Two Dad Family

As Tom and Alice were not born in Australia, they are not automatically Australian Citizens.  Therefore, we must submit an application to request that the Australian Government grants them citizenship as they are descendants of Australians.

It’s a pretty detailed application process, but there are no complaints here. When you travel around a little you realise how wonderful Australia is, and so I don’t mind a process with a bit of rigour.

After a week and a half of collecting documents, we finally submitted our applications to the Australian High Commission today. It was like we were back in university, rushing to put the final touches on our little project and binding everything together before submitting it for review.

The application included the Application Form, DNA Tests, Surrogacy Agreements, Endorsed Photos, our Birth Certificates, Passports, Bank Cheque, Affidavits, University Qualifications, Discharge Summaries, Legal Review and letters from the Hospital, IVF Agency and Surrogacy Agency. It also needed to include the children’s Birth Certicates, but that has been a little difficult.

You see, the Government Agency that prints Birth Certificates in India has a printer issue. We think they have run out of Cyan or Magenta ink, becuase the certicates print with large pink stripes down them. This has held us up about five days, and they can’t seem to rectify the situation. I even offered to buy the Indian Government a new printer, but that didn’t work.

So in exasperation, we have submitted our application with pink striped Birth Certificates. We are hoping that this touch of flair will only help to expedite the approval process.

So now we wait for about a week before the application is approved. The day it’s approved we’ll have Vegemite on Toast to celebrate.