Fun with Bureaucracy

This is a story, about a girl who tried to get a visa....

I need a visa to get into India, so not having one is not an option. Now, to get one, I needed a letter from my program, CIEE, which would verify all the details of my program and my acceptance to the University of Hyderabad etc. CIEE told us that this letter would not come for a while because U Hyderbad wouldn't send it to them till December( things work on a much different schedule over there). So basically I wasn't going to be able to apply for the visa until fairly late in the game. The letter came to my house some time right before my finals and then I had to decide what to do.

The normal procedure is that you fedex the documents to the company which processes them ( Ironically it is not directly through the consulate- the process has been outsourced to a company called Travista) and then they fedex it back to you when it's completed. Travista also has offices you can visit in person and there happens to be one in nyc, which is pretty convenient for me to reach so I thought I might just go there myself. It would have been annoying to have mom send me the letter and then have to send it to them etc and I figured I wanted to go into the city anyway so I would just do it myself. That probably was the first mistake.... usually the ones from CIEE are handled via mail. oops. I'm still learning how this all works.

So Friday morning comes, and I have my appointment set up for 9:40 as per the internet and life is good. I wait on the line and turn in my papers in a nice room with photos of India on the wall and Indian pop music playing on tv and then I go off and enjoy the city ( and the snow). Then I get a call from mom who says that apparently CIEE pays for the visa, which is why we got a bill for random extra charges which we didn't understand. Well I had already paid the $108 that morning so I wasn't pleased- I hadn't read the instructions correctly and didn't realize there was a whole other form to fill out for CIEE to pay. While I admit that I'm not good with follow-through and should have read better, I do want to note that no where I could see on Travista's site was there any indication that I would have needed this form. At any rate, I hoped that this wouldn't cause extra complications, but I wasn't sure how thrilled they would be to give me the money back.

When I dropped off the application, the guy told me it would be ready between 5:30-6:00 but my dad and I headed over a little early, in the midst of the insane snow storm that was occurring in New York that day. We went upstairs and were told that we HAD to wait till 5:30 AND we could not wait inside where there were couches and it was warm. So it was out into the snow to wait, though luckily there was a restaurant and an awning right next door. A whole group of people showed up as it got closer to 5:30 and everyone congregated in front of the restaurant because there was no where else to go. The man who had told us to stand outside came down and told people not to stand in front of the restaurant since they would get pissed off. No one was particularly happy with this because it was snowing and there wasn't much room to stand.One girl started argueing about how we should be allowed inside. After Mr. enforcement left, someone from the restaurant also came out to yell at us and complain that they wouldn't let us inside travista. Now Mr. enforcer comes back and forms us all into a line going down the street away from the restaurant, and we wait.

At 5:25 they let us in where we got to stand on another line for 15 minutes while they sorted through the passports which had come back to the consulate. Once the line starts moving they literally just scan your receipt and hand you back your passport and visa so it goes quickly. We were in a good spot in the line so the only issue to deal with was the money, or so we thought. Unfortunately when we got to the front, Mr. enforcer told us that my passport was still at the consulate, so please stand to the side. We found someone who actually knew what was going on to talk to and she was extremely kind and helpful and went to go see what the problem was. She told us that someone had made a notation on my application that the letter from CIEE had some problem, but that girl had gone home for the day so she couldn't find out what the problem was. She also noted that the man who took my application to process in the morning was one of their most experienced employees and she was surprised that he wouldn't have caught a problem. Apparently it is also not uncommon for student visas to take more than one day because they need to verify lots of things.

The unfortunate part is that this occurred on a Friday, so now the offices are shut down for the weekend and it's nearly 6:00 so no one is there anymore for the day. So on Monday I have to call and try and figure out what the problem is and if I can get the visa on Monday. The lady needs to ask the person at Travista what she thought the problem is, that way we can try and fix it if there is one. Eeek! I really hope so because I am leaving on Friday and I would REALLY REALLY like to be on that plane! And I would like to enjoy some Christmas too before I go if that's at all possible. It seems rediculous that there would be a problem with the letter since it should be the same letter that every participant has received and CIEE knows what they are doing, but who knows?

So now I wait with crossed fingers and prayers to Ganesha ( he's the remover of obstacles) and hope that it all works out.