First of all, I can’t take credit for the title of this blog. That was Papa Jim’s doing, although unfortunately I’ve found it to be all too true for me as well. Today I went for the third time now to work on getting my work permit, which is necessary in order to apply for a resident visa, which I must get even though I’m only staying like 5 more months. Ridiculous? Yes, yes, and YES! Every time I go in that immigration office I walk out 100 times more frustrated and always tempted to save myself the trouble and get on the next plane out. Ugh! …then I remember the kids and how much I really do love them and somehow manage to calm myself down.
The last two times I’ve gone there I’ve come out in tears—today being one of those days. I’m so tired of jumping through all of their hoops just to be able to stay here and help the people in their country. Now that I’ve applied for a work permit, my visa will expire before I get that, so I will probably need to apply for yet another extension on my visa, just because they’re so slow in processing the applications and I can’t apply for a resident permit before I have a work permit. Do they do that on purpose?! My theory is that it’s all about how much money they can get. What a hassle! If their past reputation holds to be true, I’ll be lucky to even have my resident visa by the time I leave!
2 comments:
Oh Dana, I can relate - I had some of the same issues in France...first you have your student visa and then they want you to get a "carte de séjour" and then you can't get that and you need this form in triplicate...and so on and so on!
Hope all the bureaucratic things get worked out smoothly! Happy New Year!
I agree that things need to improve. I hope the government can fix the issues that currently bog down our immigration system, but the problems will have to be fixed first.
Post a Comment