Meeting Follow Up

I want to thank all of you for praying about my visa meeting last Thursday. Nothing was really decided in that meeting because the solicitor (lawyer) we met with wants to see all of our financial records first. So in a few weeks we will be sending him financial records from Baptist Mid Missions home office in Ohio, BMM Australia, and the Bible College where I work. He will receive my personal financial records as well. The plan is to show the finances as a whole (BMM International, BMM Australia, Victoria Baptist Bible College) instead of just Baptist Mid Missions Australia.

Another thing that we discussed is how to get future missionaries permanent residency visas. The Solicitor told us that there is a way which could possibly accomplish this. We would need to prove that Baptist Mid Missions Australia is a subsidiary of Baptist Mid Missions in Ohio. The home office has enough funds to cover the visa's financial requirements. So future families would be able to gain permanent residency on the basis of BMM Internationals funds.

While this plan is not guaranteed to work I am praying that God would allow it to. It is very important that future missionaries are able to have permanent status in Australia. Also we have a family that should be arriving in the next two years as full time missionaries. Please pray that with the solicitors help we will be able to gain the proper visa's for them.

While nothing was decided regarding me in Thursdays meeting, it became obvious that gaining a permanent visa for myself will be a fight. In the solicitors opinion I would not be allowed to take the new plan of action because I have already applied once for a P.R. Visa through the normal channels. What decides whether or not I receive a visa has everything to do with finances.

Because of recent immigration laws the government of Australia asks that individuals be paid by companies in Australia. This of course is an issue for me because I receive my salary from the United States. The laws also demand that those who apply for a permanent visa have a very high yearly salary. This is to make sure that we do not end up living off of the government which I totally understand.

The bottom line to this whole situation is quite simple. If the Immigration department decides to take in account the financial status of BMM International in the states as well as BMM Australia I will probably get my visa. If not then according to the solicitor I am “doomed” (which wasn't too encouraging). A part of me wanted to just give up on getting a permanent visa. But by the time I got home God had changed my mind. So I am going to send all the financial records I have to the solicitor, and pray that God's will would be done.

Please pray that this plan for obtaining permanent residency visas for new missionaries would work. That is actually why I decided to meet with solicitor in the first place. It was my hope that by gaining a visa I would become a precedent for other missionaries. Also pray that God's will would be done in my visa process. I am perfectly happy to continue renewing my two year religious workers visa while here in Australia. But it would be nice to become a permanent resident.