27 Dec 05 The Visa Report: Part One
Last week we got word Matt’s work permit was approved, but that was two thirds of the battle required to gain entrance to the UK. We had to receive approved visas in time for our departure from Toronto Dec 31.
Plans to file our visa applications in the US were too epic and dependent on magical forces to work I think - our tight schedule was supposed to go like this:
Monday: Receive overnight package from London containing original work permit and reference letters from Quantco. Repackage those documents along with other Very Important Papers, our passports and photos. Send package to a visa rush service, the one specified by Quantco’s immigration lawyer and the one he gave us the address for, in NYC via First Priority Overnight FedEx (to be delivered between 8:30 and 9:00 am Tuesday) so the applications would make the Tuesday morning submission deadline.
Tuesday: aka Moving Day and Apartment Cleaning Day. Applications should be filed at the UK embassy, ‘rubber-stamped’ APPROVED (fingers crossed) then returned to us via Priority Overnight FedEx (to be delivered before 10:30 am) so we could leave Ithaca directly after on Wednesday.
Wednesday: Load truck bound for Toronto, meet with Landlord for apartment inspection, receive package with approved visas and drive to Canada.
We knew the plan was ambitious and tight, but it was possible… We’d have FedEx on our side, having paid top-dollar, and the rush service was accustomed to pulling this off like every day. Not much could go wrong, we just had to go through the motions, quickly.
The Notsogood Backup Alternative Plan involved filing applications in Canada but, according to the immigration lawyer, required an in-person appointment in Ottawa. An appointment was booked for Dec. 30 just in case.
Here’s how it all played out:
Monday: I waited around home Monday morning for the delivery, keeping busy packing and sorting stuff. At 10:30am I heard a rustle at the door, flung it open expecting to see a man dressed in fancy courier colours but instead saw a neighbour - the unfriendly one. This morning she performed an act of kindness by bringing round the package which appeared at the wrong door at least an hour and a half earlier as indicated by the screaming orange superbold ‘9:00 AM’ sticker on it.
I tore open the package and sorted in the work permit and official letters with our applications and other Very Important Papers and hurried out the door to get to FedEx. As a sidenote, the ultra-competent US Postal Service is an agent for FedEx so first I considered sending the package from there. Instead I ventured several blocks further away on foot, toward FedEx/Kinkos thinking it was the more ‘official’ choice. As it turns out FedEx/Kinkos is a most absurd amalgamation of two companies with the result being more Kinkos, less FedEx, complete with apathetic service and confusing retail setup: the ‘Information’ counter had no body, nor did the ‘Shipping’ counter. Totally flustered, I flapped my wings and yelled “I NEED HELP” and just got laughed at. Still, the package eventually got sent and my faith was now in the hands of FedEx.
Tuesday: The movers did their thing at home while Matt tracked the FedEx package online. He sees an update at 11am: Package delivered to wrong address. Now we’re in a complete panic, believing our passports and Very VERY Important Papers are lost forever, having been delivered to some random NYC newsstand.
I frantically call the visa rush service to inquire whether they received the package.
Ring Ring
“Hello, Michelle speaking.”
“Hi, I’m checking in to see if you’ve received our applications.”
“No we haven’t received any deliveries because of the strike.”
“Oh-oh, our applications have been delivered to some wrong address and we don’t know what to do, we’ve got to find it, then get it to you. Oh my god.”
“It doesn’t matter because of the transit strike we can’t receive packages and the embassies are on strike so we don’t know when we can submit any applications.”
“Uhhh, what? Oookay, bye.”
I hung up and called FedEx. The CSR informed me the package was indeed delivered to the wrong address, which she gave me, and suggested I should try calling the visa rush service again.
All I could think was that we were screwed, that our crucial documents were in the hands of some random person on Fifth Avenue in midtown, in the hectic city of New York, which was in a state of mobile armageddon - a transit strike! That we would never locate this package and it would be impossible to leave for London on December 31st.
to be continued…
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
GET FED: