Member-only story
The Long Road to British Citizenship
I never intended to become British — not when I flew out of Australia towards the UK and not when I landed in this lush green country. Not even when I was granted a resident visa.
I arrived in the UK with a two-year working-holiday visa back in 2004. I was lucky — I was ‘old’ to be travelling. A change to visa policy that year increased the age group able to apply for a working-holiday stint in Britain. So, at the grand old age of 28, I was able to apply for the opportunity to visit a country I had spent much of my childhood romanticising about. Most of my contemporaries had already travelled overseas and spent time in the UK. I was behind and ahead of them. I’d married young. When my marriage ended in divorce, I figured it was time to go back to plan ‘A’: see the world and travel to the UK.
Making my way to the UK
When travelling halfway around the world, it makes sense to see a few of the bits in between. I spent time in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal. I had also planned to spend a month or so in India, but this changed when I let myself be scammed in Nepal (a story for another time) and I only spent a day or two in Delhi.
I figured that my head would spin at the different cultures of South East Asia — and it did. The languages, sights, sounds, and smells are something that this…
