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Showing posts from July 5, 2024

Newborn, new experiences (2) 新生兒,新體驗 (2)

After the baby's birth, it's not only the baby that needs caring for but also the related bureaucracy, which is no less difficult! 嬰兒出生後,除了照顧,也有些政府事務要辦理的,只不過在澳洲,難度不亞於照顧嬰兒! Birth certificates in Australia are issued by individual states, and in our state of Victoria the rule is to apply for one within 60 days of birth (my Dutch friend found this unbelievable as the time limit in the Netherlands is only 3 days!) The only channel of application is online and the advertised typical processing time is 9 weeks! Wife and I wondered how difficult issuing a piece of paper could be, and 9 weeks was actually no exaggeration. We applied about 3 weeks after baby's birth, and 5 weeks after submission we were asked to provide further information. Eventually we got the certificate at the end of February at the 5-month mark! 「出世紙」(香港對出生證明書的俗稱)是一生人第一份身份證明文件,在澳洲由歸每個州管轄。我們所在的維多利亞州規定嬰孩出生後60天登申請(我的荷蘭朋友覺得不可思議,因為當地必須在3天內登記嬰孩出生!),唯一渠道是網上申請,而且一般處理時間是9週!我和太太心想,發一張出世紙有多難啊?結果原來9週不是虛言,我們10月中網上申請後約5週