The Joys Of Getting A Visa
I applied for a visa to Japan on Wednesday. Had to send off my passport, my Certificate of Eligibility, my Certificate of Admissions, and Certificate of Scholarship from JASSO. The whole thing cost US $13.65 for one way, so I had to shell out twice that much. That stung.
First hurdle happened when I got a call from the Consulate General of Japan, saying that I hadn't filled everything out on the application. The good thing was Karl (the guy in charge of visas) he was still there, so he told me what he wanted in more detail (which the visa application doesn't do too well) . I looked stuff up on the Net, gave him addresses and such, and he said that I should expect it in the mail Tuesday.
Fast forward to Tuesday, today. I expect the package in the mail before noon, but 1) there's no sign of the mailman ever being here, since I had something to mail anyway, and 2) it's already one in the afternoon. I freaked out--made several calls to Karl in Detroit, made two calls to the post office here in Ann Arbor, made another call to the Office of International Programs, and spent the day doing laundry, drinking lots of water, and paced around frantically because that was my goddamned passport they were screwing with.
I couldn't do much, since the only advice I had was to wait, and also that if it didn't arrive by Thursday, to really start freaking out. Luckily, I have copies of every necessary document, including the passport, so if it came to that, there's still a month before I leave.
The regular mail came, and still no package.
Around 4:30-5:00, I get a call from the post office, saying that the carrier had been there at 11:55. Now, that was just BS--I had mail in there, and if he'd delivered the thing like he said, I wouldn't have had to call the post office twice. So he tells me to go check my mailbox, and it's there, and he says that I didn't look hard enough.
Dude, please. Even someone who wears glasses and has astigmatism in both eyes can tell if a package a foot long is in her mailbox, and it wasn't there until at least after 3:30.
Yeah, the USPS decided to cop out on this one. Kinda lame.
But at least I have my visa, and that just about leaves packing, saying goodbye to people, and monkeying around with my laptop Satsumaimo until I have to head to the airport.
One more month. I can't believe it.
First hurdle happened when I got a call from the Consulate General of Japan, saying that I hadn't filled everything out on the application. The good thing was Karl (the guy in charge of visas) he was still there, so he told me what he wanted in more detail (which the visa application doesn't do too well) . I looked stuff up on the Net, gave him addresses and such, and he said that I should expect it in the mail Tuesday.
Fast forward to Tuesday, today. I expect the package in the mail before noon, but 1) there's no sign of the mailman ever being here, since I had something to mail anyway, and 2) it's already one in the afternoon. I freaked out--made several calls to Karl in Detroit, made two calls to the post office here in Ann Arbor, made another call to the Office of International Programs, and spent the day doing laundry, drinking lots of water, and paced around frantically because that was my goddamned passport they were screwing with.
I couldn't do much, since the only advice I had was to wait, and also that if it didn't arrive by Thursday, to really start freaking out. Luckily, I have copies of every necessary document, including the passport, so if it came to that, there's still a month before I leave.
The regular mail came, and still no package.
Around 4:30-5:00, I get a call from the post office, saying that the carrier had been there at 11:55. Now, that was just BS--I had mail in there, and if he'd delivered the thing like he said, I wouldn't have had to call the post office twice. So he tells me to go check my mailbox, and it's there, and he says that I didn't look hard enough.
Dude, please. Even someone who wears glasses and has astigmatism in both eyes can tell if a package a foot long is in her mailbox, and it wasn't there until at least after 3:30.
Yeah, the USPS decided to cop out on this one. Kinda lame.
But at least I have my visa, and that just about leaves packing, saying goodbye to people, and monkeying around with my laptop Satsumaimo until I have to head to the airport.
One more month. I can't believe it.
posted by Jessica at 5:58 午前
6 Comments:
Truth of the matter is that someone did sign for it, but didn't bother to stick it into the mailbox until later. I didn't find that out until I heard about who signed for it or something.
Oh well, at least everything's back.
I hope everything goes good in Japan. I look forward to reading about your exploits! Maybe once I find a job, I can send you money to possibly get some native trinkets x.x
~Erykah
LJ: RequiemEssence
BL: Trinity, Mech Goddess
Yeah, the blog isn't getting much here now because I'm not IN Japan yet, but once that happens, expect more traffic. ^_^
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Oooh, better to apply for the visa now. Heh. No, I don't think you should run into any problems if you head to the consulate yourself and hand whatever you need in personally.
Anyway, you attending University of Kyushu? We should hang out this year or something; I've got a friend who teaches in Fukuoka, so I'll be seeing her.
I'm from the University at Buffalo in New York and I'm also leaving to Japan for a year to the International Christian University. I got the Jasso scholarship for my school ^_^ and it was a great feeling. I'm going to get my Visa myself tomorrow... but my question is, why did you give them your Certificate of Scholarship from JASSO? Are we suppose to? Because I didn't do that at all. Let me know. Yuri445@aol.com
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