THE PLAN

our visa application

Once we had made the decision to move, a flood of questions and tasks started popping into our heads fast and furious. What do have to do to get the house ready to sell? Where will we store the things we want to keep but not ship to South Africa with us? What is the best way to sell the furniture and housewares we do not want to store? What about the cars? The boats? The plants? How will we ship things to South Africa? What about Lou and Serge? How do we move our dogs? Do they have to go into quarantine? What shots will we need? What additional shots should we get?  

As timing would have it, this came right on the eve of an already planned two week vacation to the Adirondacks and Quebec at the end of August. We decided this was probably going to be our last chance to really relax before we began the arduous process of migrating and we had better take the opportunity and not cancel our plans or we will be really, really sorry when we are pulling our hair out a few months from now. So we brought our laptops with us and spent the entire first day of our vacation in Lake Placid putting together a project plan, something that became known simply as THE PLAN (all capital letters). THE PLAN was going to be our friend and master over the next few months. We would refer to it every day, several times a day in fact, to make sure we were on track and not forgetting something critical. 

Plan complete ... let's party!

Now putting together THE PLAN might not sound like a great way to spend the first day of your vacation but if we had any hopes of enjoying ourselves and relaxing over the next two weeks, we needed to get the questions and to-do lists out of our heads and down on paper, so we could worry about them later.

THE PLAN was actually an Excel workbook with multiple spreadsheets. Each spreadsheet consisted of a list of tasks with a completion date and a responsible party to get the task done. There was a spreadsheet for Immigration Documentation (Work and Living visas), one for Selling the House, Pet Relocation, the actual logistics of Moving, and of course the miscellaneous spreadsheet "Other." Some things needed to happen before other things. Some tasks could happen concurrently. The concept of parallel task paths did add to the stress level though. We were selling off things and getting the house ready to sell while we were simultaneously applying for work and living visas (the job in South Africa was contingent upon their approval.) We were definitely moving. We were still hoping it would be to South Africa.

It took us about a month to gather all the necessary documents for our visa applications, get them certified or notarized, get our yellow fever shot and certification, have a tuberculosis screening done, get our doctor to document the fact that we had no mental illnesses (the irony of this was not lost on me!), get an FBI security clearance and otherwise complete the extensive application requirements. The immigration attorneys took about another month to prepare the application package for us to submit to the South African Embassy in New York and the South African Consulate estimated it would take about seven weeks for them to process, approve and grant the visas.

FBI check

Of course throughout the process, there was never any real assurance that it would indeed be ultimately approved by the South African government. Vince was applying for an Exceptional Skills Work Visa. In essence, the immigration attorneys had to prove that there was no one in South Africa, or in the world for that matter, who could do what Vince was being hired to do.  Basically it was akin to John Payne in Miracle on 34^th Street proving that Kris Kringle was the one and only real Santa Claus. Of course the South African government could always disagree and they didn’t even have to tell us why. 

Uhaul dragging the Bronco

All the while we were throwing things out, selling junk in a garage sale and on eBay and putting furniture on consignment. Luckily, the South African government agreed with John Payne that Kris Kringle had exceptional skills on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

SUV with wine and jewelry

This turned out to be ideal as Vince was able to give his two weeks’ notice to his partners and we could take Thanksgiving week to drive a Uhaul dragging a 1973 Bronco and my SUV, both  filled with unshippables (jewelry, wine, etc.) to family and friends out west to store until our return.





Better yet, it also allowed us to enjoy our last American Thanksgiving for a while with the same family and friends including Vince's 96 year old mother who sadly passed away only a few short months later. The opportunity to be with her on Thanksgiving Day was truly a Divine Intervention for which we remain grateful.

Once again, though frustrating at times and anxiety-ridden throughout, the timing worked out for the best. THE PLAN was a success. We were moving to South Africa after all!