Nuisance immigration forms

Last night -- or rather, this morning-- I stayed up until about 2am filling in immigration forms. Bleh.

I'm applying to upgrade from being in Aussie-land on a "partner visa" to being a permanent resident. And, in a few years, I can upgrade again, to Aussie citizen. Luckily, I'd get to keep my U.S. citizenship.

The forms asked me to list all the times I've visited Australia, including the specific dates. A nuisance, but they asked me this two years ago, so I have the info in a word processing document: Two years ago a flicked through my passports and wrote down all the entry and exit dates (and through which airport I entered and exited); since them, I've kept track.

They also wanted (1) all the addresses that The Lady and I have had since we started our partnership, and (2) all the addresses I've lived in over the last ten years. And they wanted all the jobs I've had since finishing high school!!! Yeow!!!

I'm thirty-six years old -- I've had a ton of jobs!!! And they want the mailing address, and the beginning and end dates. Again, I (luckily!) have this in a text document, since a lot of lower-level job application forms in the U.S. ask this sort of thing.

But, still! This was all for the ''Character Assessment'' form. You'd think that if they wanted to get a sense of my residential instability, and whether I was at risk for unemployment, asking for the last five years -- or even ten years -- would be enough.

Plus, due to the nature of employment as a graduate student, my jobs during that period (almost ten years!) don't line up nicely: one gig starts while a previous one is still in progress. So, my employment history is somewhat convoluted, not lining up in an easy-to-read, linear fashion.

Anyhow: Gar!!!


But, it's all in the mail now (mailed it this morning). So I can turn my attention to other things.


--GG