Immigration
Living in a foreign land as an alien one must deal with immigration regularly. Our former country was simpler in many ways; we had a work visa, did not need exit-re-entry permits, and there was no such thing as reporting to authorities every 90 days. Here, we are going to the officials frequently for one thing or another and it is usually lengthy visits.
Take the last week:
4:30am wake up
5:00am leave the house and drive to immigration
5:15am stand outside in line. There are no chairs. We wait until...
7:00am an official appears in Friday national uniform and hands out plastic number cards to us in group 2 (extension visa). We get # 9 and continue to stand outside.
7:30am the doors open and some get seats. my wife is sleeping in the car so I phone her to come.
8:00am playing of the national anthem. all stand at attention until it is over. We sit again.
8:30am Second round of numbers are given out, in order. We get #211-212. I ask about a letter from language school if the date is alright. She says yes. I ask again. She assures me it's OK.
9:00am a clerk calls us and says the dated letter is incorrect and must have today's date. We leave and drive to our language school. The director corrects it and we drive back.
9:45am we show the new letter to the clerk. She seems surprised that we returned quickly. She accepts it and we sit down.
10:30am our number is called and we are escorted to the back of the office, the size of a high school class room divided up into sections. An "butch" female officer in white attends to us. She is a transfer from the capital and new to the north. She asks us what time we lined up. 5:15am. Did we eat breakfast? NO. She asks a bunch of other questions: "What did I do before for work? Show me your marriage certificate, a copy, an affidavit, etc."
11:00am she finishes her part and sends us to another desk manned by a ladyboy. The guy is big and strong with long hair and makeup. A photo is taken of us and we pay the fee, $65 each. we sit and wait.
12:00noon. our names are called and we collect our passports.
12:30pm. we drive and arrive home. It has been 7 and a half hours.
Take the last week:
4:30am wake up
5:00am leave the house and drive to immigration
5:15am stand outside in line. There are no chairs. We wait until...
7:00am an official appears in Friday national uniform and hands out plastic number cards to us in group 2 (extension visa). We get # 9 and continue to stand outside.
7:30am the doors open and some get seats. my wife is sleeping in the car so I phone her to come.
8:00am playing of the national anthem. all stand at attention until it is over. We sit again.
8:30am Second round of numbers are given out, in order. We get #211-212. I ask about a letter from language school if the date is alright. She says yes. I ask again. She assures me it's OK.
9:00am a clerk calls us and says the dated letter is incorrect and must have today's date. We leave and drive to our language school. The director corrects it and we drive back.
9:45am we show the new letter to the clerk. She seems surprised that we returned quickly. She accepts it and we sit down.
10:30am our number is called and we are escorted to the back of the office, the size of a high school class room divided up into sections. An "butch" female officer in white attends to us. She is a transfer from the capital and new to the north. She asks us what time we lined up. 5:15am. Did we eat breakfast? NO. She asks a bunch of other questions: "What did I do before for work? Show me your marriage certificate, a copy, an affidavit, etc."
11:00am she finishes her part and sends us to another desk manned by a ladyboy. The guy is big and strong with long hair and makeup. A photo is taken of us and we pay the fee, $65 each. we sit and wait.
12:00noon. our names are called and we collect our passports.
12:30pm. we drive and arrive home. It has been 7 and a half hours.
posted by Carl | 9:18 AM
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