NBV - Nurses Board of Victoria.

As stated in an earlier post, our priority is for Mary to register with the Nurses Board of Victoria.

The complex and lengthy application forms and supporting evidence are in hand and once signed by a Solicitor (or similar) they can be airmailed to NBV in Oz.

After reading messages on the 'nurses thread' at the British Expats forum, it looks like our plans are not as acheivable (timewise) as we had first thought.

The problem is this: NBV are apparently overwhelmed and have amassed a backlog of some 5000 applications. At the moment, applications which have been processed in recent weeks have taken some 5 months. Due to seasonal 'high tide' for applications it seems that if we submit today we can probably expect to wait upto 8 months. Not good.

In overall terms, this application is a small piece of the jigsaw - and looks set to control our arrival date. No NBV reg = no visa. Once NBV reg is in hand the visa should then be issued almost instantly. Having no idea how long this will take means that we can't book flights well in advance, so will probably pay more. Career plans in the UK become uncertain in the meantime, living in limbo. Add to this the frustration felt by many applicants to NBV who say that they are not notified of any problems with their application until they chase it up personally.

It looks like we are in for an 'interesting time' between now and summer. My hope for a life with less beaurocracy is starting to look naive. Doh!