So it's been a while... let's skip ahead to what's going on now.

So it's been a while since our last post. Alas it has been both eventful and uneventful on this leg of our trip.

We arrived in Holland on the 2nd of June and it's been fun visiting family and meeting new friends (hey guys) but alas our adventures may be cut short. Since arriving in The Netherlands Simon and I have been working through the bureaucracy that is Immigration and alas we are not winning.

It was always the plan to work in Holland. Simon's mother is Dutch we decided to settle in Holland as he wanted to get in touch with his family's roots and I wanted to learn another language. So settling here seemed to be a great idea and opportunity.

Simon found his employers before we left Australia. When they decided to offer Simon a position, we requested they aquire a 'Knowledge Migrant Visa" for him, instead of the usual Work/Residence permit combination. There were several reasons for this; The application process would be over quickly (about 2 weeks compared to up to 6 months for a regular work permit), we would be able to live in Holland without the need for additional residence visas (mine alone was going to be E800 and Simon's would be an additional E450 on top of the cost of the work permit) and finally I - as Simon's partner - would automatically get a work visa. (I think this is because the Dutch government wouldn't want me to be bored or want to leave the country before I enticed my partner to spend all the money he had earned in Holland.)

Unfortunately they decided that Simon wouldn't qualify for a knowledge migrant visa because he was under 30 and they couldn't afford to pay him the minimum amount required by the visa. It was only when we arrived in Holland that we were told they were only applying for a regular work permit. (Actually the legislation allowes under 30s to use this particular visa type at a lower wage.)
That meant a couple of things:

1. When we arrived, we discovered that 6 months after the application process started, Simon's visa still wasn't ready. We weren't prepared for this and so didn't have the proper documentation for a alternative like a working-holiday visa, which would also have allowed us to stay in the county for up to 12 months. That means that we can only stay in Holland for 3 months, on a regular tourist visa. (Holland and Australia have a work exchange program running. Australians are allowed to arrive without prior processing in Holland and as long as they report to the IND within the first 3 days, they don't need special visas but can stay for 12 months and work for 6 of those if they choose to. We were prepared for this and visited the IND however we didn't see we needed to apply for documentation from Australia before we left. It turns out we needed a letter from the Australian Government stating that we were elligible for the work exchange program.)
   
2. We needed to figure out getting residence visas and work our way through the bizarre application process. We had to apply to several different departments simultaneously, however, the process is difficult. Each department needs proof that the applicant is undergoing due process. Alas, the departments don't talk to each other but each department requires proof that you are applying for all the other relevant departments at the same time. We needed letters from the involved departments to prove to other involved departments that we had applied correctly before we could make an appointment to see any officials.
   
3. I was stuck without a way to get a job. It turns out that you need a work visa before you can apply for a job through a recruitment agency and you need a job before you can apply for a work visa.
   

So we are now 2/3 of the way through our tourist visas and we have been told that Simon's employers were not successful in their application for a regular work visa. They have appealed this decision and it is pending the review board's decision.

Bummer.

His potential employers have now decided to apply for the Knowledge Migrant Visa as they found the updated information that means Simon qualifies for that process. Now the company themselves has to qualify for the higly skilled migrant scheme. They need to submit financial documentation to the government that they are a financially able to support and employ a highly skilled migrant.

So now it is a race against time. Our next flights are booked for the 27th of August, our tourist visas run out on the 2nd of September - will they be able to qualify for the knowledge migrant scheme and book us an appointment to become knowledge migrants? Or will the decisioon be reversed for the regular work visa? Or will we just go home...

Today I checked out hostels in Bangkok... just in case.

Simon and I have been wrestling with this problem for the past 2 months and it's been keeping us up at night.

We're both ambivalent about what we would like to do. Do we want to fight to stay? We have met some great people and we have a great opportunity to learn another language and experience a different type of life here in Holland. But it's difficult, we're missing friends and family and if we go home, we can save more money and try again. We can come back here or to another country and have some idea of what we can expect and what we will need to do before we go.

To miss-quote The Clash - should we stay or should we go?