For definitive information, please contact your local exchange coordinator. This post just gives a sense of the kinds of documents you will need. Some of them can’t be tended to until others are done.
The Exchange Application
You need pictures and floor plans for your accommodations, your teaching timetable, and professional, personal, and community profiles as well as
Exchange Acceptance
Once my exchange partner and I agreed to the exchange, we formally accepted the offer and had our respective principals and superintendents sign the agreement.
Program Participation documents
This included naming community and school sponsors who will greet, and serve as points of contact for my exchange partner. I also had to prepare at least 4 weeks lessons plans to ease transition into the position. Another form included school duties beyond the classroom.
Travel Arrangements
We worked with an online travel agent based in BC. He needed copies of our passport information pages, and a payment authorization form.
Visa Application (Australia)
Passport – you will want your passport to be valid for the full length of the exchange and possibly a few months afterward. My passport was due to expire two weeks prior to our return. I was able to go to the passport office and arrange an early renewal. They wanted a letter detailing the reason for the request, but it was processed without difficulty. Certified copied of the ID page are required for visa applications, and the passport number is needed for booking international travel.
Birth Certificate – this is one of the many documents for which you will need a certified copy. One copy for the visa application and another for my New South Wales teaching certification application.
Criminal Record / Sensitive Sector reports
Health Insurance / Coverage – provincial health providers may offer term certificates for health coverage while on extended travel. In order to get this, I needed to complete an application for extension of benefits and show evidence of the exchange agreement (provided by my provincial coordinator)
Extended Health coverage provided through my employer wanted copies of the provincial term certificates to extend our plan coverage while overseas.
Teaching Certificate – this was required for my New South Wales teaching certification application.
Visa Application (China)
Because we are planning a layover on the way there, we needed transit visas for our stop in China. The online form resulted in a PDF we mailed along with travel itineraries, and our original passports meaning that we could not leave the country until we got them back!)
Teaching Certification
Getting permission to teach in New South Wales involved filling out an online form, sending university transcripts, and a copy of my current certification and birth certificate.
Power of Attorney
We also met with our lawyer to arrange for temporary power of attorney while we are away and updated our wills.
Child’s School Registration
The visa under which I am working in Australia allows my son to attend schools at no additional costs. We received a registration form and letter for him and have to include his passport information page, and our specific work visa number.
Medical Benefits
We had to apply for an extension of our provincial health care benefits and contact our work health plan for an extension of benefits for the duration of our stay.
Working our way through these requirements is really making us “clean house” and get everything in order. There is a lot of paperwork to manage, but we worked at being organized from the start with a central binder for correspondence, copies of documents, and the program documentation. We also have a folder for current and outstanding items that are time sensitive, or conditional on other documents. It is a bit of a puzzle as some pieces can be placed early, while others have to wait until more pieces are in place.
