them then my parents will be our support.

Once our case has been opened, criminal checks and medical checks will be requested. So, I hope this answers some of your questions. All I can say is that if you are Australian and have even the smallest thought of migrating one day then please, keep anything and everything you can to prove you are a couple. I used to throw everything away until my twin sister told me not to a few years ago. We had no plans to migrate then, but agreed to keep plane ticket stubs, emails etc... and now how thankful am I!
 

Rome

We went to Rome for the long weekend. We had to appear in person to apply for bel bambino's Australian passport and used this as an excuse for a mini holiday. It was lovely to visit Rome again, we stayed at the hotel where we met and visited our friends. It was lovely yes, but reinforced the notion that never in our lives do we want to live in Rome with a baby.

When you've lived in Rome like we have and seen it inside out then you don't see the splendour of the Colosseum, rather you see how dirty and dark it is. The Trevi Fountain, always my favourite place, was full of beggars and foreigners harassing us to buy flowers. We didn't go and visit all the sites this time, there was no need. I was last in Rome for a weekend in 2009 and so much has changed or maybe there is so much I have forgotten. The city is dirty, really dirty and there are foreigners galore. Now I am a foreigner so don't go thinking I am racist but I was surprised by just how many foreigners there were. We heard stories that a lot of jobs are being given to foreigners and not Italians since they will accept low wages and poorer conditions.

We got the tram one evening to visit a friend's wine bar. When the tram came it was so full that we had to walk back 3 stops to the start to try and get on with bel bambino's pram. We finally got on and were crushed like sardines while we tried to protect bel bambino from being squashed. If this experience wasn't bad enough, half way there the tram stops and people start getting out. The driver didn't make an announcement, we had no idea what was going on until we learnt that there was a protest down the way and the lines were blocked. A day doesn't go by when there isn't a protest in Rome, but this was about 6pm at night.

Tram after tram were pulling up and spilling out the commuters. It is not as if they thought to notify people before getting on the tram or that they thought of suspending them all together. Instead they sent one bus, one normal bus which is one third of the size of the tram. We didn't even attempt to board as with a sleeping bel bambino it would have been impossible. Finally another bus came and we asked to board before the mad crazed commuters. Permission granted, a warning given to be careful of the mad rush and then the onslaught began. After people being pushed out onto the street and us shoving people away from bel bambino the bus left. Amidst 2 gypsies fighting, the over powering stench of way too many sweaty people in a small space we made it to our friends and the haven of the wine bar.

We really want to go and live in Australia. We cannot think of raising our son here anymore.

He's Australian!

 
It's official. Bel bambino is now Australian! We received a lovely certificate in the post the other day and now we have to get him a passport. We need to apply in person at the Australian Embassy in Rome so we have decided to make a little holiday out of it and go up to Rome for 2 nights next weekend. I must say that when bel bambino heard the news he was very excited!

We haven't yet completed the Australian migration application. The form itself is not so long, but the evidence required is. We need proof of everything, joint finances, proof that the relationship is genuine such as photos, love letters, cards, joint travel, proof of income for me to be bel marito's sponser, we're printing off old emails, bank statements payslips, residency certificates, birth certificates....gosh, the application is about 1cm thick at the moment and growing. Hopefully once we have some of our house documents finalised we can apply.