Today I called the immigration police here in Oslo to ask (for what seems like the hundredth time) about the status of my visa application. They told me my application was approved at the end of last week and that I can come down any time to have my new permit stamped into my passport! Hooray!

This might not seem like a very big deal, especially for those who have never applied for a work and/or residence permit in a foreign country, but since I’ve been here in Norway for two years now, and have technically been a “working holiday maker” for most of that time, it’s a massive relief.

When I first got to Norway in March of 2006, I was just on a holiday visa, which meant I could only stay for three months and couldn’t work. When that was over, I went back to Australia to pack up  my house and my life (which took two months) and while that was happening we discovered that the easiest way for me to be able to get back to Norway was to apply for a working holiday visa. It was approved within two weeks an enabled me to get back there and start work as soon as I could find a job.

When that visa was running out, we were advised to extend the working holiday visa so that I would be covered for another year, and then apply for the first time work/residence permit once that was granted. It took three months to process the extension, and then we decided to wait until March to apply again so that we would have evidence of two years living together in Norway, as well as our previous four years in Australia.

It might not sound like that gruelling a process, but considering we’d already been through all of this once back in Australia, it was exhausting to do it all over again. At the last minute I was told that we needed to provide further past evidence of our relationship, so I had to get my Dad to send over some tax documents and bills in our joint names from Australia… oh how I waited every day by the mail box. Let me tell you, when they say international express post will take 2-3 business days, don’t you believe it! It took six working days in the end. Six nail-biting, mailbox-checking, neck-knot-creating days. I should have used a courier company. Thank you Australia Post.

Anyway, in the end it has all worked out just in the nick of time. My working holiday visa was due to expire on the 10th of August, so it’s not a moment too soon. Even though I would have been able to stay while they made their decision, I couldn’t work and I couldn’t travel… or rather, if I did leave the country I wouldn’t be able to come back.

So THANK YOU to the immigration police in Oslo for responding to my request for haste. I could literally vomit from relief. But instead I think I’ll just take a few deep, calming breaths and begin to enjoy being a resident of Norway.