You all already know that I won two Australian tickets in the Best Travel Travel Award. Now I finally got my visa, after 3 months of uncertainty and stress, so I decided to share with you what Gabi and I had to go through to get it.
When I won the prize, I was told that I could go whenever I wanted, so I immediately decided on a date around New Year, to which I was told that I could not go between 10.12 and 10.01 because that was the time and I had to choose another one. Date.
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Now let's get to the fun part… Visa!
As people talked about getting a visa within a day or two, we thought it would be okay for us too, we knew they knew how to work problems, but this way? Given that we had already bought two airline tickets in Australia and paid for the first accommodation (we were a little hasty because prices were increasing every day and we didn't want to risk it), we thought that this fact would also help us apply for a visa. And so, they applied for a visa. I knew we had to "make an impression." We wrote the entire itinerary and route. We wrote that we won two tickets, that we already had two flights and accommodation paid for there. We have listed as many as five people, their first names, last names and dates of birth. People who live and work in Australia and my "friends" whom we will visit during our stay there. I wrote that I would write about my travels and that I would write about adaptation in Australia. All this was to "help." We waited so approx. three weeks when we both received a mail entitled "Request for more information". The Gabs have been looking for a bank statement for the last three months, a receipt/letter/stamp from the head of that firm, and I have been asked for a printout, confirmation from Emirates that I have won tickets and my entire employment history.
When I was last employed I answered the question incorrectly, because in fact, officially, I was not. Because of this, I had to send a special request that I had answered incorrectly, and as feedback I was asked to write why I had answered the question incorrectly and to write what was the correct answer. I sent it and now we knew we had to wait. For Gabi, I thought they would get a visa right away, and they might ask me for more information or problems.
After about a month, Gabi received a rejection and was told as a reason that she wanted to stay and work there. The reason was that she did not have much money in her account, regardless of employment and regular income. In fact, she had, but on another account. Why does it even matter? It pays you some money and hi, after all, it may have another account and still have half a year to go. She is employed and has regular incomes, no one tells you that you must have $ 5000 in your account before applying. I got the mail that I needed to fill out some kind of medical questionnaire where I needed to answer "yes" or "no" to questions like "Do you have hepatitis"? I filled it in thinking that now this is probably the last and I get a visa. And I waited again for about three weeks until I again received a mail entitled "Request for more information."
I immediately submitted Gaba's information, and for review, I had to fill out some form again. There I got the "ID" that I had entered into my account and thus received my "medical letter". Then I clicked that I was from Croatia, which left me thinking that I should go to the Polyclinic at the other end of the city for a medical examination. I see there are addresses and a phone number. I decided to call right away and let my chief doctor know. I explain to him everything he really seemed like to me, but he tells me the clinic is on the second floor with no elevator. Great they all came up with it, send a disabled person for a second floor checkup! I say: Ok, so I can get my doctor referral and do everything on the block !? He tells me no way! That they have prescribed it all and that it must be exactly where it says, that only he can see for me and that only he can take a "special" photo of me, with a specially prescribed camera for some document. As a point on the "i", he told me that all this had to be paid MINIMUM 1800 kn. He offered to meet me, that he would come to me and let us do it, but I needed to arrange his transportation, for someone to come for him, wait for him, and then drive back. I decided it was better for me to go to him but to offer some other space.
A couple of days later, I went to his, at his "other" office, where he examined me and painted me with his "special" photo (a plain old old digital person, he would have better painted himself with his hands) and gave me a payment slip (not a bill ) and an X-ray referral. I paid $ 1800, the most expensive and shortest check in my life. He told me that there was a chance that after all I was still being searched for by a physiatrist and a blood test. The next day I immediately went to KBC Dubrava to have an X-ray of my heart and lungs. Again the other end of town, for something that has nothing to do with my condition, situation or injury. I broke my neck and I'm immobile, that's it! My heart and lungs are all right and in fact, he just had to write that I was healthy, which according to my medical history he could conclude and write that I was capable of that path. Among other things,
When I did the X-ray, they sent him the same seconds and I sent him scanned other findings (which he had extracted the day before from my medical history) because he didn't have a printer/scanner and I thought I would the faster and better to do than him. I called him to tell him that I had done everything, that I had sent him the findings, and that I would click on the visa bill on the button confirming that I had completed everything. He says to me: Great, I'll do it now! That was Thursday, if I'm not mistaken, 06/06/2019. On Friday, a day later, I emailed him to ask him if he had everything in order? Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 4 days later, no answer! I call him to ask him and he interrupts me at the beginning and asks me: Hello Slavs, did you send me the findings? Well, Jesus, I tell him, I called you immediately on Thursday to get everything done and send you the findings. He tells me that, ok, he has 15 more days to go, we won't worry! Well, rich, I did everything, spent two days, 1800 kn and was still airing for some nonsense, and you couldn't do it, which takes 15 minutes.
It's been a couple of days, I have no idea what's going on, what it's all about ... plans for Australia are on stand by and the doctor is calling me, I have to fulfill something again! Now it was a questionnaire with questions about my independence, whether I can switch myself, how I do the toilet, whether I drive a car, what carts I use, whether I can brush my teeth and eat… etc.
I do my best, say hello to the doctor, and again, I have no slight connection to where this is now. I have no idea if he got any feedback from them so he called me now or he didn't send it yet? In the meantime, Gabi reapplied, this time with a different account and received a confirmation that the visa had been approved, just days after applying. I kept waiting, without knowing what was going on ... it was terribly stressful.
I was really getting crazy more. And so, waking up the other day, I first check the mail, which has become a routine in the last couple of weeks, and I see the mail and try to open my eyes even harder and see if I see it or dream it well… it was a confirmation that my visa was approved! It's amazing to me that they get so angry about that, imagine, you have tickets, accommodation, friends ... everything! You have money too, you go there tourist, spend money and no, attack you first honestly! Even people in Australia were upset because they couldn't believe what I had to go through for a visa, especially as a disabled person. Good luck if we went to apply half a year before the trip, otherwise we would have smoked everything. If we had not booked two flights and accommodation in Australia and spent a few thousand kunas, we would surely have already given up and gone to New Zealand. No matter what,
When I was last employed I answered the question incorrectly, because in fact, officially, I was not. Because of this, I had to send a special request that I had answered incorrectly, and as feedback I was asked to write why I had answered the question incorrectly and to write what was the correct answer. I sent it and now we knew we had to wait. For Gabi, I thought they would get a visa right away, and they might ask me for more information or problems.
After about a month, Gabi received a rejection and was told as a reason that she wanted to stay and work there. The reason was that she did not have much money in her account, regardless of employment and regular income. In fact, she had, but on another account. Why does it even matter? It pays you some money and hi, after all, it may have another account and still have half a year to go. She is employed and has regular incomes, no one tells you that you must have $ 5000 in your account before applying. I got the mail that I needed to fill out some kind of medical questionnaire where I needed to answer "yes" or "no" to questions like "Do you have hepatitis"? I filled it in thinking that now this is probably the last and I get a visa. And I waited again for about three weeks until I again received a mail entitled "Request for more information."
I immediately submitted Gaba's information, and for review, I had to fill out some form again. There I got the "ID" that I had entered into my account and thus received my "medical letter". Then I clicked that I was from Croatia, which left me thinking that I should go to the Polyclinic at the other end of the city for a medical examination. I see there are addresses and a phone number. I decided to call right away and let my chief doctor know. I explain to him everything he really seemed like to me, but he tells me the clinic is on the second floor with no elevator. Great they all came up with it, send a disabled person for a second floor checkup! I say: Ok, so I can get my doctor referral and do everything on the block !? He tells me no way! That they have prescribed it all and that it must be exactly where it says, that only he can see for me and that only he can take a "special" photo of me, with a specially prescribed camera for some document. As a point on the "i", he told me that all this had to be paid MINIMUM 1800 kn. He offered to meet me, that he would come to me and let us do it, but I needed to arrange his transportation, for someone to come for him, wait for him, and then drive back. I decided it was better for me to go to him but to offer some other space.
A couple of days later, I went to his, at his "other" office, where he examined me and painted me with his "special" photo (a plain old old digital person, he would have better painted himself with his hands) and gave me a payment slip (not a bill ) and an X-ray referral. I paid $ 1800, the most expensive and shortest check in my life. He told me that there was a chance that after all I was still being searched for by a physiatrist and a blood test. The next day I immediately went to KBC Dubrava to have an X-ray of my heart and lungs. Again the other end of town, for something that has nothing to do with my condition, situation or injury. I broke my neck and I'm immobile, that's it! My heart and lungs are all right and in fact, he just had to write that I was healthy, which according to my medical history he could conclude and write that I was capable of that path. Among other things,
When I did the X-ray, they sent him the same seconds and I sent him scanned other findings (which he had extracted the day before from my medical history) because he didn't have a printer/scanner and I thought I would the faster and better to do than him. I called him to tell him that I had done everything, that I had sent him the findings, and that I would click on the visa bill on the button confirming that I had completed everything. He says to me: Great, I'll do it now! That was Thursday, if I'm not mistaken, 06/06/2019. On Friday, a day later, I emailed him to ask him if he had everything in order? Wednesday, June 12, 2019, 4 days later, no answer! I call him to ask him and he interrupts me at the beginning and asks me: Hello Slavs, did you send me the findings? Well, Jesus, I tell him, I called you immediately on Thursday to get everything done and send you the findings. He tells me that, ok, he has 15 more days to go, we won't worry! Well, rich, I did everything, spent two days, 1800 kn and was still airing for some nonsense, and you couldn't do it, which takes 15 minutes.
It's been a couple of days, I have no idea what's going on, what it's all about ... plans for Australia are on stand by and the doctor is calling me, I have to fulfill something again! Now it was a questionnaire with questions about my independence, whether I can switch myself, how I do the toilet, whether I drive a car, what carts I use, whether I can brush my teeth and eat… etc.
I do my best, say hello to the doctor, and again, I have no slight connection to where this is now. I have no idea if he got any feedback from them so he called me now or he didn't send it yet? In the meantime, Gabi reapplied, this time with a different account and received a confirmation that the visa had been approved, just days after applying. I kept waiting, without knowing what was going on ... it was terribly stressful.
I was really getting crazy more. And so, waking up the other day, I first check the mail, which has become a routine in the last couple of weeks, and I see the mail and try to open my eyes even harder and see if I see it or dream it well… it was a confirmation that my visa was approved! It's amazing to me that they get so angry about that, imagine, you have tickets, accommodation, friends ... everything! You have money too, you go there tourist, spend money and no, attack you first honestly! Even people in Australia were upset because they couldn't believe what I had to go through for a visa, especially as a disabled person. Good luck if we went to apply half a year before the trip, otherwise we would have smoked everything. If we had not booked two flights and accommodation in Australia and spent a few thousand kunas, we would surely have already given up and gone to New Zealand. No matter what,
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