"Here to Stay" - Marlon D, 2005
(Click on the photo for a full-sized version.)
What a terrific day today -- see what the folks in the Birmingham immigration office put into page 15 of my passport!
John and I are a bit tired from the trip and all the waiting (on very uncomfortable chairs) but absolutely thrilled to have gotten my Indefinite Leave to Remain right there in the office today. Not everybody is so lucky.
Indefinite Leave to Remain in Britain is very similar to getting a Green Card in America, so it's a huge deal. I don't even think it's really soaked in yet what an important step this is!
And by the way, isn't that a horrid photo? I was told very specifically that I could not smile for the photo. It looks like I was in a lineup at the police station.
Goodnight from Oxfordshire...
Janet
posted by Janet @ 10:36 pm
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Fantastic news, Janet! I'm so pleased for you that it went without a hitch.
Congratulations! Even though there is no smile on the outside we know the smile on the inside!
Great News Janet. Welcome to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. What a mouthful. This is always a problem when we send things home. Do we put that at the bottom of the address or do we put GB or UK? Most people in England just put England but that is wrong too. Yes, welcome to our strange little world of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Oh, forgot to ask you... With all your travelling about the world will your passport get filled up with all those entry/exit visas? You will then have to get a new residence permit stuck into a new passport and will that not take time and patience? I had that problem when commuting to Asia every month for my work. I ended up having to get a 40 page passport. Some people even managed to get 2 passports to deal with the problem of visa issue.
Congratulations.
I don't know when this no smiling thing came in, but a friend in the US just renewed their passport the other day and they were instructed not to smile.
The world will be full of glum faced travelers from now on.
Thanks, guys! It really DID go without a hitch...but then I was very well-prepared for the day.
Milky Bar Kid: They told me in Birmingham that should I need a new American passport before getting British citizenship (or should I choose to not become a UK citizen), then I can pay to have the Home Office put a stamp in my new passport which indicates I have Leave to Remain...they won't re-do this full visa. My understanding is that doing that avoids my having to continue to carry the old passport. And the other option is that I can send my American passport back in to get extra pages added, as long as there's still time left on it before expiration. I don't believe you can get pages added to a UK passport.
Steve: I'm afraid the world is full of glum-faced travelers anyway. It's just not much fun anymore, is it?
Janet
Congrats and Merry Christmas from Austin, TX.
mss @ Zanthan Gardens
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