I've lodged the visa application for the Brazilian guitarist, but there are still some obstacles to overcome.
The Department identifies five issues that I need to address. This is frustrating, but I know that if I deal with these issues one by one they will all be resolved eventually. I've never done any Immigration work before, but I reckon it helps to be a lawyer. I don't feel daunted by all the technical requirements. I'm used to working through small issues methodically and covering all the bases.
These are the five demands:
1. Revise the Nomination application by providing the new dates. Tick.
2. Please supply an Itinerary. Tick.
3. Provide a "contract". I recall that he counter-signed my letter of offer several months ago. Tick.
4. Provide legible contact details for the migration agent in Brazil. Tick.
5. Supply a copy of the travel insurance policy in English. Really?
Really? I have to pay for a translation? And how long is that likely to take?
If these are truly the final five issues, we are getting to the pointy end of the process. It's the end of my work day and I'm tired, but I don't want to lose any more time. I email Eneias and his agent asking if the insurance company might be able to supply an English version of the policy.
They don't think so.
With less than a year's study of Portuguese, even I can see that it provides for medical cover - that's what they need to know. But there are lots of abbreviations and strange symbols in this document. If I send it to some random translator, who knows what they might make of it?
I inquire whether this translation needs to be certified in any particular form. No, they say, just give us an English version. So. This translation could be prepared by anyone. Perhaps, even, by me?
I'm not very good at speaking or writing in Portuguese yet, but I can read.
I decide to give it a try. Not long ago, this idea would have seemed to me completely audacious and preposterous. Even in my best foreign languages - French and German - in which I have good written language skills - I have never attempted such a thing. I'm not an accredited translator and would never have presumed to translate a business document.
But now I start cutting and pasting paragraphs of Portuguese into an online translation site. Then I un-jumble the nonsense it spits out. I look up unfamiliar words in my dictionary, and the meaning begins to emerge. I'm buoyed by the fact that large tracts of the document are relevant only "in the event of a claim". I decide not to translate these sections in any detail, but to concentrate on the benefits conferred by the policy.
I format it in the same way as the original document, so the reader can compare the two. It's helpful to be able to understand insurance terms and to be familiar with travel insurance. I work on expressing the policy in the sort of terms you would expect to find in an Australian insurance policy.
As I work, I'm visited by the ghosts of translations past. French and German exams where you were not allowed to use a dictionary. Labouring over Latin texts - spot the verb! My "Rosetta Stone" moment on the top floor of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, when I began to decipher Russian cyrillic writing. Together they help me with this last, crucial test.
With each paragraph, my confidence grows. It no longer feels like a forbidden task. I work on it feverishly, gleefully. The idea that Mr Google and I are working as a team makes me giggle. The whole process takes me about three hours, and a sleepless night follows.
I submit the translation and ask "Have I now provided everything you require?" No response. A further two emails also go unanswered.
Things have fallen into a black hole. My pen-pal at the Immigration Department has stopped writing to me.
They have not even sent me an invoice. But when I check my credit card statement online, I see that I have been charged for the application fee. So here's hoping that's a good sign.
Now I will wait and hope.
The Department identifies five issues that I need to address. This is frustrating, but I know that if I deal with these issues one by one they will all be resolved eventually. I've never done any Immigration work before, but I reckon it helps to be a lawyer. I don't feel daunted by all the technical requirements. I'm used to working through small issues methodically and covering all the bases.
These are the five demands:
1. Revise the Nomination application by providing the new dates. Tick.
2. Please supply an Itinerary. Tick.
3. Provide a "contract". I recall that he counter-signed my letter of offer several months ago. Tick.
4. Provide legible contact details for the migration agent in Brazil. Tick.
5. Supply a copy of the travel insurance policy in English. Really?
Really? I have to pay for a translation? And how long is that likely to take?
If these are truly the final five issues, we are getting to the pointy end of the process. It's the end of my work day and I'm tired, but I don't want to lose any more time. I email Eneias and his agent asking if the insurance company might be able to supply an English version of the policy.
They don't think so.
With less than a year's study of Portuguese, even I can see that it provides for medical cover - that's what they need to know. But there are lots of abbreviations and strange symbols in this document. If I send it to some random translator, who knows what they might make of it?
I inquire whether this translation needs to be certified in any particular form. No, they say, just give us an English version. So. This translation could be prepared by anyone. Perhaps, even, by me?
I'm not very good at speaking or writing in Portuguese yet, but I can read.
I decide to give it a try. Not long ago, this idea would have seemed to me completely audacious and preposterous. Even in my best foreign languages - French and German - in which I have good written language skills - I have never attempted such a thing. I'm not an accredited translator and would never have presumed to translate a business document.
But now I start cutting and pasting paragraphs of Portuguese into an online translation site. Then I un-jumble the nonsense it spits out. I look up unfamiliar words in my dictionary, and the meaning begins to emerge. I'm buoyed by the fact that large tracts of the document are relevant only "in the event of a claim". I decide not to translate these sections in any detail, but to concentrate on the benefits conferred by the policy.
I format it in the same way as the original document, so the reader can compare the two. It's helpful to be able to understand insurance terms and to be familiar with travel insurance. I work on expressing the policy in the sort of terms you would expect to find in an Australian insurance policy.
As I work, I'm visited by the ghosts of translations past. French and German exams where you were not allowed to use a dictionary. Labouring over Latin texts - spot the verb! My "Rosetta Stone" moment on the top floor of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, when I began to decipher Russian cyrillic writing. Together they help me with this last, crucial test.
With each paragraph, my confidence grows. It no longer feels like a forbidden task. I work on it feverishly, gleefully. The idea that Mr Google and I are working as a team makes me giggle. The whole process takes me about three hours, and a sleepless night follows.
I submit the translation and ask "Have I now provided everything you require?" No response. A further two emails also go unanswered.
Things have fallen into a black hole. My pen-pal at the Immigration Department has stopped writing to me.
They have not even sent me an invoice. But when I check my credit card statement online, I see that I have been charged for the application fee. So here's hoping that's a good sign.
Now I will wait and hope.
