Hello people...

I thought I would share my rather disjointed experience with you all and hopefully someone will find the information useful.

The story so far.... My children have SA passports that expire end of June 2006 and I have both an Irish passport and a SA passport and I am divorced. My ex lives in SA and is very unhelpful and in my humble opinion a real dickhead. :crylol:

So with all the passport issues going on (no more temp passports, blank passport paper going AWOL,etc) I decide to renew the boy's passports TODAY and submit the applications in preparation for our holiday back to SA in DECEMBER!!!

I arrive at around 8am, twenty in the queue waiting patiently for the offices to open at 8:45. They open, we all march in and wait... and wait... and wait!

I get to the main desk and produce the completed forms, current passports and both my SA and Irish passport, Fax from my ex (took months to get!) which says he gives his consent,blah blah blah. The lady looks at them and then shows me that my ex has written his ID number incorrectly and the copy of the ID is not clear enough. I then ask if they can take the forms in and I will sort out a fax from the ex to them directly... sadly no. So I am told that if I come back with the right letter and a clearer ID then all is kewl. I ask again if the application and corresponding documents are correct and she assures me they are.

Its 11am I have till 12:45 to phone SA and sort it out. Mobile nogal I phone, I speak to the new wife and express my feelings (giggle)... explain that if they scan the documents and type the letter correctly then they can email it to me and I will find an internet cafe and print it...

Low and behold they do this, I find said internet cafe (next to Subway on the same street as SA house itself) and pay £2 for an hours internet and £3.60 to print two documents!!! (yes, crazy)... with half an hour to spare I run back and enter the queue - in the front as was suggested.

Now the fun starts... the lady is no longer there and I am confronted with the most obnoxious (sp) man ever who tries his hardest to intimidate me - does not work. I suggest that I speak with his supervisor as I am NOT going away. The problem he says is with my Irish nationality and citizenship... I have not brought with me my Irish birth certificate or letter from SA govt to say I can have two passports (note I asked about this letter as it is about to expire and was told it was not worth the paper it was written on anymore... so a bit puzzled as to its sudden importance)

I am also alerted to my idiot ex husband who has forgotten to write his own childs name correctly!

OK so bottom line - I left without submitting any forms... I will now post them but this is the frustration - if you have two passports and are applying for your children's SA passport (renewal) and are honest enough to admit to a different nationality you need the following:

Copy of birth certificate (in my case my long Irish one) and my SA one
copy of the letter issued by SA govt
Kids unabridged birth certificates
back page of kids current passports and any pages that contain UK visa stuff
Copy of divorce decree
If unable to get ex to sign application then a letter faxed/scanned will suffice so long as it is signed, clear and mentions all children and why the consent is being given (the cheek of it is the **shole has not paid a cent since we arrived 5 years ago - nor makes any contact with kids and i have custody!!!)
Copy of ex's ID - CLEAR copy - I have it scanned and printed in colour!
£10 PER application for the kids.

Post it to:

South African High Commision
15 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2DD

I have a contact name and number which I will not enter here as in the end this lady was really helpful and I would hope to keep that line of communication open!

BUT I do hope anyone else applying or needing a passport in the next year realises - APPLY early, dont believe all you read on the internet and also note that as from the 5th June - NO walk in applications will be accepted!!!!!!!!!!

Applications for most of their services can then only be made by an appointment!!!!!

I certainally choose some places to live in. Moved so often 24 in total. Before the small,welsh dorp with welsh speakers (yes it does exist) I lived in Stoke on Trent (sorry to those who live there)

Is there anybody out there? :anyone:

:am:

No yippeeeeee it is Friday for me.... I am working most of the weekend! pring:

Enjoy your day - the sun is shining a weak, but it is out! :yes:

Blessings!

:jive:

...tweak your teams, if needed, in the various F1 fantasy leagues

As most of you know, I've recently got married & moved with my 4 year old son to Denmark. My son is really battling to settle. He's never been a good eater but has now basically stopped eating. I cannot remember when he last had a meal. We've taken him to the doctor & have an appointment to see a paediatrician later this month. He also tells me almost on a daily basis that he's so sad. ad: He misses my dad, who he is very close to. He misses his friends & he misses our old routine. He's also battling to fit into his new kindergarten because of the language barrier. He is starting to learn Danish at kindergarten so I'm hoping this will help him. As you can imagine, I'm very worried about him. Did any of you experience similar problems when you emigrated with your children? What can I do to try to help him?

:jive: The unny: is out! :jive:

Enjoy your day!

:yes:

I have just noticed that a new record for the "most users ever on line" was last night - 272.
May Globalbuzz continue to grow from strength to strength.
:lovebuzz:

I am in such a confused state at the moment!

A little bit of history! I have been working at my current job for the last 4 years. I really do enjoy the work because its interesting and some times I don't know what is awaiting for me when I get to work. We have a few really exciting things on the horizon, which I will be very involved with.

My salary is pathetic so its not the money. I know that there are poeple doing the same job that I do and getting a much more money!

Last friday our Deputy Head called a meeting and basically said that all ta's and support staff would be regraded. This involved been graded to a higher level. Alll the TA's and support staff are very unhappy about this because there are a lot of differences between TA's working just as a class TA or a TA who deals with a special needs child on a one to one basis or people like myself who are specialised. The attitude of manager is that there is no room for negotiations and we have to just live with it! There is no sense of appreciate from anyone!

Just to add to the unhappyness at the end of March the ICT co-ordinator who I worked very closely with left and they have now employed someone who has very little IT knowledge and its really hard work. He has given me freedom to do stuff and to organise things. I feel the only reason he has done this is because he does not have the knowledge. My argument is why was he employed as Head of ICT when he does not have a clue! When I was speaking to the Ex ICT Co-ordinator she said that its only once you leave a place that you realise what a bad karma/atmosphere there is at this current school.

The problem is that my kinda job does not come up very often and I could do with finding another one! Unfortunatly even though I know my job very well I lack the confidence in my ability to look for another job. Should I just bite the bullet and send my cv out into the market place or do I stick with it cause it convient!

Sorry about the rant just very confused.

honeymoon starts may 15 in CT and we would love to know where the best restaurant is for us to celebrate in SA

Did you know.....That you can renew your cartax online? I've just done mine today, and it's great - only took about three minutes!. :thumbs: Highly recommended!