Really?

Nobody likes to deal with bureaucracy. Just think what it feels like when you need to renew a driver’s license, talk to the IRS about your taxes, or get paperwork from a previous school… No fun! It turns out than when you move to a foreign country, there is a lot of bureaucracy to deal with. Lots of paperwork to collect, copy, organize, turn in… The office I’ve been to most is the visa office. (I call it that… I’m not sure what the Polish name is! It’s something long and full of consonants. Shock!)

So, when I first arrived I went through the necessary processes to have documents to turn in for a visa application. About a month in, I turned in the application and all the paperwork I had. A few weeks later, I received a registered letter that asked for a few more documents. I had to bother my landlord and roommates for all kinds of stuff… I finally made it to the office. I wait.

It’s not right. I need such and such bill; I need to show the approximate costs of living each month. So I go bug landlord/roommates some more, collect more stuff. Copy more documents at my closest Ksero place. The girls who work there and I form a little friendship based totally on smiles and my broken Polish. They’re willing to repeat the cost several times. (Dwadzieścia dziewięć grosz, proszę.) I turn in the rest of the paperwork I collected.  Yay. 

Then! A few days after this I receive another registered letter, this time with only one request bullet-point, but more words bolded.  It was asking for the same financial paperwork I thought I had just turned in! Ack! What to do? My field leader tells me, well… print copies again of what you already took to them, then print more detailed financial documents, in case they really do want something more. He prepped me with the questions I needed to make sure I asked them. Back to the visa office I go.

I wait.

Thankfully I get the young lady who speaks good English, and does it gladly. (The older woman speaks good English also, but a little more grumpily. :))

I go in. I explain the situation. She says, “Hmm… It looks like you already turned this in!” (I KNOW! I thought so too!) “If you will wait a moment, I will call the woman in charge of your case.”

“Oh, it turns out, you DID already turn this in. The most recent letter was probably written a day or two before you came back. If you can wait a few more minutes, they can just check over your decision letter, have the director sign it, and I will bring it to you.”

What! Really? How funny! Yes, I can wait!

So, thanks God, for having a sense of humor, and for the visa! I get to stay in Poland now! Woohoo!!