Applying for and acquiring a UK ancestry visa

Re-blogging this post as it seems to be very popular and helpful. Please re-read the UKBA website as there might be some changes that were implemented since this blog has been written in 2010.

mr&mrs.mach

It has been a terribly long wait from the South African side of things, three months for unabridged birth certificate and marriage certificate. We finally submitted our visa application on Nov 12 and retrieved our passports with approved visas on the 18th. That’s three working days. Is this one difference between so-called ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ country?

The UK Border Agency’s website should be your first stop:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/
See ‘For Commonwealth citizens with UK ancestry’

VFS South Africa has also lots of information: http://www.vfs-uk-za.com/applying.aspx

Can you do it without an agent? A resounding YES.

What documents to submit? While the UKBA website provides a guide on basic documents to submit, they really leave the supporting documents up to you. Which documents do you think would boost your application? Here is a list of documents we have submitted:

1. Printed out application form which we have filled online and paid for.
2…

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Goodbye gran

My husband’s paternal grandmother passed away last night and we received the news via an sms from his dad this morning. We both cried a little bit, I wished him long life then drove him off to work. We both know that the pain of losing someone will always be there and that grieving doesn’t really end but life has to go on. Granny has lived a very long life, she turned 92 this year. I have been grieving for a while now even before she passed away. I think it’s my way of preparing myself for the inevitable so when the time comes, it would be less painful. But I know that there’d be bouts of sorrow and grief for a very long time.

We’ve been preparing ourselves for this day, we knew that it won’t be long since she was transferred to the ‘sunshine’ room in the old age home where she had stayed for more than ten years. She used to have her own room with it’s own bathroom, a fridge with lots of family photos, a small bookshelf and TV, but when she moved to frail care she only had her bed. When we visited her two weeks ago, I was shocked to see how she looked, I thought she’s aged and degenerated so much since our last visit the previous year. I couldn’t hold back my tears which was really silly. I just felt overwhelmingly sad. But I still managed to get a laugh over the situation especially when gran turned  to my husband and said ‘Where’s your wife?’ when I just gave her a peck in the cheek. Later on she asked him again, as if I wasn’t there, ‘How’s your marriage?’

When my husband and I had just started dating, I dreaded meeting his family.  I soon found out that I was wrong and that they’re lovely. The next step was meeting gran. Now that caused a lot of anxiety for me initially because she lived in an old age home for Jews and I knew that I’ll stand out like a sore thumb. Also, I don’t know how she’ll react with a non-kosher like myself but she was lovely too and we always tried to see her every Sunday when we were still living in Johannesburg. I remember one time when my husband and I bought her a present of a blue, fluffy pig wearing a pearl necklace and we sneaked it in the home and showed it to her. We all had a little snigger and she kept it, although not by the window next to the two fluffy stuffed toy cats but inside her dresser. It’s like our own little secret and I get a peek of the pig whenever her dresser is open. I always wondered what her other children who visited her thought of that. They must have been appalled but I rarely see them to feel the displeasure.

It was also partly because of gran that we didn’t want to leave, we knew then that she could be gone any minute and we didn’t want to be so far away. We never expected that she’d last for another three years, especially because we knew she was tired, from the Parkinson’s, from her body failing her. She saw no point of waking up each morning and being unable to do anything unaided. I tried to talk to my husband to fly home, I just felt one has to be with family when grieving. From where I came from, the initial grieving is not private but something that is shared and that the pain from the loss tends to dissipate as family members recall their memories of the dead. I guess it’s a way of coping and eventually healing.

I hope gran has finally found the peace that has eluded her for a long time. And I hope we also find peace knowing that she is finally at rest. Goodbye gran, we love you lots. and lots.

Roadtrip: Central Drakensberg

While majority of South Africans planned their long weekend trips starting on the 24th of September, National Heritage Day, we started ours late Friday afternoon and headed towards Central Drakensberg.  We were hoping that most of the travellers have stuck to their plans and actually left the day before, otherwise, it’s gonna be chaos in the N3 going to Durban. They did, so we had a quiet drive and reached our destination around 8.30pm.  Although that sounded all chilled and well-planned, the actual trip wasn’t. We didn’t prepare anything the day before (the non-working day) and just lazed around the whole day in the house.  So the next day, the day of travel, is expectedly rushed and a bit stressful. Just a bit.

We managed to haul everything in our small, trusty red car and turned on the Garmin. It wouldn’t. We suspected that the aircon guys bungled the car adapter when they fixed the aircon weeks ago. Of course we didn’t check. Oh well, we said, might as well buy maps from the AA store, oh but wait, let’s try setting up the GPS in the phone. After several minutes of figuring out how the phone works, we gave up finally noticing that it needs bluetooth connection in the car. Brilliant. We headed to Rosebank to get maps from AA and get some water and other stuff from PnP. It turned out there’s no AA shop in Rosebank (according to the a staff from M&A), so we ended up in CNA. Then of course, we haven’t had lunch. I want to go to KFC but it’s on the other side of the mall, I decided not to have tantrums over food so I agreed to look at the menu of M&A, ended up leaving as I didn’t find anything appetising in the menu at that moment.  Let’s just stop somewhere later for food. That somewhere was a Wimpy in Villiers, 106 kms from Johannesburg.

I read out the directions in the map with my tiny reading lamp and asked the driver if it isn’t liberating not to follow the British woman barking off directions from inside the Garmin? He kind of nodded in agreement.

So after driving for more than four hours (when the hostel website said approx. 3 hours) and turning in a vacant field in the middle of Bergville, we finally found the backpackers lodge with lots of drunk backpackers and a guy in a jacuzzi. We were both so tired we just slept as soon as we settled in our room.  Although not before I complained about how misleading the whole description of the place has been in the website, as it said it’s got a view of the mountains and we’re right in the highway.

Day 2 The Hike to Doreen Falls

I woke up the next day and it was extremely misty. From the horizon, I can see several tents pitched far apart in the spacious lawn. As the mist slowly cleared up, the Amphitheatre came in full view. It was simply breathtaking.

We had a nice breakfast from the hostel’s restaurant, I really liked the way they made the beans with toast and the hot Milo.

— Updated three years later 16 Oct 2012—

We were caught in moving and settling down in our new home outside South Africa that I didn’t even finish the earlier blog. I remember though that I was three months pregnant when we did the Drakensberg trip. The trek was long and hot, but was rewarded with a sighting of a group of monkeys, a green snake, and a waterfall. I always feel close to nature when I was in South Africa, here in the UK you’ll be lucky to find interesting animals which are not roadkill, I couldn’t forget the dead hedgehog we saw once because I haven’t seen a live one here. I’m not a big fan of zoos either so I guess I just have to make a special journey every now and then to SA to experience ‘living’ again. What I mean is that, in SA I actually felt that I am part of a complex web of interrelated living things, the place is very much alive, not just because of the number of people but also the abundance of small things which compete or co-exist with the same space that humans occupy. Erm, maybe I’m just distraught with the grey and rainy weather here today. I miss South Africa.

Missing South Africa

It’s been nine months since we’ve moved to the UK and looking at pictures of SA posted by friends and family makes me want to book a flight and go ‘home.’ Strange I feel that way especially so that I’m not originally from SA. Even my husband was surprised when I told him I miss his country more than I miss mine. I didn’t know the answer at that time, but only realised while I was vacuuming that all of my memories of SA are with him. There was a show on telly last week about walks and the series showed amazing landscapes in SA and immediately I was flooded with memories of long drives on deserted rural roads, our ten-day road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town, bungee jumping in Bloukrans, fishing in Hartebeesport.

Hopefully next year. In the meantime, I’ll try to enjoy the last days of the British summer, whatever that means.

This morning

A man in the bus took off his hat when we passed by a cemetery in Longbenton. It’s something that I don’t see often and I find it heartwarming.

Applying for and acquiring a UK ancestry visa

It has been a terribly long wait from the South African side of things, three months for unabridged birth certificate and marriage certificate. We finally submitted our visa application on Nov 12 and retrieved our passports with approved visas on the 18th. That’s three working days. Is this one difference between so-called ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ country?

The UK Border Agency’s website should be your first stop:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/
See ‘For Commonwealth citizens with UK ancestry’

VFS South Africa has also lots of information: http://www.vfs-uk-za.com/applying.aspx

Can you do it without an agent? A resounding YES.

What documents to submit? While the UKBA website provides a guide on basic documents to submit, they really leave the supporting documents up to you. Which documents do you think would boost your application? Here is a list of documents we have submitted:

1. Printed out application form which we have filled online and paid for.
2. Passports, new and old
3. Original birth certificates and marriage certificates of grandparents, parents and spouse/partner claiming for British ancestry (More on these below)
4. Our unabridged marriage certificate (MC)
5. Son’s unabridged birth certificate (BC)
6. Abridged versions of our MC and son’s BC (Just decided to throw this in, to prove we had these prior)
7. Employment certificates (if you and husband are working)
8. Bank statements, investment certificates, proof of owned properties, etc (anything else to show you are financially stable here and able to support family when you move to the UK)
9. Payslips (6 months)
10. Qualifications certificates (diplomas, proof of degrees earned, trade certificates, etc)
11. Proof that you are actively seeking for work in the UK (Job searches, emails from recruitment agencies)
12. Proof of accommodation in the UK (we printed our booking in a hotel as well as email communications with a possible landlady)

We submitted all of these then the receiving officer at VFS asked us for proof of relationship, maybe because we’re newly married even though we’ve been living together for some time.

So we went out of VFS and printed photos of us together and emails we sent to each other.

We photocopied everything to make sure that we’ll get all the originals back, but they sent us back the photocopies along with the originals. Better safe than sorry, it’s difficult to get those documents again.

Common questions:

How much money should you indicate that you will bring to the UK? There’s no set amount and this depends on the size of your family accompanying you. Some websites indicate that you don’t need to have a big amount of funds (i.e., GBP3,000 would suffice) if you’re applying under this category.

Do you need to secure a job in the UK before you apply for ancestry visa? If you can, that’s well and good, but most companies would prefer you to be already in the UK before they hire you. My husband didn’t have a job waiting for him in the UK, but he registered in UK jobs websites so he would receive job matches and emails from recruitment agencies, we then included these in our visa application.

Do we need to submit vault or unabridged copies of birth certificates and marriage certificates? There are lots of discussions about these and it’s puzzling why there are so many versions of a single document. Note that the UKBA requires you to submit ‘originals’. I honestly don’t know what a vault copy looks like. Vault copy is a certified copy of a birth register according to this gov’t form: http://www.southafrica-newyork.net/consulate/forms/bi154.pdf.

What we submitted was my husband’s grandfather’s birth certificate from England, which says on top: Certified Copy of an Entry of Birth. It’s printed in an old paper (certified copy in 1969) with orange letterings. We also have birth and marriage certificates of his parents and grandparents from South Africa which are all handwritten and stamped by the Dept of Home Affairs. My husband’s birth certificate is a certified copy of a BI-24. My guess is you have to submit vault copies of documents from the family side where you’re claiming British ancestry.

But for our marriage certificate and our son’s bc, we only submitted unabridged versions. And we didn’t use an agent to get these though we waited for three months.

You can pay extra for sms and email notifications regarding the status of your application but you can also check it online. We didn’t find the need for these extras.

It’s also helpful to read in forums but take everything with a grain of salt, especially because I’ve noticed that agencies frequent forums and they had to sell their services. I have nothing against them but we prefer doing things ourselves.

Good luck everyone!

Next, I’ll post our experience in moving stuff from SA to UK. Still haven’t packed a thing and only have a month left!

In search of the real South Africa

The tragic news about the couple spending their honeymoon in Cape Town which ended up with the woman getting killed is a hot topic on- and offline. Majority of the comments in forums questions the couple’s judgement to go to Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town, where more than 700 killings since 2005 have been reported.

There is certainly naivety on the part of the couple going to the township at that time of the night, even my nanny said she won’t go there. It was a risk that the couple decided to take. As tourist, it’s your task not only to know where to go but also where not to go and why. It is your responsibility to respect the culture and follow their rules. When we went to Dubai last year, we were given a promotional pamphlet and at the back, a caution that public display of affection is not tolerated. We thought it was ridiculous but we didn’t want to be jailed just because we can’t keep our hands off each other. When you visit Singapore, you don’t chew bubble gum and spit on the road, you can get caned. It is wise to heed the embassies’ warnings about ‘hotspots.’ They are given for a reason. Information is free so there’s no reason to be ignorant. My friend, a black woman, told me once that it is arrogant for foreigners to think that they are accepted everywhere. There is a difference between tolerance and acceptance. It was harsh but it’s the truth.

While it’s easy to put the blame to ‘unsuspecting’ tourists, if you look at the bigger picture, the government has a bigger responsibility. It is the government’s mandate to ensure the safety of its people, including visitors. Providing sufficient funds so the police can do their job well, get trained, etc. Providing jobs and educating its people so they won’t resort to crime.

If you are planning to visit, it is good to know that violent crime is endemic in South Africa. A woman is raped every 17 seconds. Despite these realities, we try to live ‘normal’ lives. Inside houses surrounded by burglar bars and electric fences. The first time I arrived in SA in 2006, I was given a panic button. I live in a complex with a security guard 24/7. Private security is a very big business here. I have learned not to ‘tempt’ thieves into breaking the car by leaving valuables lying around. Other than that, this is a beautiful country with wide open spaces, amazing views and unforgettable people.

The sad part in all the conversations concerning this issue is the resignation of South Africans to their fate. The acceptance of this way of life. The illusion that this is normal. It’s not and it’s time to tell the government that this is not acceptable. We have our own share of responsibility in maintaining a democracy, aside from paying taxes, it is also holding the government to account. But the government can’t do it on its own, it needs an active civil society which you and I are part of, to provide that push from below. It is not an easy task but before we put the blame on the tourists and the government, have we done our part?

Rednotebook crash

I’ve been using Rednotebook for a month now to diarise Aiden’s growth. It’s a graphical journal which doesn’t have to be published, it’s like WordPress offline with all the tags, clouds and categories trimmings. Then all of a sudden it stopped working with a Not Responding note. I reckon it’s from a Windows update which clashed with something in the program, it began when I chose to automatically update Windows and now couldn’t use it anymore. I’m not a techie so I don’t know which file I should remove or edit and how. Still trying to follow the Rednotebook forum.

I missed writing when Aiden started with pureed apples. And the progress in my driving. Also our application for a full marriage certificate and Aiden’s birth certificate seems to be getting somewhere. I phoned yesterday expecting the worse but was told that the mc is already available but the bc is again another story. It’s just never-ending and am getting tired of fighting with them. Besides, there’s no point shouting at the cc agent because it’s not their fault.

Still hoping that we’ll be able to submit our visa app before the end of this month. Otherwise, I have to do an English proficiency test to prove that I can speak and understand the language well. Which seems funny because I work in a university in the UK and got my postgrad from a university there, but if they insist then what can I do?

US$34.33 for a week — the Global Hunger Challenge

We have (or more accurately, I have) signed up for the Global Hunger Challenge to see if we can survive with US$34.33 a week. The amount is per person according to the rules, so multiplying by 2, gives us a budget of US$69 or ZAR490 (US$1=ZAR7.1) to spend on food for one week. The week starts today which was quite difficult because we’re driving to Vereeniging and it’s going to be lunch time when we get there. I could’ve waited until we get home and cook what we had planned for today but my tummy couldn’t wait that long because I didn’t have breakfast. So we ended up spending ZAR96 for lunch. We also bought verjuice (R50) for the potato gnocchi and prawns in our menu. Prawns seem to be a luxury for our budget but we bought a kilo last week and wouldn’t dream of wasting the remaining pieces, so I thought the cost of the remaining half (R48) could be included in our budget.

We only have R296 for the rest of the coming week which looks pretty tight. Definitely can’t afford takeaways.

More Home Affairs blunder

I have developed this love-hate relationship with the Department of Home Affairs over years of living here. It all started when I had to change my visa from visitor’s to temporary resident’s. At one point, I have to leave the country every 3 months to renew my visitor’s visa and weekend trips to neighbouring countries became the norm. My partner then (now husband) decided to apply for a life partnership visa to put an end to the expensive weekend getaways to Mozambique and Botswana. That was when I started to become familiar with the sights and smell of the HA office in town. The seemingly endless and chaotic queues. The ill-informed staff giving wrong and incomplete information. The phone numbers which were always unavailable. The labour-inducing climb to the 6th floor when I was 6 or so months pregnant.

I finally got a two-year temporary visa after I got married and I thought Home Affairs would be a thing of the past. But there’s that ‘womb to tomb’ concept in public administration 101, meaning from birth to death, the government is always there to make your life miserable. And there’s no escaping it.

We had to apply for my child’s passport and unabridged birth and marriage certificates (you see we got really scared when Zuma started talking about a third term, we thought somewhere else would be better than here). Applying was a breeze at Edenvale office. The staff told us that the government is rolling out this much-delayed program to make HA efficient and Edenvale is one of the pilot offices. The office is clean and the staff helpful. They’re also open on Saturdays for those who can’t afford to take a leave from work during weekdays. Plus now they have a call centre which you could call to inquire about the status of your document application. Aha, is this the promised South Africa?

Now, it has been more than a month that we’re waiting for my son’s passport and the unabridged certificates were nowhere in sight. Last week, the call centre agent told me that the reason for the delay was that the printer made an error on the passport and it has to be sent back to them. While the unabridged marriage certificate now requires a BI-30 (marriage register) before it can be processed. Of which we have to drive to Vereeniging to get. As I don’t want to waste a trip to Vereeniging, I want to make sure if I need to bring anything. I phoned their number listed at the HA website. ‘The number you have dialled has changed. The new numbers are not available at the moment, blah blah blah’ I phoned the call centre again and asked if they have the new numbers on record, the agent gave me the same non-working ones. I insisted that it doesn’t work, he also insisted that that’s the only number he has in their system and no I can’t phone the HA head office in Pretoria because ‘the public doesn’t have the privilege to contact the head office directly’. WTF? Isn’t that a public office, funded by people’s taxes and mandated to serve the people?

I thought I wouldn’t let this dysfunctional bureaucratic monster defeat me. Not after surviving the N12 on the first day of my driving lesson. So I phoned the provincial manager’s office which has jurisdiction over Vereeniging and got the new number. Now I wouldn’t want to keep this information to myself so I thought maybe I should inform Home Affairs and tell them to please update their website. So I wrote to the HA Director of Communications using their online form. Then clicked submit. Whew, finally what joy to have triumphed over this feckless system. Then, it gave me this:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error ‘800a0046’

Permission denied

/contact_form.asp, line 418

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The new phone numbers of Vereeniging Home Affairs office: 016 430 0200