The whole process was expensive, labrynthine & nervewracking, but in the end, we got to the UK. Fast forward three years, and our son is born in England in 2014. Because the UK has no jus soli, he has no British citizenship; we have to apply to have him recognised as Australian.
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This also means that we need to get him a passport so that he can one day leave the country. Which means travelling, in person, to a far-distant visa authority office, which is basically a warehouse, with an infant in tow. We were there for about SEVEN HOURS.
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Fun fact about visa authority offices: even though it's legally required for children and babies to attend under various circumstances, they contain absolutely zero provisions for people attending with small children. Seven hours in a warehouse with no baby change tables.
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We were only able to get hot water to mix with my son's formula by asking to use the employee kitchen, and even then, the guards wouldn't let us in there; they brought us the water, with several frowning and lowkey chiding us as though we had any say in being there with him.
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I'll note, too, that consulates are similarly restrictive about the needs of babies, but at least they have the excuse of actual security risks to consider and try to run smoothly and on time to compensate for it. The UK visa authority warehouses? Not so much.
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Fastforward again to 2015: we're living in Scotland and considering applying for permanent residency, which means taking the UK citizenship test. The visa processing centre in Aberdeen had been closed, so we had to drive five hours to the one in Dundee after prepaying etc online.
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We get to the Dundee centre. It's basically a fancy shed: the entire thing is basically one open room on several levels with office dividers put up. It's freezing cold outside. We, like many other applicants, have our toddler with us of necessity. But "no babies allowed" inside.
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This is justified because, as stated, the whole place is just a shed - there's no walls between the testing & waiting areas, and they don't want child-noise to distract the test-takers. So anyone with a small child has to wait with them outside. IN SCOTLAND. IN WINTER.
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If an adult showed up alone with a baby? They would've been turned away. Parents who came in pairs had to take turns with their kid outside, where there was no shelter and no place to sit. In 4C weather, I saw a frozen woman cradling a baby in arms as she paced in the wind.
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If there'd only been one such woman, I would've offered. But there were like six people outside. One other had a baby in a covered stroller, others with toddlers. It was not great.
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