Visas...ugh

Today I went to the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Affairs to get permission to leave the country. I've heard that it's this complicated process that takes forever and you have to deal with all these govt workers who are unhappy and want money. That was not my experience, well it was a stupid and complicated process, but people were very friendly. Oh yeah, this is a really long blog, but I want you to fully appreciate the beauracracy that I live with.

They open at 8:30 so I arrived at 8:45. There weren't many people around and I was beginning to think that maybe they are closed on Saturdays but I went in anyways and there were a few officers around. The first step was a breeze, just give them 12 copies of everything, plus pictures of me (?) and they signed off. Of course, that was after a brief skirmish between two of the officers because I had filled out the English blanks on the form but he wanted the Arabic done too, they got it figured out. Then I was on a mission to find the old man at the desk outside who sells the stamps. I went outside and at 9 am I found the desk but there was no old man...so that's why there weren't many people around, they weren't closed, it's just that no one shows up for work on time!

I knew for sure 100% that I had to see this old man or I couldn't go to the next step, so I just stood around waiting. After about 30 minutes I started to doubt myself, the old man still hadn't shown and I didn't see anyone else standing around waiting. But about 9:45 the old man finally showed up carrying his stamps. All the sudden there were tons of people around, apparently they had all been waiting...and they sent me to the front of the 'line' b/c they all knew that I had been waiting since before they arrived. I don't know where these people were or how they knew I'd been there (well, I guess being the only white person does make you sort of stand out, but still!). So I got my stamps, stapled my picture and made friends with a guy who runs papers for an NGO. (important later) Interesting, I got 2 stamps and they each say '100SD' on them, but I paid 300SD. I'm no math whiz, well I am an accountant, but that doesn't quite add up. However, when you're trying to leave the country it's just not worth it to argue with the old man over 50 cents.

The next step was to go to another window and get another stamp. When I finally got up there it was a guy I'd already talked to...I noticed him first thing this morning when he pulled a stamp out of his pocket and stamped my form. Turns out he just didn't want to be at his window so he was hanging out in someone else's office with his stamp. He knew that I'd have to come to his window eventually so he gave me my stamp out of order. Then the first officer guy I talked to this morning saw me and couldn't believe that I was still there, he personally escorted me to the next step.

The payment window...an actual window with the screen peeled back, was jam packed with men (around 25). There's no such thing as lines here, you just shove your way to the front, which can pose a problem for the only girl in a group of men in a society where women and men do NOT touch, not even incidentally. However, my 'friend' from the old man desk spotted me and brought me right up to where he had pushed to. He didn't even let anyone 'cut' in front of me. I was standing next to a Chinese guy and we joked about the problems that people face when there are no lines, the fact that breakfast time was coming up and it would be just our luck if they closed the window as we got there, etc... Finally me, the Chinese guy and our 'friend' got up to the front. The Chinese guy went first, it cost him 15,000SD. I went next, my 'friend' insisted that it would cost me 15,000 but, shockingly, it cost 25,000 (which I already knew). He was surprised and started to argue with the lady at the window but I just told him it was ok, that it's b/c I'm American and he let it go. (guess he just thought I was white and hadn't realized my nationality up to that point). So the lady behind the window writes my receipts (2?) and gives me my passport and paperwork back BUT she passes the receipts over to the lady sitting next to her. Then, I go to the window 1 ft away and the lady hands me my receipts. I'd love to be that lady and not do anything but hand out receipts, she doesn't even write them herself, just hands them through the window!

Then I had to go and turn in my receipts and paperwork, back inside where I'd already been twice. This time the line went quick. I had made friends with 2 teenagers from Jordan in front of me at the payment line and they were also in front of me in this line. When they turned theirs in the officer told them to come back after 1 week. I kind of started to panic, my tickets are for Wednesday, I can't come back in 1 week!! But then the guy processed mine, the exact same thing the Jordanians were getting, but he gave me my receipt and told me to come back tomorrow after 2....don't know why but maybe this is the one and only advantage to being an American here?

All this time I've been told how hard it is to get these visas, that it's not even worth the time to do it myself. However, in 3 hours I made it through the entire process (although ridiculous and needlessly more complicated than it should be, the old man at the desk outside, seriously???) and I have a promise of a visa after 2 tomorrow. I won't believe it until I see it. I'll go back tomorrow, probably even before 2, and push my way up to the window and give the guy my receipt in hopes that I will actually be able to leave for Christmas!

We joke here that you can't let yourself get excited about leaving the country until your plane is off the ground. Even if you've gone through all the airport security, you can still be waiting in the 'terminal' for 13 hours before they tell you that your plane just isn't coming (seriously happened to some friends, it just didn't come). So even though I might have a visa and I might have tickets I won't actually believe that I get to leave until my plane is off the ground.