This is the story of obtaining our visas... well at least 66.6% of our visas. In case it is not blatantly obvious after reading this blog the Romanian Government is big and loves control. The government changes laws more often than most of us change our underwear.
This story takes place in Bucharest, Romania from Sept. 20 to Sept. 28.
Before we left for Bucharest I told my Romanian friend (I have blogged about him). He was our neighbor and moved to Bucharest to look for a job. He told me about a place to stay in Bucharest. As he was describing the lodging I realized that is the same place where Sheena and I spent our first week and a half in Romania. The place is a dorm for a baptist college. We are able to stay there for about ten dollars a night. My friend had been staying there for a week or two. How cool is that? I only know a hand full of Romanian people and one of them is staying at the same place we are in a city of 5 million people. What a great start to our visa experience.
First day.
Jeremy FGCI's first missionary helped us obtain our visas. He hired a lawyer to do much of the paper work because he knows it can be a difficult process. We picked up the papers and made plans to meet the next morning at go to the visa office.
The office has four stations with four windows where the government employees sits. There is some information pinned up on the walls but it is not exhaustive or up to date. The system is incredibly inefficient. There is one line for the visa we need and there is no help desk. People that have a simple question must stand in line or cut ahead. It is a little frustrating to the people in line and to the employee to have people barge up in front of people.
Jeremy is so good at helping us out. He kept our papers in perfect order and tried to guess on what the government would ask for. For example pictures and copies of passport etc.. We were in good hands. Everything looks professional and Jeremy has everything in order. This will be easy....
It quickly became our turn to speak with the lady behind the window. The first visit to the visa office ended because the law had been changed August 1st. We needed additional documents. All of the information in the office was outdated by over a month including the information on the window above the employee. Jeremy explained to the lady about the information but with no results. We lacked a few documents the papers for the foundation we work for and health insurance. Evidently the global health care insurance we have is not good enough for Romania.
Most of the other people in line had the same trouble we did. One man must of been a foreign business owner he was rejected because he needed paperwork on ten native Romanian employees before we could get his visa.
We spent hours walking around Bucharest looking of the right insurance. We were told that any travel agent company would have what we needed. The proved not to be true. We were able to find the insurance. We made plans to try again at the visa office.
We paid our taxes for living in Romania that totaled to around 800 dollars and went to the office again. This time we were told that the insurance was not good enough and we needed the government healthcare insurance. In addition the foundation papers where not the original papers and therefore not good enough. Mind you none of this information was given to us in exact detail. I guess we were supposed to be born with the knowledge.
The next time we visited we presented our government healthcare insurance and we had the original papers of the foundation. Now we have our American global insurance, travel health insurance and Romania social health insurance. I think we are covered. It was a great feeling to hear the words go sit on that chair for your picture. We made it. We got all the unknown puzzle pieces together. Now it was time for Kale's visa.
The process for Kale was much like ours. Outdated and incomplete information was the only thing available. It is a guessing game. The first time we turned in our paperwork for Kale we lacked a notarized document that said we will take care of Kale and cover any of his expenses and the doctor's note saying Kale was clinically healthy was worded wrong. It need to say Kale was healthy and not a danger to Romania.
We found a notary and for just under $100 we got at document that said we will take care of Kale and saw the doctor to write the correct statement. We returned the next day to find that Kale's birth certificate, the original, and a notarized copy was not good enough. We need an apostile letter from the State of Nebraska.
We are now waiting for an apostosied copy to arrive in the mail for Kale's visa. Thank you Dennis and Erna.
Now something for comic relief. The first few days we were in Buchrest I found this little gem in the road.
This is not a picture of a tree growing in the road it is a tree indicating that road work is being done to a man hole cover.
The tree was not enough of a indicator. Here is a picture of the tree destroyed.
Plan b is three tires and a tree.
Finally the work is complete.
I hope you enjoyed. I know it was God's plan and timing because of the doctor we met. He is an American that belongs to a church that is trying to figure out a way to bring Christ to people in the sex industry. Jeremy and I recently met a different man that has a mission to reach out to people in the sex industry. We were able to give out his contact information. Who knows if all of the run around was meant for us to end up exchanging information with the doctor.
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