THE Lowly Peon

My Indian Visa Adventure 
09 November 2009, 12:12pm

Well, saulemander, I guess you should start reading again, because my travel woes have returned.

I'm going to India some time this month for business. As such, I need to take care of my visa. I've learned before, I took care of this as early as I could. And I'm grateful I did! I had to get a bunch of letters, and a bunch of "official" translations, and this stamp and that stamp and so on.

I woke up early this morning to catch an early train. As I was brushing my teeth I realized I could hurry a little more, get on the earlier train, and be back in time for tea. So I skipped breakfast and rode a public bike to the station. I got there on time (I'm like my mom — I ride my bike fast!), but there was no place to put my bike. Big disappointment. So I had to get a later train, and I still hadn't eaten breakfast.

Shanghai was hot and humid. Yes, I'm aware it's November. It made me angry too. I am so tired of sweating. I found the place, filled out the rest of my forms and made sure I had everything. I had to get some photos taken and copies of my passport. For some reason it took a guy, maybe 20, a really long time to get his photo taken. It was a photo booth. I wonder what he was doing in there...

I took a number. Waited a little over two hours. It was hot and humid and crowded, ironically exactly like the place I was applying to visit. Finally they called me up and I showed them all my documents. All was well! Hooray! Except, oh yeah, that's not good, he said. The date on my Chinese letter of dispatch (I needed one from India to invite me and one from China to allow it) had a date from September, when I was originally planning on going. Too long ago. Need an updated one. And the purpose of your visit says "Network administration" on the Chinese letter and "Network maintenance and software training" on the Indian. That's not okay.

He told me I could fax the updates to their official fax machine, one they borrow from China Eastern Airlines next door, 5rmb/page.

I made some calls and within minutes, the secretary who hates me now had the letter completed, and the manager of our Indian office was on it. It didn't take long before I got the letter from my China company. And I got an email from the Indian fellow who said their phone connection is lousy, so he had to go out to fax it. No problem. Lots of time. Before noon, which means maybe I can eat lunch soon.

While I was waiting, the China Eastern girls told me that their fax machine "sometimes" can't receive Indian faxes. Nice. So the Indian consulate told me to use this machine, and "sometimes" it doesn't work. What should I do then, I asked. She responded quickly, you have no other option.

What?

So an hour later I got an email from my frustrated Indian colleague who said he can't get the fax through. By then I was starting to panic. It's 1:30, they close at 3, and I don't have a required document.

I suggested he fax it to my Chinese secretary who hates me and then have her fax it to me. He tried that, but couldn't fax it to her either. Apparently the Chinese govt doesn't like Indians. Another hour passed.

I finally said just email it to her, and then she can print and fax. Man was my heart running. The fax finally arrived at 2:48. I ran back to the consulate, grabbed another number, and was lucky enough to get one. The last one for the day (I think they helped me out because I got there originally at 10).

Everyone was in a big hurry to get out of there. Think DMV at 4:58. The girl who was helping me looked at a copy of a letter that I had for my records in my pile and she said this won't do. We need the original. The original of what? I have all the originals except those two modifications that were faxed to me per his instruction, as I pointed to the guy who helped me before. You need the original of that letter, she said. Oh, that's just my copy. Don't worry. Oh. Well. I could tell she was looking for problems because she wanted to leave. Finally, she stamped this and signed that, and ran to the cashier and said I take you money now.

I paid. A whopping $300. And I was out. Free. I went to dinner right before the rain, and had a great night.

And now I just need to go back next week to pick it up. Here's to hoping there are no more problems...

update
[17 November 2009, 1:34am]