A SPECIALIST integrity unit has been formed inside the Department of Immigration to deal with widespread fraud in the working holiday visa program, on which industries such as fruit growing depend.

More than 200 internet advertisements have been found offering to buy or sell documents allowing backpackers to claim they had worked in rural jobs without them leaving Sydney, and thus extend their working holiday visas. The standard fee is $400. So far, 64 visas have been cancelled over the fraud and at least 19 more are being reviewed.

One man, an Irish national, has been convicted of fraud. ”There’s been more than 100 fraudulent claims identified this financial year,” a spokeswoman for the department said. ”The answer is we don’t know [the full extent of the fraud]. At this stage it’s too early to determine and we will be looking at it over the next six months.”

The working holiday visa (subclass 417) allows people to extend their stay in Australia by a year if they can prove they have worked in a rural area for three months. Applications are lodged online but have been abused by people selling Australian business numbers linked to farms so backpackers can falsely claim they worked on farms.

”Second year visas for sale,” one ad read. ”Will email completed 1263 form and add your details to my books so you can gain second year visa with ease.”

Another ad offering similar services, posted on the Gumtree website on Saturday, had received more than 2000 hits by last night. Unlike visa scams targeting international students, mainly Indians, this fraud is used mainly by European visitors.

One backpacker told the Herald he had been offered the false documentation as soon as be arrived in Australia, by people staying at the same hostel.

”People told me about buying the documents – getting the numbers to put in,” he said. ”When I arrived here people said you can go there [to a farm] or you can buy. Everyone knows about it. It’s easy. All the people who are here know about that.”

The federal Opposition spokeswoman on immigration, Sharman Stone, said the widespread fraud reflected under-resourcing of the department.

The night before our trip to China my friend, M, called to see how my preparations were going.

“Do you have enough socks?  Your passport?  Your visa?” she asked.

“Er.  I know what socks are.  I’m good with the passport.  But WHAT THE HELL”S A VISA?” I replied, as my entire dinner regurged into my nostrils.

I googled “Do you need a visa to go to China?”, and sure enough – you do.  I made Adam look at the article on the computer.  He took it really well – did you see Linda Blair in “The Exorcist”?

For those of you who, like me, are clueless travel morons – a visa is a stampy thing you have to get on your passport in order to go to certain countries.  Europe doesn’t require them.  I’m not completely sure why some countries do.  Something about wanting to more closely monitor who is coming into your country, country relationships, yada yada yada.  If you’re well prepared, you can mail away for them ahead of time.  If the country’s consulate is in your city, you can go in person and get one.  If you ordered your tickets on Expedia, and didn’t read the fine print that tells you to get one, (*cough*  Adam), you’re in big fat trouble.

Our flight left from Newark at 12:15pm the next day.  The Chinese Consulate in NYC opens at 9am.  We got there at 8am.  There were already three people in line – a Russian intellectual, a little bossy Chinese lady, and a thuggish-looking Brooklynite.  I could see Adam’s twisted little mind churning away.  “How badly do you guys need to talk to someone in there when it opens?” he asked the gang.

I saw where Adam was going with this, and pulled my hood over my face, so just my chin was showing.  All three people stared stonily at him.  “We have a flight to China at 12 o’clock, and don’t have visas,” he went gamely on.  “It would be so nice of you if we could be first in line.”

“Buddy, we all got problems,” said the Brooklynite.  I wondered if he was going to China to find fresh people to mug.

“How could you not know to get a visa?” asked the Russian intellectual.  “Don’t you know the political climate of the countries you are going to visit?”  I wished her many years of painful hemorrhoids.

“I’m not moving,” said the bossy Chinese lady, “But if I were you, I’d go to the CVS up the street and get a passport photo for the visa.”  My first stirrings of love for the Chinese were born.

We ran up the street and got passport photos at the CVS.  When we got into the Chinese Consulate at 9am, we were directed to “the boss” at window #1.  She looked like she was just weaned off her bottle and allowed to eat baby cereal.  We explained our predicament to Baby Boss.  Adam tried to bribe her by slipping money under the clear divider.  She pushed it back.

“What’s the matter with these people?  They’re unbribable,” he whispered to me.

“Stop before they shoot you,” I advised him.

Baby Boss told us to come back at 2pm.  Urk.  Adam explained the time of the flight.  I whined so loudly that the clear partition plastic cracked.  “Maybe by 10,” said Baby Boss soothingly.  Subtext – stop whining and cracking my nice partition.

We waited in the consulate.  I eavesdropped on the Russian woman’s conversation at her window.  She was trying to get a visa for a Chinese friend who was just coming into NYC for a couple of days for some esoteric conference.  Oooo.  Aren’t we just sooo smart?  I wasn’t bitter about her lecturing us on visas.  Nope.  Not me.  I’m just not the bitter type.

I kept mouthing, “Thank you” to the bossy Chinese lady.  I think she thought I was insane.  We periodically nagged Baby Boss, who got a tortured look on her face every time she caught a glimpse of us in her line.

The visas were ready at 10:30am.  No wonder they don’t take bribes.  You have to pay so much for a last-minute emergency visa, that they’re afraid you’ll have no money left to buy jade bracelets in China.

We made it to our flight with 15 minutes to spare.  Now we know about the visa.  Betcha India requires a visa.  And the Middle East – I’m thinking visa.  Russia?  I don’t know about you, but I vote visa.

I’ve just completed my applications for permission to enter the US and Australia… It was surprisingly fast and painless. Ok, the Australian one needed a service fee of AUD20, but that’s nothing compared to the hundreds of dollars I was expecting to pay. I don’t need a visa/permission to enter Canada, the UK, France or the Netherlands, so I should be all set on that front Hopefully nothing screws up!

Yay! Every day is a step closer to the trip. Oh, Boston/Cambridge is confirmed, I should figure out the tickets for that ASAP!

I decided to go back to Vietnam a few months ago. I have an abundance of air miles that, for myriad reasons, I feel like using, my neighbors had recently relocated (back) to Saigon and it seemed like a nice little sojourn prior to the crazy that I know December will bring. Living in Hong Kong affords one the luxury of taking long weekends to places like Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Macau, China… It is a great benefit. Having taken a long weekend in Bangkok not too long ago, Saigon was the perfect alternative. It would be warm, a great place to do my Christmas shopping, and I could help some friends out be being a pack mule for some of their stuff they were moving from HK in stages. So, I cashed in the miles, got the ticket and worked my way up to the departure date.

Tuesday evening while sharing a sampan with Frenchie, a former travel agent, we were discussing my departure 36 hours ahead.

“So, you got your visa, right?”
“On arrival.”
“Vietnam? I don’t think so. You need two photos, four days and some paperwork.”
“No, last time I did it on arrival.”
“I don’t think so, I mean, it has been five years for me, but I am pretty sure you need to get your visa.”

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit.

I pulled out my passport. I certainly did not remember getting my visa ahead of time for Vietnam when I went in February… but I definitely DID remember getting it when I meant to go in 2006. I looked at my last Vietnam visa, perfunctorily dated the day PRIOR to my arrival. She was right. Of course I needed a visa to enter the SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM. What. The. Fuck. had I been thinking? Of course, the point being I had NOT been thinking. I rarely worry about my visas. There are two really good reasons for this. The first reason is that I have an AMAZING travel agent who pretty much makes sure that I do not screw things like that up. (Ask for Daryl, you will not be sorry.) The second reason, and probably more to blame for this, is that I am American.

Doesn’t that blue passport get me everywhere?

People are always talking about how Americans are so arrogant. And so provincial. And so not-smart. And how they think they run the world. Etcetera. Etcetera. Etcetera. Provincial I am not. Smart… I will let you be the judge, if you know me, you already know my opinion on this matter. Running the world? Well, you know, you can only control what people allow you to control. Seriously. And while arrogance is a trait I espouse disregard for, I simultaneously find myself strangely drawn to it. [Note intentional juxtaposition of previous three statements.] Am I arrogant? I imagine a lot of people would say yes, but there are many things that can be mistaken for arrogance. [It takes an intuitive mind to see the difference.]

There are a surprising number of countries that do require visas of Americans. But since few of them are on the top 100 lists of places people want to visit, they are often over looked. Afghanistan. The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sudan (though of ALL the people in the world, only if you are an American of Sudanese descent you can get a visa on entry…) Iraq. North Korea. Then there are places like Cuba, China, Cambodia and Laos where it seems clear that, as self-professed socialist states, a visa would be required by the likewise self-professed disseminators of democracy. Oh, yeah, and THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM.

After feeling pretty silly for having over looked this totally obvious issue of the entry visas, the next step was deciding what I would do. It was 10:30 pm on Tuesday night. I was set to fly at 9:00 am on Thanksgiving Thursday. What to do? After considering what story I would tell in order to avoid looking completely stupid, Google, of course. Enter Vietnam-Visa.com. American passport holders are able to get a visa on entry it said. No way! [It is this sort of thing that perpetuates the existence of all the things that people hate about Americans, btw.] I filled in the form and paid US$21. And then guessed I would have to wait and see what would happen.

I did not look forward to admitting that I had made this mistake when people asked why I was NOT in Vietnam over the next few days, but the more I thought about it, a few days at home didn’t sound so bad. I became surprisingly detached from the outcome of this ordeal and just laughed at the way things go sometimes.

I went to bed.

When I got up the next morning I bumped into my neighbors who look after my cats when I travel and told them I might not need their help because I had done something so embarrassing.

“What’s that?”
“I forgot about my visa. I feel so dumb.”
“Oh stop! Who hasn’t done that?”
– wait, really?– She didn’t roll her eyes and acknowledge my idiocy. It was just, like, no big thing.

I smiled.

I called my parents on the way to yoga and told them the story. It was out of my hands, but I would know by 6 p.m. the day before I was supposed to travel if I would in fact be traveling. It was not so bad to admit it after all. I told my yoga studio that I didn’t think I would be in class on Thursday because I was supposed to be traveling but that I had forgotten about my visa so I might be there after all. They laughed and said they hoped they didn’t see me, but would hold a place for me anyhow. But they didn’t laugh AT me, just with me. Realizing that the issue I had about the visa was little to do with the actual issue and all about my embarrassment for being an idiot made the situation a totally different thing. I didn’t need to be in Vietnam for any reason, it would be nice to go, but I would go another time if this didn’t work out. I called Cathay and told them the situation and they told me that the reward ticket could easily be changed if it was not used. I called my hotel and told them what was up and they said no problem, just to let them know, there would be no cancellation fee.

I told my co-worker about all this and he said, “You live a charmed life.”

That may be so. But it certainly does not go without appreciation.

And then I got the visa.

At 4:00 p.m. I received an email with a letter attached saying that all I needed would be two passport sized photos, my valid US passport and US$25 and I was set to enter the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Just like that.

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning and packed my bag and headed out the Airport Express, where I got my train ticket, checked in my baggage, and got my passport photos all within about 20 meters. In less than ten minutes. It was that easy.

And so my worst habits have all been reinforced. With one little change: an American passport and a smile may open a lot of doors, but it is complete detachment from the expectation of what might lay on the other side of those doors – as well as from the reality that sometimes the door might not open – that makes all the difference.

Happy Thanksgiving from Saigon.

I’ve been stressing a lot about my visa application since I sent it out last week, and wondering if I’ll get it back in time because I waited so long to send it, so I called the Tanzanian embassy. And they answered. Crazy, right? Well, I told the woman who answered that FedEx had delivered it yesterday (after 4 days, not 3, which only heightened my fears), and that I wanted to pay to rush the processing. She told me nonono, if they got it yesterday it’d be done by Friday. Like this Friday. Like the day after Thanksgiving. I’m skeptical, obviosuly, but I’ll wait until next week and see if it’s been put back in the mail to me. If not, I’ll try again.

21 days!

I tried to update a while back, but couldn’t remember how to log in to my account. Kids today and their technology.

Anyway, the deadline for my program fee has came and went, and thanks to everyone’s generosity I was able to pay it in full. I had estimated the trip to cost about $6,000. I contributed 1/3 of my own money, fundraised 1/3, and the final 1/3 was support from my family. THANK YOU again, to everyone who helped me to reach my goal.

My final fundraiser, to backtrack a bit further, went much better than I had expected. Capital Wine and Liquor had offered me 10% of sales from people who came in and mentioned that they were my facebook friends on the First Friday of November. Three friends came in, and Mark, the owner, made a generous personal donation as well. Many thanks to him and to Capital Wine and Liquor!

This past Friday I sent away my visa application (and passport!!) to the Tanzanian embassy in NYC. It was a fairly smooth process consisting of completing several simple forms explaining when and why I want to go to Tanzania, and how I will support myself financially while I am there. I had passport photos taken at CVS ($@ off with coupon, check their website!), and brought the whole shebang to FedEx. I purchased two three-day shipping envelopes with tracking, to prevent losing my passport. I was pretty nervous to let the passport out of my sight, but there isn’t another option. (Even if you apply in person, you need to leave the passport at the embassy for at least a day or two while they complete your paperwork.) I checked the tracking today, and my package has graced the presence of Menands, Tennessee, and NYC. It has yet to reach its destination. I’m beginning to get quite nervous that between 6 days of shipping and two weeks of processing I might not get everything back in time. If that happens, I’m REALLY screwed.

Today, I called my pharmacy to check on the prices of the prescriptions I need to fill when I go. The naive third world traveler that I am, I had expected a figure between $100-$200. WRONG. I have three medications (malaria, typhoid, and traveler’s diarrhea) prescribed. The rough costs are $20, $60, and $275. That makes a grand total of $355. This is in addition, mind you, to the $97 Yellow Fever shot I got a few weeks ago. Yikes.

On a happier note, I received a final preparation packet from CCS. The packet included a recommended packing list, contact information to leave with family and friends, and a powerpoint with some useful Swahili phrases and other information including pictures of the home base where I’ll stay. It’s a lot nicer than I expected. I’m not disappointed by any means, but I am concerned about the message sent by traveling all the way to east Africa to volunteer with some of the world’s poorest people, only to spend time in a nice building with all the amenities of home. I’ll have to wait and see what it’s really like when I get there.

Finally, another bit of good news from my helpful professor, Barbara Rio. She informed me last week that the SUNY School of Social Welfare had some scholarships that may be able to help me. I went in today with a receipt for my money order for my visa application ($100), and the school will mail me a check in the same amount! This is both exciting and unexpected, and I plan to put the check towards my prescriptions when it arrives.

The next step, as I understand it, is to be patient about my visa/passport, begin shopping for things I need to being (a English/Swahili dictionary, conservative T-shirts, etc), and pack! I’m leaving in 22 days!!!

We have legal professionals from Laura Devine Solicitors, a specialist immigration practice, coming onto campus on Wednesday 25th November. Come along to the Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House at 1pm to find out more about current UK work visa regulations. The session will also give a brief overview of visa procedures for the USA. No need to book, just bring along your queries and questions to a session which is designed to give practical advice and support to LSE international graduates and students.

Well you can live in the Philippines on $500 per month and here’s how.

Apartments in Cebu, one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, can start from around $150 (£103) per month.  Not that Cebu is particularly off the beaten track.  Cebu city boasts 5 star hotels, casinos, shopping malls, golf courses and nearby sandy beaches.  If you’re prepared to take cost savings further you can rent a room in a house.

Home to around 115,000 people, the city also offers nearby whale and dolphin watching, excellent beaches and is fast becoming a prime location for those wanting to retire in the Philippines as it has a large number of medical clinics, good city amenities, as well as a laid back lifestyle.

Next, on to the secondary products such as food!  Lets say you use half a litre of milk per day, 3 litres of bottled water per day, breakfast on two boiled eggs, buy a kilo of rice every 3 days and usually eat out every lunch time and evening at a local roadside stall – something like sizzling pork cheeks or Tapsilog (beef fried rice and eggs), and you obviously get through a kilo of coffee a week, average costs for a month would run to around $350 (£240).  So a months worth of groceries plus accommodation costs would still allow you to live on less than $500 per month in the Philippines.

In many of the more touristy and popular parts of Spain English is widely understood – so this can be good for those who don’t fancy the thought of having to get to grips with another language in order to move abroad.  And for those for whom the idea of moving to such an area is abhorrent, there are plenty of pockets of more rural Spain where there are no English people!  This means that in theory, no matter what your preference, you can find a place for your retirement in Spain.

How to live abroad cheaply, if you’ve decided to get out of the rat race during the current economic doom and gloom but haven’t really got much in the way of cash, or if you’re thinking about retiring early, or maybe you just want to be a beach bum for a few months, why not get yourself over to Thailand?

The first consideration is going to be accommodation.  You’re not going to be able to put yourself up in the Bangkok Hilton on a budget of $500 a month living in Thailand, but accommodation can be found from as little as $30 (£20) a month for a small apartment without air conditioning in places like Chang Mai up in the mountains of northern Thailand.

Whilst it would be very tempting to go straight into trying to fit a months worth of nightlife in Thailand into $400 it’s probably better to consider the cost of food as your next priority.  The majority of lower end apartments won’t have cooking facilities so it’s going to be a case of eating out.  Obviously you can eat in a restaurant every night, but again budgetary requirements won’t cover this.  You can however get fantastic Thai food from street side food stalls.  A good meal for one will cost around $1.10 (£0.75), and it usually consists of rice with spicy chicken, spicy pork or spicy something else!

Obviously you’re going to need to get out a bit while you’re living in Thailand, and with $220 remaining we can do that.  Put aside around $30 (£20) for a months worth of laundry and we are now down to $190.  Going out to dinner without getting too heavy on the alcohol should run to about $12 (£8.25) per person, and getting to and from your preferred spot shouldn’t be too expensive as a 3 kilometre taxi ride will run to about $0.40 (£0.27), so you can look to spend around $72 (£50) a month on eating dinner out once or twice a week and maybe $25 (£17) in taxi rides.

Just the mere suggestion that Blair could be considered for this new post means that Europe needs to be left well alone in terms of a destination for expat Britons, and when you throw in the uncertainty surrounding the future of the euro as a strong global currency, it really does make sense to research alternative nations to call home.

Unfortunately for us Brits, countries in Europe are generally the easiest for us to move to with the least bureaucracy involved in the relocation process – but in this report we’ll show you how, with just a little more effort, you can move further afield and perhaps achieve a far more positive lifestyle abroad.

Of course, this could just be media speculation alone, but strong voices have already come out both in support and against Blair’s standing – so there may well be truth in the speculation…

To us it’s a terrifying prospect – Tony in charge of Europe?

As if things in the euro zone were not bad enough already…

As Britons using sterling we’ve also been affected by this concept – our purchasing power in the Eurozone has never been worse.  But we have to recognise that things in Europe itself, and within the Eurozone in particular are no better because there is an intrinsic inability to respond to inflation so the purchasing power of the euro is rapidly eroding in several countries.  This could create a situation for a retiring Briton where their sterling based income buys few euros, and those few euros buy absolutely nothing at all in the new nation they decided to call home.  It’s a terrifying prospect…

According to Laurent Jacque, professor of international finance and banking: “However traumatic it may be to reinstate national currencies, some countries could decide to abandon the euro to recover their economic competitiveness…But this is unlikely in the short-term, if only because national debts denominated in euros would become very expensive to service with a newly restored but devalued currency for the seceding country.  Even so, further deterioration of an already fragile social climate (such as the recent demonstrations in Greece) fuelled by a brutal acceleration of unemployment, may push some countries to this solution of last resort.”

New Zealand, Canada and Australia are all favourite long haul destinations with escaping Brits, but each requires one to complete a merry bureaucratic dance just to gain temporary residency.  What’s more, the skilled migrant programmes that each nation uses to attract the best professionals from around the world have been slashed as each of the three nations has its own economic issues and therefore each requires fewer newcomers thank you.

Alternatively what about nations that have yet to emerge onto the British expat radar but which are growing significantly in interest for Americans?  Argentina or Mexico perhaps?  Both are stunningly beautiful countries with fabulous climates, plenty of potential for anyone with confidence and get up and go for example.

Panama for Retirement Abroad

Panama has been on the American radar for some time as an overseas retirement destination, but for us Britons, because it has not be straightforward to get to in terms of direct flights, we have overlooked it.  However, to overlook Panama is to overlook what could be your perfect retirement paradise.

It’s easy to get to and from the States so you can have first world services etc., almost on your doorstep if you’re worried about that – although if you live in or around Panama city, you’ll be surprised how sophisticated it is.  Panama City is considered the safest city in Central America, and it is home to fabulous shopping, first class health care and the quality of life in Panama is good and affordable meaning you can have your cake and eat it!  Real estate away from the main urban areas is also affordable, particularly as Panama boomed recently and is undergoing a decent negative price readjustment!!

The countries which compose the European Union have always attracted a large number of expatriate Americans, in part because of Europe’s culture, history, and scenic beauty, but also in because Europe used to offer many well-paying jobs for foreigners. Over a million Americans currently call Europe their home, and the draw of the “Old World” for North American citizens continues unabated. Unfortunately, the ongoing global recession has significantly dampened the prospect for Americans to find work in Europe. All European countries suffer from high unemployment, government cutbacks, and reduced growth. But despite the current crisis there are still jobs available for foreigners in a variety of fields and roles. Below I have outlined several options for people who are interested in working in Europe but do not have European citizenship or a residency permit.

Get your Foot in the Door

Foreign Language Skills

Do your Homework Ahead of Time

Jobs for Highly Skilled Professionals

Visas for the Self-Employed

Work Exchange Programs for Students

Internships

Teaching English

Temporary and Seasonal Work

So! The race to apply for Visas is on! We’ve got to complete all the requirements listed here!

Who’s winning? Well, doubtlessly not poor Milly! Yes, in last place Milly has got 0 forms completed, 0 reports filed, and 0 points!

First and second are currently closely contended between Lewis and Lydia, with both awaiting the posted police check forms back, and each holding one of the medical/radiological reports respectively!

Who will be the first to complete all the somewhat disinteresting paperwork? Who will manage to spend the least money on getting it done?! Who will inevitably spill tea on all their forms and have to start again? And whose chest x-ray will reveal the most bizzarre abnormality?!? Stay tuned to find out!

General Considerations

For expatriates, the main difference between South American countries is not immigration laws, which are similar, but the varying cost of living and the local culture.  Each South American country has a unique culture and way of life that sets it apart from its neighbors. Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile have a strong European cultural influence due to many immigrants from Europe, whereas in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, the culture of the native people is dominant in many regions. Brazil, on the other hand, is a fascinating conglomerate of European and African cultural influences. Some countries such as Ecuador and Uruguay are known to be great destinations for expatriates, largely due to their low cost-of-living and easy regulations for investing and buying property. But there is more to immigrating to South America than finding the cheapest destination. Cultural considerations are equally important, since you will be dealing with the local people, way of life, and culture every day.

In general, foreign visitors to South America are allowed to stay from three to six months per year. If you want to stay longer you need to apply for a visa either as a student, employee, retiree, or investor. With the exception of a residency visa obtained through a relative who is a citizen of that country, all other residency visas–such as retirement and investment visas–are temporary and need to be renewed regularly. Having a temporary residency visa does not mean that you are entitled to work. To be able to work you need either a work visa (dependent on a job offer) or permanent residency. The most common way for foreigners to establish residency in South America is buying property or establishing a business. Such an investment entitles you to a temporary residency visa, which needs to be renewed every one or two years.

Permanent residency status is usually only granted if someone is married to a citizen of that country or after someone has legally resided there for a number of years with a temporary residency visa. If you have legally worked in South America for a number of years or have had temporary residency as a retiree or investor, you are usually eligible to apply for permanent residency. Once you obtain permanent residency status in a country you will eventually be able to apply for citizenship, although the waiting period for citizenship varies from country to country. Regardless of the type of visa you have, if you overstay the period of time you are legally granted, expect to pay a fine if you are caught.

Visa fees vary from country to country, and sometimes additional fees are required. For example, Argentina charges US$100 for the residency visa application, and an additional US$200 immigration fee to applicants for residency visas. Consulates may also charge an additional fee if you need to sign a work contract at the consulate and have your signature notarized. In some cases you may also have to appear at the consulate in person, either for an interview or finger printing.

Private Income and Retiree Visas

Work Visas

Student Visas

Investor Visas

Other Options

Additional Information

To offer an idea of the size of U.S. expatriate communities in South America, I have collected data from the U.S. State Department Background Notes:

You’d think Id be a dab hand at this visa lark. Believe me, no matter how much you travel decoding visa application websites doesnt get any easier. Finding the official website can even be tricky. The website I applied for my visa on was www.thaiconsul-uk.com Click on visas & downloads and you can download the application form. You will need to send a passport photo and the appropriate fee. currently £28 per entry plus £8 fro the safe return of your passport. Essential.

I have decided to go prepared, well at lease to my 1st port of call. They say the world has tightened up some what. Gone are the days when you can just turn up and wangle your way in to a country with a few dollars tucked into your passport for the ‘oh so official official on the border. Im told its best to go prepared these days. Note: this is advice given to me by the travel agents I booked my ticket with, we know they like to play it safe. Im not one for being too sorted, I like to wing it, but for the sake of £56 I have applied for a Thai visa. Multi stop I’ll add. Everyone knows you always seem to end up back in Thailand after leaving. This is an unwritten rule among travellers. If in doubt head for Bangkok. Incidently where I fly to 1st.

So I get a ’sorry you were out’ Royal Mail note through the door. Which wouldnt be a problem if i could run down to the depot and pick up my passport. however: they have instructed me to wait 48 hrs before i can retrieve my package. I thought id be cleaver go on the off-chance that it would be there. Nope I have actually got to wait 48hrs. No amount of pleading or explaining that i needed my passport asap as I need to send it off to the Vietnamese embassy. They just didnt understand my urgency, obviously not travellers themselves. So im am going to pop in before I go to work tomorrow. Pain.

Through quite a bit of extensive research as no one could really give me the answers I needed regarding whether it is possible to get a visa on entry to Vietnam I stumbled across my answer.

 The official Vietnamese embassy website www.vietnamembassyhomepage.com Click on Vietnamese Visa and select the relevent visa form. Current price is £38 for a single entry plus £8 for the return of your passport. you will need to send a passport photo and a self-addressed envelope with your form.

O site da embaixada de Angola em Londres tem informações sobre a concessão do vistos durante o CAN 2010

The home page of the Angolan Embassy in London has updated information about how to obtain a visa to visit Angola during the CAN football championship.

I am at the International Conference on Migration, Citizenship and Intercultural Relations in Melbourne at the moment.

Just heard a great lecture from Stephen Castles – much to think about! Castles predicts that by 2050 the birth rate will have decreased in the Global South to the level of that now in the Global North.

Castles asked the audience a  question I have heard asked once or twice before – but it is still a good one: ‘raise  your hand if you were born in Australia’.

Answer for this audience – about one quarter.

My mind wandered (as it usually does, even in a lecture as good as Castles’) and I thought of a question I would like to ask Australian audiences:

‘How many of you have a friend or relative experiencing visa difficulties right now?’

My answer: 2 close relatives, one very close friend, and many other friends.

How about you?

Your Social Life Abroad – Shared experience by an expat wife

This is her story;

In Saudi Arabia, where about one-third of all residents are from other parts of the world, expatriates live on enclosed compounds isolated from the local community. As a result, they reach out to each other and forge social ties with an ease rarely experienced at home.

Activities for expats there included sports, music, drama, dancing, art and cultural events. The hospital where I worked as a nurse has a social club that sponsors day trips in the Riyadh area as well as aerobics classes. Various groups organized overnight desert camping trips.

I went on desert walks and runs with the Hash House Harriers, a running/social club found in many countries. I took a scuba diving course became PADI-certified along with other expatriates in the Red Sea in Jedda.

Being a married expat is different from being a single person who is dating, and living in England is also a very different type of expat experience. Being part of an expatriate community isn’t an option here as it is in certain other areas. I value having expat friends, and I also want to assimilate into the local community.

Tips for Expats

Do your homework before moving overseas

Before making your move, do as much research as possible to learn about your future home and to quash any preconceived ideas. Investigate websites geared toward expatriates. Look for viewpoints of outsiders who have been there, regardless of where they’re from.

Be open to new experiences

Seek out other newcomers

If you live in a small community, you may need to venture to a metropolitan area. I met other expatriate nurses by traveling to London for events hosted by the healthcare recruitment agency that helped me land my job.

Angela Henry, an American expatriate who has lived in Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and now Singapore, suggests attending functions of women’s organizations. For a list, see the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (www.fawco.org). Don’t discount a group because you don’t fit its demographics. The American Women’s Club of Thailand (www.awcthailand.org) is open to all nationalities, and there are other similar examples.

Get to know the local people and culture

Local people are surrounded by familiar support systems and may not recognize the needs of a newcomer who is an outsider. This is understandable.

Often there are language hurdles to overcome. My sister. who teaches English in Milan and is fluent in Italian, advises making every attempt to learn the language of the country where you’ll be living. Even after living there off and on for over a decade, she says she still feels somewhat like an outsider.

Cultural differences can be a hurdle, too. In Saudi Arabia, English was the official language of the hospital where I worked but patients spoke mostly Arabic, so I learned some Arabic. I found that misunderstandings arose more because of the way things were said rather than the actual words, particularly between men and women. Tone of voice is important when asking a local male staff member to do something.

With English people, I find the similarities greater than the differences, But even among English speakers, some miscommunications occur. If I say that someone called, people here in England assume that the person popped in for a visit, while I mean that the person telephoned.

To get to know local people, put in an appearance in places where they go. Consider churches, charitable groups, schools, athletic clubs, exercise classes, cases, dance clubs, to name a few. Showing up just once may be all it takes to spark a connection with someone who shares your interests.

Regardless of where you are, how long you’ll stay and whether you want to date or make friends or both, a conscious effort is required. Seek advice from colleagues and acquaintances. Investigate social groups and events, and plan ahead.Ê

Resume from my wife diary

Your spouse has been offered a job and the move seems exciting and full of possibilities. Then you find out you won’t be able to work. Maybe your skills aren’t transferable, or maybe the new country has employment restrictions. Whatever the case, you’re about to join the ranks of the unemployed abroad, otherwise known as trailing spouses.

If you do go, you may be able to work even if you were initially told this would be impossible. Some individuals I knew in Hong Kong were in this predicament. They took matters into their own hands, and once the working partners were well established, they explored a variety of options and eventually found jobs after receiving sponsorship from employers.

There are other possibilities: freelance work, starting a business and working without pay. Or, you could choose to further your education, locally or via the Internet. Any skills you acquire can be valuable in the long run.Your spouse has been offered a job and the move seems exciting and full of possibilities. Then you find out you won’t be able to work. Maybe your skills aren’t transferable, or maybe the new country has employment restrictions. Whatever the case, you’re about to join the ranks of the unemployed abroad, otherwise known as trailing spouses.

Set Some Worthy Goals

Whether or not you’re working, you’ll want to make the most of your time abroad. The first thing you should do, I firmly believe, is buy yourself a really good camera. It can help you stay in touch with family and friends who are continents away, and it can let you assemble a pictorial memoir of your experiences

The second thing is draw up a list. Sit down with a glass of wine or a cup of java, if you prefer, and a pen. Now think of all the things that prompted you to agree to this move in addition to the companionship of your spouse. The lure of travel? The opportunity to appreciate a different way of life or to learn a new language? Write a list of all the things that you want to do, and keep adding to it. When you see something interesting in a newspaper or magazine clip it out, save it and add it to your list.

When we moved to Hong Kong, my list grew weekly. My list at first included – visit different countries though the region, learn Cantonese, and see the Great Wall of China. The longer I was there, the more variety in the items on my list. Looking back, I can see how different interests prompted new adventures.

One of my goals was to get fit. I learned tai chi, did a couple of classes of fan dancing and sword dancing, and then fell in love with dragon boating. I became the captain of a dragon boat team, bought a share in a boat and paddled in local races across Hong Kong. In the off-season, I stayed in shape by paddling an outrigger canoe, and paddled from Hong Kong to Macau and back. Our team was met by Immigration at Hac Sa beach, and it was an amazing experience paddling out of Hong Kong into the South China Sea and then back, past all the huge cargo ships laden with containers, past Pokfulam, past Aberdeen Harbour through to Deepwater Bay.

My next goal was to run. Although I started out as a particularly hopeless runner, I set my target on doing the Hong Kong mountain races. I started by running across the Hong Kong countryside in pouring monsoon rain. Next I ran a 10-kilometer race through the tunnels of Hong Kong in the early morning along with about 10,000 others people, and finally managed to run the 15-kilometer mountain races, my feet laden with red clay and my body slick with mud.

My next challenge was local cuisine. I decided to learn to appreciate congee. So I roped in a couple of friends, and we toured the dai pai dongs of the city trying different varieties of congee. My favorite? Fish with ginger and sliced shallots. A friend introduced me to turnips cake, fungus soup and fried esophagus. I toured the markets, and ate salted eggs, hundred-year-old eggs and dried Chinese sausages. I experimented with fresh tofu, ate taufu fa with hot ginger syrup, toured the wildlife markets in Guangzhou, became a restaurant critic and learned how to make Indian parati in the streets of Lan Kwai Fong.

Learning more of the local culture was also on my list. I learned Mahjong, bought an abacus, took classes in Chinese herbal medicine, joined a group that did historical walks though Hong Kong and visited Zhuhai on furniture expeditions. I toured the cargo terminals, dressed up in jockey clothes in the Hong Kong Jockey Club and appeared in the Apple Daily newspaper.

I organized a clean-up day for a local beach, danced on the bar in Wan Chai and sang karaoke. I learned how to bargain, I ate rat and I drank snake wine. I learned how to string pearls. I did a stint as a model, inspected factories in China, taught English at primary school and interviewed politicians. After freelancing for a while, I eventually went to work full time.

Los congresos de México y Canadá exhortaron a sus gobiernos a iniciar un diálogo tendiente a eliminar los obstáculos para la obtención de las visas, así como también para determinar posiciones comunes frente al tráfico ilícito de armas que desde Estados Unidos llegan a estos dos países. De igual manera, México pidió a Canadá sumarse a la Iniciativa Mérida.

Al finalizar los trabajos de la XVI Reunión Interparlamentaria, el presidente del Senado mexicano, Carlos Navarrete Ruiz, y el del Parlamento de Canadá, Noël Kinsella, dieron a conocer en conferencia de prensa la declaración conjunta de los acuerdos que lograron después de cinco días de trabajos en el puerto de Saint John, en Nuevo Brunswik y Ottawa, en Canadá, que contiene 15 compromisos.

Entre los 15 puntos de la declaración de la Interparlamentaria, reconocieron los legisladores de ambos países que la imposición de visas por parte del gobierno de Canadá ha generado algunas dificultades que impactan negativamente los intercambios de visitantes, hombres de negocios, trabajadores temporales, estudiantes y académicos.

Los diputados y senadores mexicanos insistieron en la necesidad de que el gobierno canadiense garantice que se cumplan las obligaciones internacionales en materia de asilo. Al respecto, Noël Kinsella indicó que la posible eliminación de las visas sería un proceso a largo plazo, y que por el momento se debe revisar la posibilidad de reducir el monto que se paga por ellas.

Ambas delegaciones reconocieron que América del Norte enfrenta el reto de la seguridad hemisférica, sobre todo en temas como la seguridad fronteriza relacionada con el tráfico de personas y bienes, los problemas del crimen organizado y el tráfico de armas y drogas, así como el "lavado" de dinero.

Ante ello "se acordó sostener un diálogo permanente para llegar a posiciones comunes frente a ese país". Manifestaron su preocupación por el consumo de estupefacientes, la violencia que generan y los impactos negativos en las tres sociedades de América del Norte, "por lo que es necesaria la cooperación regional con enfoque de responsabilidad compartida que atienda la oferta y la demanda".

[Patricia Torres (OEM)]