THE visa

We went up to Los Angeles to spend Passover with our family on Saturday so we decided to stay up there until Monday and take care of the visa at the Colombia embassy.  We got up at 6:00 on Monday morning and headed off to the Secretary of State in downtown L.A. around 6:45 to get the visa request letter apostilled (our last document needed for the visa).  Our stomachs were in knots thinking of any potential delays or errors they would find.  Thankfully all went well at the S.O.S. and then we drove over the Colombian Embassy....

That sick feeling in our stomachs started again as we parked and headed up the elevator.  For a second I was worried that perhaps they were closed since it is semana santa.  When we got to the embassy at 9:05 there was a line of about 7 families waiting for the door to open.  We ALL speculated that perhaps it was closed.  But at 9:13 one of the employees walked past all of us (LATE) and unlocked the door.  We all headed inside waiting in a queue to get our number.  That sick feeling was still there......30 minutes later we were checking in and that's when we were met with resistance...

The young man behind the counter informed us that visas are only processed from 1:00 - 2:00.  We asked him how long it will take to process the visa and he said 3-4 days!  WHAT?  We quickly informed him that with our last adoption we were able to get the visa IN THE MORNING and it only took 20 minutes.  In a very condescending tone he said "Well I wasn't the one processing it then."  We asked if he could look over our paperwork to make sure we had everything he needed to process the visa later and his answer was "We only process visas from 1:00-2:00.  You'll have to wait."  Oh...okay then...thanks for being so helpful!  So we left paid $8.00 for parking and headed back to Lew and Donna's house to wait it out for the next couple of hours before we headed back.

At 11:15, we drove back to embassy hoping that we would get a different representative to help us (someone with a heart).  Our experience with the embassy has always been like this.....if you get any of the 2 younger ladies they treat you kindly and HELP!  If you get anybody else FORGET IT!  They make it near impossible to process any kind of transaction.

So we arrived at 11:45 and as we stepped out of the elevator we could hear yelling coming from the long hallway.  We walked into the craziest scene EVER!  The Consul was up at the counter yelling back and forth with the people waiting in line.  Words were exchanged by everyone in the room.  We took our spot in line and stood there in amazement.  We aren't really sure what happened but what we could best figure out was that an older man from out of town had driven down to get some transaction approved and they wouldn't do it for him for whatever reason....Everybody was rallying on the older man's side and telling the embassy representatives that the way they treat people is humiliating.  The Consul said they were short staffed and that is why they couldn't process certain things today.  People were SO angry and said basically "THAT IS NOT OUR PROBLEM!"  This embassy services several states so people come from long distances to get things done, so you could see why people get upset.  The embassy NEVER answers the phone, so getting any clarification beforehand is near impossible.

SO....1 hour later we are still standing in the queue and our helpful representative finally looks over at us and says "oh, if you are here for the visa then you do not need to stand in line."  Thanks! >:I.  30 minutes later he decided to call us up and process the visa.  He said "give me everything you have."  He had NO idea what he was looking at as he quickly thumbed through our referral paperwork form ICBF and our apostilled letter.  He never said "congratulations" didn't care at all that it was for an adoption.....amazing, no heart at all.  We don't need to hear congratulations from anyone, but most people who have a heart are moved by the arrival of a child into a family.  He then looked at the calendar and gave us a date to pick up the visa.  He didn't care to hear that we lived 2 hours away, he just wanted us to know that we need to arrive between 1:45-2:00 to pick up the visa.  They only give you 15 minutes for pick up and if you arrive after 2:00 they are closed....

So Mark will make the drive tomorrow to pick up the visa.  I'm certain he will have that sick stomach feeling all the way up there. The truth of the matter is if the embassy decides to make things difficult they can and we just have to abide by what they say.  I will say that apparently this is not the case for all Colombian Embassies.  There are other ones, we've heard, that go above and beyond what is expected.  So think of us tomorrow and hope that it all goes smoothly for Mark.  This is the last document we need to be ready for travel.