Visa Update #6

This will be a quick post with no pictures…

This morning, I met my lawyer at Interpol. I wasn't really sure what this would involved, but it's my understanding that it's an international background check. It was this tiny room with two desks for the officers. We gave them my papers, and the man who was going over mine seemed to be unhappy about different aspects of them more than once. It worried me a little. He was especially unhappy about the fact that I've overstayed my thirty days. At this point, I knew I'd have to pay the fines, but he was really making a big deal out of it which surprised me because no one said a word in the airport when I left in December and also had to pay overstay fines. We filled out a couple of forms, and then we submitted everything to Interpol. My lawyer was told she can come back tomorrow to pick up all of the documents. 

I thought that was our only outing for the day, so I was pretty happy when we were finished in only about an hour! Then she decided that we should also go get some documents notarized and to F.E.L.C.C. which is basically another background check. 

Getting the documents notarized was probably the easiest step of all! Then we headed to F.E.L.C.C., and I ended up going there with my lawyer's assistant. I had been warned that the employees of this office aren't the most friendly and fun to work with, but we had a great visit! We were in and out super quick. They mainly wanted copies of some of my documents, but one of the random requirements (well, it was random to me) was that I was given a map of the neighborhood and had to label the streets and locate my house. I also had to describe the outside of it and give references to the street. It was crazy! Because all of my documents were ready when we arrived, it was a pretty painless process!

Now that these steps were completed, all that is left is submitting all of the papers to Immigration! I was hoping that could be done tomorrow (Friday), but it's not looking like that will happen. It shouldn't be long though! It all depends on when the other documents will be completed. I've been told that the wait after submitting papers to Immigration is about three months which means that I should have my temporary residency in about June. Hopefully the wait will be a bit short than that! I'll keep you updated!