h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I was planning on getting a Working Holiday Visa to come to London. The idea was that I could work part time for two years. I went to the British Consulate here in Chicago and they gave me the appropriate paperwork. I assembled all the correct information, updated everything that needed updating and gathered all the money.

Last Friday I wanted to see if it would affect my chances of acceptance if I got a one-way ticket rather than a round-trip or open-return. I went to a website to find out (the Consulate being closed) and saw, for the first time, posted that you needed to be a Commonwealth Citizen to get a Working Holiday Visa in teeny little green print. I panicked. Blind panic. Eventually my mom and Andy calmed me down. After all, it's the only place on the web that says that and would they have given me all the papers and the information if I wasn't eligable? I mean, why would they even have that option in Chicago, where almost everyone would be American?

I bowed to higher inteligence and decided not to worry.

I just got off the phone with the Embassy. Turns out that I'm not eligable unless I'm Canadian or Australian. Which I'm not. Why didn't they tell me this when I actually came in for help? She doesn't know. Nobody knows.

That runs me out of options. I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do. Except maybe gun down all the bastards in that farkin' country.

I think this is just about as low as I've ever felt.

Aww, Krisseeeeee. You still have options.

You can get your Canadian citizenship. It's really easy to get into Canada.

You can go to the UK on holiday and job-shop like mad while you're there, find someone who thinks you're irreplaceable and will vouch for your visa. And see how long you can hang around before they kick you out of the country.

You can find a club in Chicago that absolutely MUST have the Ray Gelato Giants as their regular band.

Oh, you SO have options.

And I haven't even MENTIONED the medical tools!

There *has* to be a way. Surely you're not the only person who has ever tried to move from the US to the UK.

Here's my suggestion - appeal to the guide. Maybe Peta could put this on the front page - who knows. It might risk opening up the whole US/UK thing again...but it's certainly worth the risk, I think. Someone here must have gone through this before and succeeded.

As for the paperwork, why-didn't-they-tell-you thing - GRRRRRRRR!!!! That's all I can say. I just went through that on a smaller scale trying to register my car. It's such a ridiculous thing - it's not like they lied to you, they just failed to point out something that they should have pointed out. It's infuriating. I'm so sorry Krissy, I really am.

I'll ask my family about this. We moved countries (granted none of them were the UK, but still) three times with a family that claimed three different citizenships between five people (the US, Australia and Canada). KM is right - you're not out of options. We just have to find one for you ....

And if what I'm saying doesn't make any sense, blame it on the multitudes of little drugs that are supposed to be fighting off illness but are instead just making me more loopy than usual ...

It comes down to this. If I want to move to London legally and work I have to:

1. Be hired by a company that applies for my visa.

2. Get married.

No one will hire me. I am a college-educated, intelligent, skilled individual and companies want me, but the government will read "secretary" on the job position and just say NO. There's no second chance. There is, I'm sure, a non-refundable fee. The government will say NO so no companies will take the chance.

That leaves number two. Which is why it's hopeless. He's young. I don't think he's ready. In fact I'm 95% sure he won't ask. We're out of money. I've told my job I'm leaving. I'm moving out of my house.

I will have no job. Nowhere to live. No Andy. and a broken heart.

I appreciate the positive sentiment, but I've been dealing with this head-on for 5 months now. There's nothing. The more I think about it...the more I talk about it.... there's nothing...I'm in the middle of a crumbling world.

*hugs*

Krissy, ask him, ask him, you love him, he loves you, just ask him... don't be so against the most obvious choice you want to move country to be with him, so just ask him. *hugs Krissy*

*looks worried*

If you have to move out of your apartment and quit your job before we figure this out for you, remember you can totally stay with me whenever, for real, like. The dorm is a bit cramped but we have an ethernet connection.

How you'd actually get there I'm not entirely sure. Hitch-hike, I expect.

*brings ice cream*

I have to agree with Ant sweetie. I've assumed (maybe incorrectly) that that has been the eventual goal of all this anyway. So maybe this will just rush it along a little.

*gives Krissy another big giant hug, a package of Oreos and a pitcher of margaritas*

Krissy, come live over here and work at the UK embassy. Alex and i could use a flatemate, as long as you don't mind my cooking. I'l call around about some options. We are working on it.

What does it take to move to canada first?

Krissy, there's room for you here, too, and you're always, always, always welcome to come stay for however long you need, and I can hook you up with a job pretty easily (the job market is good, they give them out like candy here I swear! Of course then they take them away, but that's usually just a minor setback). I know that living with, um, any of us isn't exactly what you had in mind for the summer move, but you do have refuge and a whole sloo of people who love you and want to help you. It's just too bad none of us are civil servants in the US or company owners in the UK.

I wouldn't disregard the Canadian citizenship option. Canada, in my experience, has been more than willing to offer dual citizenships in even the most obscure situations. The US is, of course, a pain about it, but it might be worth a look as a last-ditch effort.

I am so incredibly sorry and heartbroken to hear you have to go through this. Try and take a day off of worrying about it, if that's at all possible. Go to a movie or get very, very drunk or something - maybe a solution will present itself.

*another big giant hug for Krissy*

Krissy, please do not despair! It's going to be all better, really it is!

*worries about where Krissy could be*

Awwwwwww.... Thanks guys.

There's a sort of an update.

Unfortunatly, Canada really isn't an option. My best friend Todd spent 2 years trying to get into Canada (even tried getting married and eventually even tried switching identities with another guy) and had as bad a time with that as I'm having with London. Canada doesn't want yanks any more than England does.

There are other options for getting to London (such as on a student visa) but they all involve huge amounts of time and money. Time I don't have and money I especially don't have. I believe in our love (it's gotten us this far) but I also believe it has to be nurtured and allowed to grow or it stagnates and dies. At this point, we really really need to be together. The strain of the phone is draining on both of us, and we're out of money to travel. He needs someone to help with the mortgage, but mostly he NEEDS a girlfriend. He needs caring for and I NEED a boyfriend. I need the kind of attention that I definatly do NOT get when we're apart. Not that he doesn't do a great job of trying, but it's not the same.

We just had a discussion about marriage and he's taking some time to think. I think that's a good idea. Both of our parents are divorced and it still rips both of us up. We're young, and we know that there are still a lot of things we don't know about life. He takes forever very very seriously and so do I. We have both worked very hard. We've both made sacrifices and been prepared to do a lot to keep the relationship going. Everyone has their limits. I discovered that I'm willing to do almost anything for our relationship, but I'm not willing to be an illegal alien in a strange country. He may be completely in love with me, and ready to talk about marriage, and plan on it.... I mean, he's fantastic.. he even talks about kids with me... but he may not be ready to actually DO it at this point. I'm horrified that he has to make this decision. If he doesn't agree to marry me (and at this point we're talking back and forth...it's not really a proposal), even if I understand why, it will break my heart. No one wants to hear that the person they love won't marry them. We shouldn't have to talk about this for years yet, and it may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Anyhow... I need to leave him alone for awhile to think about things. I know that without him, I don't care about a whole lot.

Thank you, sweeties, for your offer of somewhere to live. I got the same offers from my friends here in Chicago, and I can't describe how touching it is to know that I'd never be homeless or friendless if things get really bad. That's a huge comfort. You've really helped make me feel like things aren't as bad as they look, and even if they are, I'll get through them.

I've said it before, but I'm very serious when I say that I love you and that one of the best things that has ever happened to me are the people I've met here and at the Floor.

*HUG*

I'll keep you updated.

Love,

Krissy

Well, as expected, he said no.

Unequivicable no. Loves me... no marriage...

Life...um... is very very low right now.

*despiratly tries to think of something to do*

*sniffs*

I'll marry you, Krissy...

*hugs*

I'd marry you Krissy - and as a UK citizen that'd be the ticket for you - but my wife won't let me

I'm really sorry to hear about your situation, but they are REALLY strict in Britain these days. Two friends of mine went through six months of hell in the build-up to their wedding as British immigration faffed over whether to let the guy in. They had a wedding date, fer crissake. And he was a Kiwi, but he'd used up all the "short visit" stuff already, which is when he met her in the first place.

How do these heartless bastards think it works? Why can't they say "Come, live; you can't claim benefit, but be with your man"? The US is hardly a nation from which you're likely to be an economic migrant. There must be enough young British adults who want to go Stateside - why couldn't you be allowed to just swap with one of them? It's nonsense.

*Hugs*

You're right - there should be 'lover exchanges' just like student exchanges.

It really is ridiculous to keep people, especially non-financial-migrant-ones, out of countries like the UK. Unfortunately, there are thousands who would simply take advantage of such a system, so as usual it's the few sheisters spoiling it for the many genuine applications...

Maybe it's time to really think hard about the actual objective value of your American Citizenship, Krissy, and think about emigration. Why is American citizenship valuable to you, and what does it give you that UK citizenship would not? And don't say 'Oreos'. How big a factor is 'being with Andy' compared to 'being an American'? And anyway, you would always know that you were an American at heart, no matter what the paperwork said. So what if you happen to be living on a different piece of the Earth?

I hope that the Internet will make geographical distinctions like these obsolete, and everyone will be free to move as they liked and work where they like, providing that they could prove that they could support themselves (and there's the rub). I know it's much more complicated than that, but... well that's what dreaming is for, eh?

I wish you all the luck you need, hon, and then some.

I think even trying to that has its problems Chris, I think you still need to prove that you wont be a finacial burden on the state, meaning you either have to have a job (so we encounter the same problems as before), enough private means to support you or a partner who can support you... and it all takes time, an awful lot of time and then isn't certain that you'll get it...

Knowing Krissy I imagine she's considered this option, she has been dealing with it and thinking about it for longer than all of us.

Krissy we love you and hope you get what you want somehow

Yes, exactly what Ant said: "Krissy we love you and hope you get what you want somehow"

btw, I think from what Krissy has said in the past that becoming a UK citizen would be wonderful with her - does someone know how to make that work out?

Krissy, I am so sad for you and Andy - as you said, neither of you should have had to face this so early on. But there must still be some hope of a way to work things out. I just wish I knew what it was at this point. I would guess the best bet is that someone knows a way to get you sponsored for a job in London - gosh I hope something like that comes through!

Well, I appreciate it, but there really isn't any hope. We've stopped talking.

This is not going to turn out well and there's nothing anybody can do about it. I keep praying for some kind of devine intervention, but at this point I don't think it's going to happen.

This is the saddest thing. I'm so so so so sorry Krissy.