My Visa Application Interview Adventure


So yesterday I went to Canberra for my Visa Application Interview for my upcoming Europe trip :)

The day started early, I woke up at 6:30am to the sound of my beeping (and very, very loud) alarm clock and then proceeded to go back to sleep for another 15 minutes. (Yes I know, I'm such a rebel!)
Dad and I left at 7:30.

My appointment was for 1pm and we got to Canberra at 9:15, which meant I had some time to kill while dad went to his business meetings. I made my way to Belconnen (Westfield) Mall and found a fantastic little coffee shop called 'Raw Sugar'. I was greeted at the counter by a very happy barista, who made me a DELICIOUS Mocha and some yummy toasted banana bread (My two favourite cafe snacks). I spent the next hour and a half looking at hostels in Venice, Rome and Paris. Even though it took me ages to find hostels within our tiny, tiny budget I had a lot of fun.

When dad was done at his meeing we went to the City Centre, where we spend a few hours in the apple store at the mall. I bought myself a lifeproof phone case, the guy at JB HiFi gave me a great deal and took $30 off the price! So instead of paying $95 I only had to pay $65, which is actually super cheap for something that's waterproof and shatterproof (the perfect iphone case for a clumsy person like me who has already shattered her phone multiple times).

Before I knew it, it was time for the Visa interview. I made my way nervously to the building after scoffing down 6 McDonald's chicken nuggets as I went. I sat in the waiting room looking over my documents to make sure I had everything before a security guard came and took me to a womans office. And to my surprise her first words to me were: "You know you don't need a visa for this kind of trip," I sat there shocked for a few seconds. She went on to explain that only people with a criminal record get a visa for a holiday. And seeing as I don't have one of those, I don't need a visa.

After my very short interview I walked down the street to a convenience store, where I purchased a bus ticket. Now that makes it sound like I knew where I was going but in actual fact I had to ask three perfect strangers how to get to the store. I'm not great with navigation. I hopped on the bus to Belconnen with a bunch of other people, including a philipino lady and her child that proceeded to scream the entire way!!! I wasn't sure which stop to get off, so with my excellent problem solving skills I got google maps out on my phone so that I could see when I was there. But I didn't really trust myself to get off at the right place so I asked the guy behind me if he knew which stop I should get off. It turned out that he was geting off at Westfield Mall too, so that was lucky. He then proceeded to tell me all about how he and all his rich friends (his words not mine) drove around in expensive cars, he told me why he was taking the bus and how he'd lost his license for driving stoned and how he loved travel and  how when I go to Paris I need to "keep it in my pants, the parties are wild."

Moral of the story... do your research and make sure you actually NEED a Visa before you spend $288 and take a whole day off work. Haha

In the end I actually had a fantastic day hanging out with dad, drinking coffee, learning about the Canberra bus system and meeting interesting people. And it turns out my money can be refunded too, so it wasn't really a waste of a day.                

1 comment:

  1. Sometime it takes lot of times on visa approval, having no knowledge of visa process make it more difficult. So I always encourage people who keep sharing their experience on visa process. Thanks for sharing your great opinion which relate to visa process.
    Best Regards, Ale Rossi
    Immigration Australia

    ReplyDelete