03.09.05
Visa Quest
No, not the Visa you buy things with, but the document that non-citizen aliens carry to show they have permission to be in the country. Because I’m about to become an alien.
I’m sure other people besides myself have found the process of obtaining a visa for a foreign country much like a visit to the DMV, with the added spice of a potential culture clash.
My first visit about a month ago was my most difficult. I had gathered the papers I thought they needed, and even printed the application from the internet. I didn’t want to fight for parking, so I drove to Millbrae BART and BARTed in. That took a lot longer than I expected. The Japanese Consulate is VERY convenient for BART.
At the building the Japanese Consulate is in, you have to check in with the receptionist to get a badge sticker before they will let you upstairs.
The Visa/Passport office is one floor above the main Consulate, which is where the Japanese speech contest that I participated in was held. I didn’t realize there were two floors at first, so I was confused by the sudden blockage of the hallway leading to the conference room and lack of bathrooms.
Immediately there is a metal detector, and the guard asks your purpose. That was easy enough. Then you get a number. I had a little wait, while a man tried to explain that his elderly father was visiting China, too, and somehow this complicated his visa application. I went over my application form, and organized the paperwork.
When it was my turn, I discovered you pass everything through a depressed slot at the window, like a gas station, or drive-up bank teller. I gave the clerk everything, and she sorted through it. Unfortunately, the letter I had from the school wasn’t enough; I needed a special document from the Japanese government confirming my student status. She showed me an example from another student applicant.
Sacred Heart very kindly applied for this document as soon as my application was approved, but Ms. Somekawa warned that it could take 1-3 months to work its way through channels. Ack! The clerk recommended that I not make travel plans outside the 90 day tourist limit until I had received that form. Then she photocopied another person’s application, and in red ink wrote all the things I needed to correct on my application, mostly formatting errors.
Then in the one positive event on this trip, the clerk mentioned that the visa would only take 3 days to process when I had all the materials. Whew! I took the long BART ride back, hungry and tired.
Last Saturday, I received the Certificate of Studentship by express mail from Japan. I would have received it Friday, but it required a signature, and I was at class when the postman came. So Tuesday I repeated my trip. While still very long, this time it was a bit easier.
The clerk on Tuesday was more helpful as well. She wrote in pencil what I needed to change, and I corrected it in pen in my own handwriting. She took it all, and best of all student visas have no fee. Cool. The only bad part was that I needed to pick it up Thursday. Hmm. That would be tough, but I found a way.
I rearranged my schedule, and decided to risk the parking situation. I needed to be at school by 12:30. Fortunately, I found an open meter not too far away, but it was only good for 30 minutes. Hopefully I wouldn’t need more than that.
And I didn’t. It was fairly quick to go through the entrance process, go up to the visa window, and receive my visa. The nice clerk had me look over everything to make sure it was correct, and had me fix one more small error on my application. I then signed for the visa, and I was free to go!
Whee! Of course, for privacy reasons, I can’t sensibly post a picture of it. However it’s a reasonably pretty document glued inside my passport. My certificate of studentship is stapled to the next page. The picture on the visa is fairly hilarious, though. It’s a really grainy black and white digital copy of the photo I submitted, kind of like the picture on my Costco card.
The visa is good for a year, or so I thought. When Keith looked at it, he discovered it’s good for 5 years, with the maximum duration of a stay being 1 year. Cool.
I’m so happy to get it. Plus I got the email about my flights. I leave on March 28 and return July 5.