Consulate Visit #2 of 3 (hopefully!)

The visa complications never end. In part of my delightful conversation with the overweight blond man at the Spanish consulate, he informed me that my visa was only good for 90 days. So, if it is effective June 21^st, obtaining my NIE in time, before the visa runs out, would pose to be quite a challenge with the 5000 things I’ll likely have going on at the time. I e-mailed the school to see if I could take care of any of the NIE business during admitted weekend, but all I was told was that “This information will be available shortly”. How very Spanish…

So, via a series of back and forth e-mails with the barrier between us being more than just language, I was able to obtain from them the confirmation that, if I provided updated travel reservations, I could have my visa date changed to August 24^th. Hallelujah.

I also sent them my proof of request of FBI certificate, but they apparently insist that I actually have the FBI report itself, which the guy didn’t make all that clear when I was there in person. So clearly, to get any straight answers or straight confirmation, I was gonna have to drive my ass back up to 5055 Wilshire Blvd.

So, with time being of the essence and my presence at work not being vital, to put it lightly, off I go back to the Spanish consulate on a Tuesday morning. They accepted all my papers, although they found it necessary to point out to me that I provided some of them twice. I was excessive, I will admit, but with the bureaucratic hoops I’ve been jumping through lately, I think too much is better than not enough.

The rude blond man behind the desk assured me that my visa dates had been changed. He then spoke to me once again like I was a regular rider of the short bus and tried to make it abundantly clear to me that I would not receive my visa until I provided them with the FBI report in person. Yes yes I got it.

 And, to add to the excitement of it all, it dawned on me today that, by the time the FBI actually runs my credit card, the debit card number I sent them will be expired. Of course. So, I called the FBI Criminal Records Division, and to my utter dismay, they actually had record of my submission. Furthermore, the man I spoke to was actually helpful. He gave me a contact in the processing unit who I could fax directly with the updated credit card information. Crossing my fingers…