The Saustrup Family Blog

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. This was the case in Shakespeare’s Hamlet but it also applies to the immigration office. After waiting almost eight weeks for a generic visa questionnaire, it finally arrived on Friday. It was returned Saturday morning, complete with 20+ pages attached, documenting our relationship.

The questionnaire itself was 4 pages, will questions like “Is the applicant your wife?” closely followed by “Is the applicant your fiancée or girlfriend?” They also wanted the exact dates of our previous meetings, and wanted to know if I could cover any expenses including the return ticket. I already informed them of this on the initial invitation - which is required to get a visa - but apparently that wasn’t enough. They wanted evidence of our relationship.
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When some people talk about long distance relationships, they usually mean something like a couple of hundred kilometers. Maybe even miles.  Traveling back and forth between Århus, Denmark and Saint Petersburg, Russia puts that in perspective. It’s more than 10 hours from door to door, and it can be rough.

It was a lovely couple of weeks though and rest assured - we’re still very happy and we’re still working towards a life together under the same roof. I travelled light when I went there, so on my way home I had room to spare. I brought home some of Nina’s things, so we had a little less stuff to drag to Denmark once she gets her residence permit. It might sound silly, but having some of her clothes in my closet and her shoes in my hallway feels nice.

Really nice.