Chapter 2 - You put your right leg in, you put your right leg out

I am officially in Romeo & Juliet. Ivan spoke to me on Monday and told me he could offer me young artist's pay, which is excellent. I'm not that bothered about the money in the first place. Now I'm getting thrown into most of the group sections instead of lurking around the back of the studio trying to keep out of everyone's way. That was the good news. Now, most people would be happy in this circumstance (and I'm not saying I'm not) but now my obstacle is my visa. If I choose to work without a visa, they can kick me out of the country for 3 years, and that would put a black mark on me. I don't want that, do I?

I lodged a visa application about a month ago, and after my interview I was told I needed an Australian Federal Police clearance (I only provided a local one) and some statutory declarations to complete my application. So I sent in a form to the AFP in Canberra(!) and when I had everything together I sent it to the Immigration Office via Glynn who had it put in an envelope addressed to my case officer and all my details on it.

If I had been lodging this application in, say, India or Kazakhstan or Peru, I wouldn't have been so shocked when I called them up (yes, I called them) to find out that they had lost these extra documents. They were also totally unsympathetic and unhelpful. I know that they shouldn't make it easy for every Tom, Dick and Harry to enter the country, but this is ridiculous. However, being the understanding person that I am, I know that, unlike India, Kazakhstan and Peru, Australia has thousands upon thousands of applicants everyday, and mistakes do happen. Only I didn't expect it to happen in this country, and for them to have zero empathy and be so unwilling to help me.

Well, that's life for a non-Australian. If you're Australian and you're reading this, you can stop whinging right now.

I still haven't heard from Tasdance, but no news is good news, right? Right?