The Journey Begins-Visa Process

Jordan just got his Visa approved and sent back to our house yesterday; I'm still waiting for mine to process.  The whole Visa application thing was a little more challenging then we expected, so for any of your moving to the UK you may want to pay attention.

First, if you are a spouse and you are piggy backing on your husbands Visa you DO need to fill out your own application. Which is a little tricky in itself the way they word the questions....but I digress.
 Jordan and I made that mistake when we traveled all the way into the city to get our biometrics, (finger prints), done and were promptly denied because I hadn't filled out my own form.  I had asked Jordan to get all of this information BEFORE we went to the visa office and he assured me we were all set....but I should have known better.  He didn't ask his coach or anyone on the team LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD till after we were denied. Thanks HUNNY.

Ok no big deal.  I'll just have to take more time out of work and head into the city in the next couple of days by myself.  Wrong. You have to wait 1-2 weeks before you can schedule your appointment again, thus pushing the application process back. 

Next, applying for your Visa is EXPENSIVE.  You will need to have around $1400 in your bank account to process 2 UK Visas.  Fortunately the team is going to reimburse us for this expense but we still needed to have the money readily available to process.

Next, don't forget to send your passport in with your application.  I'm not sure if Jordan didn't read the fine lines or if it was something we were just supposed to know, but Jordan didn't send his passport in with his application and it got sent back a week later.  This process seems a little weird to me because your passport is such a critical document and the UK seems very nonchalant about the possibility of it getting lost in the mail....but what do I know.

Finally, the whole process takes around 3-4 weeks....I think.  It's kind of hard to tell because we messed up a couple of times but I'm guestimating it takes around 3 if you do everything correctly.  Jordan got a confirmation email last week..or the week before...(who can really keep track of all these things)...letting him know that his application was received and it would take 9 days to process and get back to us.

Really, the timing doesn't seem to bad considering some of the horror stories I've heard where it has taken months on end to get approved.  But still,  the whole process makes me a little nervous mostly due to my lack of  luck with these type of things.  I can just picture it now...Jordan over in England and I'm stuck back in the states because I filled out my application wrong, was denied, and have to go through the whole process again.  No bueno.

Yes I am getting a little head of myself, but i've learned in the hockey world that it is best to prepare for the worst then to expect the best.  That way when things do go wrong  you don't have a complete  mental break down.

Hopefully I will be getting a confirmation email soon saying they have received my passport...and that its not lost in the mail....and not being sold on the black market...oh god here we go haha.  In all honesty I am preparing for the worst but crossing my fingers for the best.  Here's to hoping it goes as smooth as possible!

Anyway, training camp begins August 22- or 23 so we should be getting flight information pretty soon.  I've come to terms with myself that we probably won't be flying over to England together due to the whole Visa application process, but I'm ok with that.  I have a feeling this would bother most people who are moving accross the country with their spouse but if that's the biggest issue we have in terms of Visas and flights I will be happy.  Plus it's probably better for him to get over there and really focus on training camp rather then worrying about getting the apartment all set up and exploring the town with me.  But we shall see.

I'll let you know how it turns out...off to England we he goes!... (for now ;o)