The plan made some sense and I arrived in sunny Kyiv on 1 June. After a selection of red hot days and thunderstorm days I'll head home on 22 June and all tasks should have been completed. Today I submitted the Visa Application form for Olga, having finally agreed the vast number of documents needed to go with it. A quite extraordinary collection of photos, messages, Skype conversation times, bank statements, family details, marriage and divorce documents, house floor plans, P60s, payslips and much more that I can't recall now! The bill for the application was a staggering €4111 to which an English test fee of about €200 and a TB test fee of another €200 need to be added as well as some money for the agency who have helped us out it all together and who will translate Olga's Ukraine documents too. That's about £4000 all together and, luckily, I had that in my Paypal account.
So now I need to sell a good few Corgis to get the balance back to a respectable figure again! Once I've done that it will be nice to think that Corgis have paid for my wife in a funny way that makes it seem effectively at little cost at all.
All this has required tests galore. There was the PCR test to get here in the first place and then the English test that Olga passed so wonderfully unexpectedly! Then the TB test which was quite a strange affair. We started in a Medical Centre in Kyiv, one that was approved for migrations services, but where the power was cut off almost as soon as Olga had entered the building! That entailed us being marched at breakneck speed through the streets of that part of town to another place where the registration details could be confirmed on a computer that was operational.
After that we had to race to keep up with the medical centre girl who led us to another place where the TB examination would actually be done, comprising an x-ray negative which a doctor would study and report on. With the huge negative in a plastic carrier bag we get led back to the place we started and now the electricity was working so I could pay the money for the service and we get to keep the negative as well as a laminated certificate with signatures and stamps on.
This certificate confirmed that Olga doesn't have TB (which we were pretty sure about anyway) but it did highlight some 'minor scarring' somewhere which worried Olga quite a lot. She decided against asking her doctor, though, but I suspect she will have to get this looked at again when she eventually arrives in England. I think it is comparatively minor but, at the time, she was not at all well, coughing and even thought she might have COVID-19 herself! It seems that wasn't the case but we both feel that we might have had it way back in December 2019 / January 2020 and this could have led to the scarring of some tissue in her case.
Anyway, I don't think the 'abnormal' element on the certificate will detract from her chances of getting the visa we seek. She will have to go to Kyiv to get all the translated papers and submit the application at the Embassy office and that might be quite soon, thus completing the process - hopefully this month. With a 12 week estimate of service she could get the visa issued in September with a bit of luck and be here in October. I have already started looking at holiday accommodation and flights in November!
To get back to Britain I need three ruddy tests. The first we've booked up with a place in Zhytomyr where they do it all and promise a result moreorless the same day. Most impressive! The cost is modest too - under 1000UAH I think or £20 or so. So I'll get that on Sunday and it gives me bags of time for the Tuesday flight.
I then need to quote the reference numbers, for tests ordered for the two days required after my return, on an online form within 48 hours of departure. So I have had to buy those for £90 (the pair) with a modest £6 discount from WizzAir. I depart at about 1pm on Tuesday so will start the form at about 1pm on Sunday or when I get back from my first PCR test. Assuming I do get let back in then I'll have to do the two further tests on Thursday and the following Wednesday. I wonder if I have to drop them off like before in a drop box? That's interesting as it means I get to go out when i should be isolating?
Maybe I get to post these instead. I'll see in due course. As before, I hope to be able to get the orders off to people and also stock up some essential food at least which I am sure is permitted and the ten days will soon pass.
My return here to Zhytomyr is scheduled for 5 August with a fairly brief visit in this case, leaving for Britain again on 19 August. With a visa result expected a few weeks later, the timing ought to work out well and I would return in early October to bring her home. I have chosen WizzFlex just in case as, if we do happen to hear earlier then I may be able to adjust the flights.
Either way, we should soon be on our way and I can start enjoying married life and trying to make some money again!
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