Bad News

Heather woke me at 3:45AM. In 15 minutes, the Australian High Commission (AHC) will open in Ottawa. I must call them to determine if we can enter Australia or if we must fly to Aukland and visit the AHC there. In our hotel we had an internet limit of only 25GB (about 30 minutes of average internet use). When I logged in it was essential that I conserve my use to checking my email account to see if we had been granted visas and to call the AHC in Ottawa if no email was received. My heart sank when I saw no new messages in my email account. I was nervous about phoning Ottawa. It was not very likely that they could do anything for me and we had accepted the idea that we would not be permitted to board the plane to Brisbane that morning. A woman named Charmaine answered the phone. In my most polite voice I asked if she could check the status of my visa. She was not very friendly. In fact, she was quite perturbed that I had not memorized the number of the application form and that she needed to use my name and birth date to determine my visa status. Not a good start. She informed me that the visa had not yet been processed. In fact, she said that it was “nowhere even close” to having completed the three steps necessary to receive a yes or no. I informed her that I was leaving to the airport in an hour and a half and that it needed to be processed by then. “What can I do to make this happen?” I said. After a long discussion where I needed to explain the consequences of missing the flight, we realized that I needed to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor had obviously been informed by Charmaine that I was an unhappy applicant.

When I was in Human Resources, I spoke to many unhappy applicants. I think that the most important thing to do in the supervisory position is to listen very carefully to the applicant, make sure that he/she realizes that I understand their position, and then be completely honest about possible options. The supervisor did none of these things. She informed me that I needed to make “alternative travel plans” and that I could not leave Canada until I received word that the visa had been approved. I explained several times that I am in New Zealand, not Canada. In a teaching job one cannot make “alternative plans”. The kids show up on the first day of school and we must be there. This is not a start date that can be moved. She remained firm that it was highly unlikely that the visa would be processed in one hour and that I should not attempt to enter Australia until I have received confirmation of a positive answer.  This was very bad news indeed.

I have been in many situations when a person close to me has given advice contrary to policy and I have never yet regretted following such a path. Heather thought that the best course of action was to go to the airport and take our chances. We just might make it through after all. It seemed to be the most logical thing to do. If we follow the recommendation of the supervisor, we may miss out on the opportunity to enter Australia on time if the visa does go through. That being said, we may jeopardize our chances altogether if we are caught trying to enter the country without a visa.

So I used Skype once again to phone Carolyn Freed, the International Educational Exchange Program Liason in Edmonton, and let her know what we were going to do. There was no answer, so I left a voicemail. Off we went to Christchurch airport to try to board the plane.

We arrived at Christchurch airport, checked our bags, and headed off to security. There was no drama during security. Even Heather managed to get through without having to be scanned. Things were looking up… until we got to customs. Heather turned to me and for the first time she looked stressed. “Are you ready for the hard questions?” Heather and I had rehearsed exactly what to say as if I was a witness in court.

It was very strange. The customs official was confused that we were Canadian, yet our customs form had indicated that we were moving to Australia for a year. “Are you Canadian or Australian?” she asked. Did she not have our information in front of her on the computer screen? I smiled and explained that I am on an international teacher exchange. She said “oh… what a wonderful opportunity! Have a great flight!” There were no high fives, no acts of relief, not even any discussion about the situation. Not until we got to the gate. At that point we didn’t want to show any signs of celebration. What if someone found it suspicious and decided to investigate? We decided that it was best to contact Carolyn ASAP and let her know what we had done. Visions of being deported or hauled off the airplane - with all of the other passengers watching - went through my mind. When I connected to the WiFi at the airport, my mail program made that dinging sound indicating that I had mail.

Dear GREGORY PATRICK WONDGA

Notification of grant of a Temporary Work (class GD) International Relations (subclass 403) visa

I wish to advise that a decision has been made on this application and visas have been granted on 21 January 2013 to the applicant(s) listed in the attached Visa Grant Notice, which contains important information about your visa.

Please keep a copy of this letter and the Visa Grant Notice in a safe place for your reference.

Unbelievable.

Another email came from Carolyn Freed

I received your voice message that you were enroute to Christchirch airport not knowing if you would be on the plane or not.

I persisted with AHC, spoke with another agent this time, and I have word that you will be on that plane to Australia!  A decision was made in the last 2 hours I was told, directly from the Dept of Immigration in Australia, not Ottawa. Talk about the 11^th hour- it was processed directly in Australia, not in Ottawa apparently accordingly to the agent I spoke with. (which perhaps explains why Ottawa told you they were nowhere near processing your application) Hopefully the call last week helped push it through.

Please let me know once you have arrived and your heart rate has returned to normal.

I am glad this has worked out, but it was too close to the wire for my liking.  I can’t imagine your stress levels.

Hopefully you are reading this email from Australia!

Regards,

Carolyn

Currently we are in the Turner’s home. It is a beautiful place. The first thing that we did was swim in the pool. A kookaburra, only meters away, made its classic hilarious laugh from a gum tree.  Fenton, Heather, and I looked at each other and erupted in our own laughter and the high fives followed.