it's done

Well, it's done. About 10 days ago -- the day after I arrived in Pretoria -- I handed in my Swedish residency permit application. I could have done it earlier in the US but that would have been a bit more complicated. The Swedish embassy here is within walking distance while in the US I would have had to send my passport to L.A.

I started working on it after the Python conference. I spent a lot of time on my talk for the conference, then spent time working on my business plans. I think I can only write so much per week, and beyond that I don't have much time for blogging like this.

The first few drafts were very technical. I had many, many pages of different possibilities. Craig pointed out it was more that I was trying to convince myself that it would work, and not the Swedish government. He convinced me to drastically shorten it. The result was about 1/2 page for the plan, 1/2 page for marketing, and a few more pages for the other requirements. I only really talked about the consulting side of things. While I did mention some other possibilities I left out a lot of depth.

Ayton went with me to the embassy, to help with directions. The woman at the desk didn't know what to do so she got another woman to help me out. I said "I'm would like to apply for residency for Sweden as a self-employed person." She gave me the form to fill out. I pointed out that I had all the information ready to submit.

This was the first time she'd done the self-employed permit using migrationsverket's new electronic system. I figure there aren't many who apply to Sweden as a self-employed person, and of course even fewer doing so through the South Africa consulate. I had to pay R1000, deposited into their bank before processing continued. Took care of that, again with Ayton's help.

Sat around for a bit while she entered the forms into the system. There was a bit of confusion, again because of the newness of the process. It wanted "employer in Sweden", so she used an AstraZeneca contact. Waited some more .. and it was done.

Now the wait. Migrationsverket by email said it would be about 5 months before I hear back. I should check online to see how things are going.