With change on our minds, we continued with our daily routines. What happened next?
One Sunday in early October of 2021 when I walked through the door of the shop in the steel mill I worked in. What happened next you ask? As the door closed behind me, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was meant to walk through that same door for the next eighteen or so years. When I could retire, Hayley and I could begin to travel the way we dreamed of. I sat down at the computer that morning and opened Google, I typed in “how to move to Europe”.
This was the moment that changed the course of our lives indefinitely.
After an hour of browsing and wondering if this was actually possible, I stumbled across the BritBound website. This discovery would prove to be undoubtedly the most important part of our journey in the early stages. Sarah Milne heads up the operation, and her knowledge of the process is absolutely astounding. Without her, I doubt that we would have been able to pull everything together in such a short time.
Who is Brit Bound?
They are a small company working as consultants for a variety of different visa options for the United Kingdom. This is where I discovered the Ancestry Visa. It allows you to apply to live and work in the U.K. for five years with unlimited re-entry if you can prove that you have ancestry in the U.K. going back no further than 2 generations. That was it! Both grandparents on my mother’s side were born in Bournemouth, in the south of England.
A quick text to Hayley with my thoughts garnered me the response in the form of a gif; “I’m Down”
Getting the documents that were necessary to show this was very easy for me. My Grannie, who is 93 years old had all of the records tucked away neatly in a binder. She actually had birth records going back as far as her Grand Father! It was incredible to see the history she had kept. I was amazed as I have a hard time finding where I leave my keys on a moment-to-moment basis. After taking copies of both her and my grandfather’s birth certificates and marriage licenses, it was time to track down the pieces from my Mother to connect the dots.
This proved slightly more time-consuming actually.
In Canada, after registering a birth, we are sent a small card with basic information; where we were born and the date. Always known to me as the only birth certificate we are given, I happily submitted mine and my Mothers’ as part of the application, along with my Mother’s marriage license (which needed to be requested and purchased from the City Hall) to Sarah at BritBound.
I was promptly informed that this was not the correct Birth Certificate and was needed to track down the “long form” version. This was a copy of the “Statement of Live Birth” that was filled out by the parents of the child listing all the details, including the parents’ names, where they were born, and the delivery doctor.
Once Sarah had all of the needed legal documents for my Ancestry Visa and Hayley’s Application as a dependant, she began to compile the remaining files to go along with our application to the U.K.V.I (United Kingdom Visa & Immigration) Department.
These documents included;
- resumes (or C.V.’s) for both of us,
- potential job applications
- bank statements to show we had the finances to fund a move to the U.K
We also had to provide a very detailed itinerary of our travels over the last ten years. Sarah composed a wonderful cover letter as part of our application and made sure we had everything in place for successful approval.
By mid-November, we had accumulated all of our annals and we were ready to make our submission. What happened next?
We woke up very early that Wednesday morning, 4 a.m. our time in Canada, and met Sarah on a Zoom call so she could walk us through the online application together. We submitted our application and paid the fee, as well as the required N.H.S. fee. This fee is to cover your health care provided by the N.H.S. in the U.K. to ensure that you will have access to the healthcare system for the entirety of the Visa stay. In our case, five years. This fee is not cheap, but non-negotiable as part of the process. It also ensures that we are covered for any health care needs while in the U.K.
The next step was to set a date for our biometrics at the VFS office in Toronto.
The earliest availability was mid-December, we had to wait. As the date approached our excitement was mixed with nervousness as our plan began to feel more and more real every day. Once the day came, we made the hour-long drive out to Toronto. After parking the truck, we walked over to where the VFS office was, or at least where we thought it was…
We had given ourselves more than enough time to get to the office on time, on our arrival had discovered that they had moved to a temporary address further down the road. We rushed down the street, trying to avoid being late to our important appointment. I was walking at a fast pace, and Hayley was borderline running to keep up!
Once inside the VFS office, we took a number and found a seat.
We waited nervously and watched others come in and out as they made their own applications. Then it was our turn. We sat with the service rep and watched as he began the process of collecting our information. There was a tense moment at one point when he was unable to see the documents that we had uploaded via their portal.
We panicked briefly until he made a few clicks on his computer and up it popped, sweet relief! We had done it properly!
What happened next? We surrendered our passports to him so that they could be sent over to Liverpool to the processing centre. The reason why was never fully explained to us, but it seemed as though they would like you to stay put in the country you are applying from until your application has been processed.
We were then taken into another room one at a time. Our photos were taken and fingerprints digitally recorded (at the time we were unsure as to what they would do with these, we actually had to scan them upon entry to the U.K.).
What happened next? We waited…
The process in it’s entirety is three months from the date of online application, which meant that our Visa was to be active and we would be allowed entry by mid-February. As the biometrics appointment was mid-December, we were encouraged to pay extra for the expedited service (5-10 business days).
This seemed like the best option. With the Christmas holidays looming and many government holidays over that time that could delay our processing.
After two days we received a message from the U.K.V.I. There was a file uploaded to Hayley’s portal that had been corrupted, we promptly uploaded the file again and crossed our fingers.
A few days later we received another message asking for us to pay the remainder of the NHS surcharge for Hayley (the initial payment at the time of application is only a partial one for those applying as a dependant). Little did we know, this part of the story would really come back to haunt us later.
Of course, we paid immediately so the process was not held up, this happened the week before Christmas.
Then we waited, it was a stressful time, we were constantly checking our email and wondering when we would hear back with good news, and also questioning whether the news would be good…
Christmas came and went, and we spent the week before New Years preparing the house for sale. As New Years came and went we continued to wait for a response from across the Atlantic. We proceeded to list the house for sale.
The “Coming Soon” sign was up on the lawn. But, we were STILL waiting to know if our Visas had been approved. What happened next?
This proved to be one of the most stressful times for me. Selling our house and its contents without knowing if our plan was going to actually go off had me questioning my decisions and the timing.
The day after the sign was deposited in the ground, we received word that my passport was on its way back. That very well may have been one of the longest days of my life. I sat by the front window waiting for the Purolator truck. This was a delivery that I didn’t want to miss!! I don’t think there was a single vehicle that passed by our house that day, that I didn’t see.
My anxiety rose throughout the day as I waited, wondering whether the universe would deliver positive news. At 4:45 p.m., the truck pulled up.
I immediately was on FaceTime with Hayley so we could share the moment together despite her being at work (I took the day off to sit at the window).
As the driver brought the envelope up the front steps I began to vibrate, my nerves were buzzing and I was shaking. I opened the envelope with Hayley watching and pulled out my passport. I frantically flipped through the pages looking for the page with the Visa vignette affixed to it, and there it was, stuck on the middle page!
I’m not sure that the word “elated” would even come close to describing the feeling at that moment. It was as though all of our planning was coming together. We were officially going to call a new place home.
The listing on the house was now live and we were prepared to take the next step. There was still lots of planning left to do and there was work to be done, but we were ready to charge ahead and finally bring our dreams to reality.
There was still one piece of the puzzle left, Hayley’s passport. Indeed it was very good news that my Ancestry Visa had been approved. We had an entry date in mid-February and Hayley’s passport had still not been returned to us. Where was it? After waiting another week, our excitement started to turn into anxiety.
I was approved and allowed to enter the U.K. the next month. Was Hayley?
Guess what happened next? We waited.. again.
It became concerning as the days passed. Sarah, our champion at BritBound had no explanation as to why we hadn’t received any news. “Be patient, it will come”, she said. While her words were reassuring enough to calm our nerves, the frustrations with the U.K.V.I. were becoming hard to ignore.
We had paid for the expedited service and we were now far beyond that window. It had been over a month.
To use the word “communicate” when referring to the U.K.V.I. would be stretching the truth. There is a charge involved for every query submitted via the internet. Their responses were generic and devoid of any useful information. We attempted to make a phone call overseas.
The charges per minute are hefty, but at this point worth the money to try and get some answers. Unfortunately, their phone service had been taken down.
After another week, Sarah was also beginning to share our concerns. She was able to reach out to a contact inside the U.K.V.I. However, they were unable to explain what had happened to Hayley’s application. Her contact was only able to find out the same information; the application was in process and awaiting a decision (last updated a month earlier, in mid-December).
However, she had one trick left up her sleeve.
Sarah reached out to a local member of parliament to try and get some assistance. This proved to be the turning point. What happened next? Our case had been escalated right up to the top level of the U.K.V.I.!
Finally, we had gotten some attention.
It seemed that there was an error in the coding on the website relating to the NHS top-up payment that we had made, causing Hayley’s application to get shuffled into the unknown. A computer glitch was at fault. With Hayley’s file now on the desk of the “higher ups”, it was promptly approved and we had her passport in hand within two days.
At last, we were given the green light!! Look out England here we come!
Check out our next blog to see what happened next!