But sometimes with good things, there is a bad side.
Because I am staying for a while, I have to go to the immigration office to extend my visa. In theory, that is not too bad a situation. But we all know that dealing with governments is not fun. I believe the main job of the government is to make life miserable for people.
David, my contact here in Ireland, told me that I had to go to the immigration office two weeks before my visa was to expire to extend it. He told me all the documentation that I needed and told me to get there at 6 am. 6 AM!? The best part was that the office didn't open until 8 am, he told me. He said that I had to get there at 6 am to stand in line with 50 other people and hope to get in. I guess they can only let a certain amount of people in each day.
David made it sound like I wasn't guaranteed an extension of my visa and the process wasn't going to be fun. I wasn't looking forward to this, but it needed to be done.
My first decision was NOT to get there at 6 am. I had to work late last night and I am sick, so getting up early and being in town at 6 am wasn't going to work.
I woke up and did my normal routine and finally decided to get into town. I got to the immigration office around 10:15 am. There was no line in front of the office. I was questioning if I was at the right place. I did Google Map the place and the picture matched the building.
I walked in and asked the worker that I was here to extend my visa. He asked if I had all my papers and I said yes. As I was getting them out, he told me to go to window 15.
I walked in and it took me a minute to find the window. It was in a corner right behind me. I went up and said that I needed to extend my visa and he asked what nationality I was. I told him and then went to get my passport and instead he gave me a number and told me to wait my turn.
I had to wait maybe 20 minutes total. The whole time I was wondering if I was in the right place. There was another section of windows that were calling out different numbers then the section I was in. But I did go to a window in this section, so I decided to stay here.
After 20 minutes, my number was called. The guy who was going to help me looked very young, maybe in his 30's and he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. I thought that was very casual for a government job.
I gave him all the documents I was told to bring and he just went through them very quickly. He kept asking me what date I was staying until. September 8.
10 minutes later I was done with him. He told me to wait 5 minutes and I would get my passport. I probably waited 30 seconds and I was called to get my passport. I felt bad for the other people from other countries that had to actually wait.
In all, I think I was half an hour at the office. I was so glad that I didn't get up at 6 am! I would have been so mad!
I wonder why David made it sound like it was going to be a horrible ordeal? I guess it is better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
I think that nothing will beat my time at the Hungarian Immigration Office. I was rejected the first time because I was apparently missing some documents. I asked my land lord for them and he only gave me one of two. I went back to immigration, again with not all the papers, and I got the same lady who rejected me the first time! You should have see the look at my face when I realized that I was going to have the same lady. I was so worried that I would get rejected again because if I did not get my visa this time around, I could not go to Romania. But the lady accepted me! The same lady who rejected me because I didn't have all the documents, then accepted me still with not all the documents!
Oh governments.....
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