I do feel very TinTin-ish today, as I dashed off to Shanghai for the second morning this week on the 6am train. My trips were about securing visas to a country that is not the easiest to get into. They require you to first secure an original Letter of Introduction, which must be presented in your passport country to their embassy in order to get a visa. See any problems with this?
Have you guessed which country yet? Here's the consulate. Does it look a bit bristly and bear-ish to you? Right! We're trying to get into R*ssia!
Tricky, but not impossible. They do make allowances for people like us who have residence visas in countries that are not our passport country. And the nice folks in Shanghai (and I am not kidding when I say that; I found them to be quite reasonable considering all of the circumstances) will accept a print out from your computer instead of an "original" letter, assuming you have done it on a high quality color printer. Luckily, I have friends who posses such hardware and were willing to help a blithe traveler out.
So here were our issues: the visas require that you hand over your passport for a minimum of three working days. As it so happens, Jeff hasn't been and isn't going to be around much. Which meant that there was an extremely narrow window during which I could get this done. And, technically, I missed it. The window, that is. In fact, the man left Nanjing and traveled to Yiwu for a several days trip without his passport. I cannot stress enough how very disturbing this is. Of course, he had a photocopy and he was staying with a friend, so he managed to avoid the crisis of trying to get a hotel room as a foreigner without a passport, but, still. Wrong. Just wrong.
But, all for a good cause; without the R*ssian visa, we weren't getting on the Trans-Siberian to Moscow.
So, knowing that the process is meant to be tricky, we did a lot of upfront research. I ordered the Invitations and had them printed out on very nice paper etc. I printed out the forms we needed to fill out and filled them out ahead of time - a process which took a little longer than forever; they were some seriously long and complex documents, including requiring university attendance dates, addresses and phone numbers, and our last three employers, last bosses and contact information. I had to dig a bit to come up with anything on that question, let me tell you.
A little late, but still before I actually got on the train to Shanghai, I made sure we had appropriate photos (passport size, no eyeglasses, proper shirts, no smiling, etc). And feeling pretty sure I had it all together, my alarm range at 4:15 and Snowy and I were off!
I arrived at the consulate where they make you wait outside if there are "too many" people inside. Which means more than, like, 7. They require you to leave your bags in a locker outside, although they did allow me to bring my purse in. Something they later regretted when I pulled out my i-Pod; which resulted in my being booted out of the joint until I had stashed it away outside with my other stuff. Really, I should have known better.
Anyway, the line was not long (not more than 7, right??), but slow. And I got an earful. I have always been a little bit ashamed at my seeming inability to ever properly plan, well, just about anything. But in the country of the Invitation-less, the woman with the Invite is queen.
Exhibit 1: Man asks me, "So, how much is a visa if I need it tomorrow?" I say, "You can't have it tomorrow, they only do visa applications on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:15-12:15. You can have it Wednesday if you hand over (and I named an amount that is less than you would pay for new car, but more than a 42" screen television)." Man turned noticeably pale and stalked off to find an ATM. He returned later and explained to the clerk that "I need the visa by Wednesday because I have a plane ticket on Thursday leaving Shanghai for Moscow [!!!!!!]. No, I don't have an invitation! I am visiting your country! Why do I need an invitation?? I want to see your country! You should be happy I want to come."
Fail! No visa issued.
Exhibit2: Citizen of the Netherlands who has a resident visa in China needs visa for himself and girlfriend. Girlfriend is Japanese and is not a resident of China. Girlfriend is also not physically present, nor does he have her passport. Their airline tickets are in six days. How many things are wrong with this picture??
Fail! No visa issued.
Exhibit 3: Citizen of France who is a tourist in China and has no invitation letter. So, no chance. Just, no freaking chance. Has tickets in three days [!!!!!!]. So, cleverly, he tries to get a transit visa. This allows you to travel through R*ssia on your way somewhere else, but you can't leave the airport. So, how long does he need to hang out in Moscow airport. Three days.
Fail! No visa issued.
I was feeling pretty good, all in all. They did make me fill out all of the paperwork again, because my 2 page application was printed on two pages instead of front to back. But, hey, listening to the moron parade, I was feeling quite happy that I got off with an extra hour of paperwork.
I handed in my application, paid the fee and walked out with a spring in my step. All I had to do was return on Wednesday between 2 and 2:30 to pick up the passports and we were good to go.
At 4:00am the following morning, I sprang awake, horror struck. My brain had suddenly registered the fact that I had put the wrong dates on all four visa applications. While my Invitation Letter clearly had the correct dates of our arrival and departure from R*ssia, when I filled in my application, I indicated only the dates we were going to be in Moscow!!! We would, of course, be crossing the R*ssian border several days earlier on the Trans-Siberian.
Feeling like the biggest loser in the world (well, maybe the second biggest, because I'd have to do something much stupider to beat that French guy), I called the Consulate the second they opened Tuesday morning. They were very nice on the phone, but clearly stated that my only hope was to come in on Wednesday in the morning to discuss it. Argh. Just, argh.
Which was why I was on the 6:00am train again this morning. Jeff arrived back from Yiwu at 3:30am, my alarm went off at 4:15. That was close. Our babysitter was alerted, so if something had gone wrong with his travel plans, a taxi would have picked her up at 4:30, so I could be out the door at 5am. Luckily, it did not come to that.
And, worst case scenario, I would have to redo my applications, re-submit them and return to Shanghai on Friday. While this was not desirable, it was in no way an impossible situation. I fretted, mostly because I was feeling very silly for having gotten myself into this situation. Again.
And what happened when I arrived at the R*ssian consulate? First, they made me leave my purse outside (this is what happens when you bring your i-Pod in the first time around; they remember you), second, the nice lady behind the desk recognized me and called me up without waiting in the line. I explained the problem, she brought out our passports, which had the visas nicely in them with the correct dates from our Invitation Letter on them. And handed them to me. 5 hours before she was supposed to.
Any wonder I keep using the word "nice"??
As usual, all's well that ends well. And as Monica pointed out to me, the whole process is actually a whole heck of a lot easier than getting into then the US, if you happen not to be American. Ooops.
PS Today's post brought to you from a Gloria Jean's Coffee Shop on the Bund, Shanghai. I have to run an errand for Jeff at the Australian consulate. They only do what I need done from 3-4pm, so I'm hanging out, drinking coffee and using their free internet. Although given what they charge for a cup of coffee, I might call that a "free" cup of coffee.
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