I was so wrong when I had the thought that applying for my visa/resident card thing would be easy. I must have forgotten that I'm applying for one in Georgia.
(Georgia, I still love you in spite of your sometimes deterring and problematic quirks.)
By the way, this story might be painful to read for the grammatically proficient.
I gathered all my papers and headed downtown to meet Maia, who would be helping me with translation and such. Our first stop was to find a good translation/notary place to translate and notarize my passport. Dropped off the papers. Next, visa pictures. Done fast, and pretty good (is it even possible to take a photogenic passport/visa photo?). We then headed to a leisurely stop at a coffee shop while my passport was being translated. Drank some tea and ate some sandwiches. Then off to pick up the passport translation which was done very well. Good. Next off to the ministry of justice to begin the application process. We walk into the building and notice that there aren't many people there... we think: 'Good for us! This will be done quickly!' We get up to the man sitting behind the desk and are informed that the visa/passport part of the ministry of justice has been moved to another (distant) location.
Problem 1.
This was not, however, insurmountable. We stop off at McDonald's for a bathroom break (clean bathrooms all over the world). Then we run into some of the street kids that I work with, and talk with them for a little bit. They buy us flowers for Mother's day (it's tomorrow) and give us many kisses. Then we hop on the metro to get to our next location.
After quite some walking, we find the new location of the passport/visa part of the ministry of justice. It also happens to be the place where refugees and others are registering. So there are like 10 times as many people. But we find our line and begin to wait. Take note, lines in Georgia do not resemble actual lines by any means. This requires vigilance, always being ready to inform newcomers who the last person in "line" is.. otherwise you will get cut in front of again and again. We get up to the desk and begin to explain our goal (apply for a longer visa) and ask how we can do this. After quite some discussion, (she wanted to send us to yet another location, but I pretty much refused... and it turns out that she was the one who could help us, but I think she wanted to send work somewhere else if she could... which is understandable because there were really a lot of people), we are sent to pay a fee for the visa at a local bank (180 lari). We go to the bank, wait in line, pay the fee, return to the new ministry of justice and see that the line has increased significantly, but take our position at the end. We wait for a while, and then are noticed by the lady who had been helping us--she calls us over. She shows me the letter I have stating that I'm working with Axalgazrdoba Miznit (Youth With a Mission) and shows me a few things that need to be changed... even though this is the same letter that I used and that worked for my last long term visa...
Problem 2.
I live quite far away, so we jump into a taxi and head to my house to type in the corrections and print out a new letter. We then jump into another taxi and head to my directors house so that he can sign it and stamp it with our official organization stamp. Then I hop back into that same taxi (he waited with Maia in the car) and head back to the new location of the visa/passport part of the ministry of justice and see that the line has stayed just as large as before. But we take our place at the end again.
By this time I was quite exhausted, Maia was feeling carsick from all these quick taxi rides and the ministry was supposed to close in like an hour and a half.... so I was SO hoping that things would work out okay.
After some time, I make it to the front of the "line" and proudly display my new, corrected letter. The lady reads it and then looks at me with a significant amount of pity in her eyes, and shows me that there is still a mistake... it was not clearly explained how to change this mistake, so Maia begins to defend her translation and I begin to beg her to take it in spite of the small error (and it was SUCH a small error, quite irrelevant to my visa application). The lady, filled with mercy, called one of her coworkers and checked to see if it would make a big problem for me if I turned in that document as is. They said that it would be fine and I was so ecstatically relieved.
Almost problem 3.
Then she continues with application process and begins to input my information into the computer. She asks me what my position is in the organization and I say that I'm just a staff person. But she can't understand exactly what that means. She asks if I'm a manager or assistant, and I say no, I'm just a staff worker. She still is puzzled as to what to write in that blank, and so the 10 people waiting in "line" behind me begin to all chime in (it's the Georgian way of resolving conflicts) and she eventually decides to leave it blank. Then she begins to upload my visa picture into the computer, and we discover that the guy at the picture place didn't put the cropped version on the disc... so I beg her to please please just crop it on her computer. She again mercifully does.
Almost problems 4 and 5.
And about 6 hours after beginning our journey, and after asking the kind lady that helped me again and again if all things would be approved, I hold in my hand the confirmation paper that my application was received.
(this is where I breath a sigh of relief).
So, hopefully by April 1st I will have my resident visa. I have no idea how long it will be for-- 1 year or 5 years. And she said that if there are any problems, she will call me-- but let's hope that doesn't happen.
And, this was my day!
(Georgia, I still love you in spite of your sometimes deterring and problematic quirks.)
By the way, this story might be painful to read for the grammatically proficient.
I gathered all my papers and headed downtown to meet Maia, who would be helping me with translation and such. Our first stop was to find a good translation/notary place to translate and notarize my passport. Dropped off the papers. Next, visa pictures. Done fast, and pretty good (is it even possible to take a photogenic passport/visa photo?). We then headed to a leisurely stop at a coffee shop while my passport was being translated. Drank some tea and ate some sandwiches. Then off to pick up the passport translation which was done very well. Good. Next off to the ministry of justice to begin the application process. We walk into the building and notice that there aren't many people there... we think: 'Good for us! This will be done quickly!' We get up to the man sitting behind the desk and are informed that the visa/passport part of the ministry of justice has been moved to another (distant) location.
Problem 1.
This was not, however, insurmountable. We stop off at McDonald's for a bathroom break (clean bathrooms all over the world). Then we run into some of the street kids that I work with, and talk with them for a little bit. They buy us flowers for Mother's day (it's tomorrow) and give us many kisses. Then we hop on the metro to get to our next location.
After quite some walking, we find the new location of the passport/visa part of the ministry of justice. It also happens to be the place where refugees and others are registering. So there are like 10 times as many people. But we find our line and begin to wait. Take note, lines in Georgia do not resemble actual lines by any means. This requires vigilance, always being ready to inform newcomers who the last person in "line" is.. otherwise you will get cut in front of again and again. We get up to the desk and begin to explain our goal (apply for a longer visa) and ask how we can do this. After quite some discussion, (she wanted to send us to yet another location, but I pretty much refused... and it turns out that she was the one who could help us, but I think she wanted to send work somewhere else if she could... which is understandable because there were really a lot of people), we are sent to pay a fee for the visa at a local bank (180 lari). We go to the bank, wait in line, pay the fee, return to the new ministry of justice and see that the line has increased significantly, but take our position at the end. We wait for a while, and then are noticed by the lady who had been helping us--she calls us over. She shows me the letter I have stating that I'm working with Axalgazrdoba Miznit (Youth With a Mission) and shows me a few things that need to be changed... even though this is the same letter that I used and that worked for my last long term visa...
Problem 2.
I live quite far away, so we jump into a taxi and head to my house to type in the corrections and print out a new letter. We then jump into another taxi and head to my directors house so that he can sign it and stamp it with our official organization stamp. Then I hop back into that same taxi (he waited with Maia in the car) and head back to the new location of the visa/passport part of the ministry of justice and see that the line has stayed just as large as before. But we take our place at the end again.
By this time I was quite exhausted, Maia was feeling carsick from all these quick taxi rides and the ministry was supposed to close in like an hour and a half.... so I was SO hoping that things would work out okay.
After some time, I make it to the front of the "line" and proudly display my new, corrected letter. The lady reads it and then looks at me with a significant amount of pity in her eyes, and shows me that there is still a mistake... it was not clearly explained how to change this mistake, so Maia begins to defend her translation and I begin to beg her to take it in spite of the small error (and it was SUCH a small error, quite irrelevant to my visa application). The lady, filled with mercy, called one of her coworkers and checked to see if it would make a big problem for me if I turned in that document as is. They said that it would be fine and I was so ecstatically relieved.
Almost problem 3.
Then she continues with application process and begins to input my information into the computer. She asks me what my position is in the organization and I say that I'm just a staff person. But she can't understand exactly what that means. She asks if I'm a manager or assistant, and I say no, I'm just a staff worker. She still is puzzled as to what to write in that blank, and so the 10 people waiting in "line" behind me begin to all chime in (it's the Georgian way of resolving conflicts) and she eventually decides to leave it blank. Then she begins to upload my visa picture into the computer, and we discover that the guy at the picture place didn't put the cropped version on the disc... so I beg her to please please just crop it on her computer. She again mercifully does.
Almost problems 4 and 5.
And about 6 hours after beginning our journey, and after asking the kind lady that helped me again and again if all things would be approved, I hold in my hand the confirmation paper that my application was received.
(this is where I breath a sigh of relief).
So, hopefully by April 1st I will have my resident visa. I have no idea how long it will be for-- 1 year or 5 years. And she said that if there are any problems, she will call me-- but let's hope that doesn't happen.
And, this was my day!
2 comments:
What a great story it kind of made me laugh as it reminds me of doing business in Russia ahh. My husband and are going back for a visit next Summer with our daughter and I can only imagine the fun we will have dealing with visa stuff :). Praise God you found such a merciful person to help you fix all the ridiculous problems there were! Praying you get a long residence visa!!
I understand your day so well! I can hear the Georgians questioning all those little things. Did they tell you something was "impossible?" You are blessed to have been so successful at the end of the day. = )
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