Excitment

27 August 2015:

Tonight is the night I become an Aussie - yeah well ok so they let anyone in now days. My ceremony is at the Redcliffe Cultural Centre at 7.00pm, you are only allowed 4 guests so naturally I am taking Brian and I have also asked Keryn and Graham Suthers and another special lady to come along to celebrate with me. As we are housesitting down at Calamvale near Logan we are leaving here at 4.30pm to get through the traffic in time before peak hour. I am really excited and it has been 2.5yr from the start of attaining Citizenship. Firstly I had to obtain Perm Residency at a cost of $345.00 for a visa which was valid for only 1year. I had to have PR (perm residency) for 2years before I could apply for Citizenship. To apply for Citizenship I had to pay $260.00 and you are not guaranteed being given Citizenship, if this was the case there is NO refund :-( when we went back to NZ last Christmas/New Year 2014) I had to once again apply for a new RRV (returning residents visa) as my previous visa expired in the Nov 2014, therefore I could leave AU as a PR but I could not re-enter as a PR, so I needed a new visa just to re - enter so once again another $345.00 but I had no choice if I did not do this I would lose my PR and I sure as hell was not going to be doing that. I will hold dual Citizenship. I am not sure if you are aware that the law changed in 2001 for NZders, we can no longer enter AU and get any form of benefit at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! however the reverse is not the case when any Aussie's leave AU for NZ they can get a benefit after a few weeks stand down. KIWIS here in AU get NOTHING, you have to be able to support yourself. So for me becoming a citizen with a husband who is X number of years older than I am and has health issues now, it was really important for me to do something will be peace of mind in the end if anything ever happens to Brian as I am not working and not yet retiring age (I can get a pension in Jan 2017) so I have a while to wait yet. Anyway I just wanted to give you an overview of how becoming a PR and or Citizen of AU is so important not only for myself but any other KIWIS.