Visa Extension Woes

Today should have been just as uneventful as yesterday. Beginning with class at 8:30 am and continuing in a basic class-break-class-break fashion for the rest of the day. However, I decided to take that first break to try to turn in the papers for my visa extension (a long and exhaustive process that began with getting my visa application started in April and is not yet complete). I picked up my packet from the CYA office and began the long trek to the visa affairs office.

Firstly, the office is not in the business district, nor is it with the embassies. The center for visa affairs for the entire city of Athens (apparently) is on a tiny street corner in a dirty, cramped area of town. The building appears to be exactly in the state it was in when first constructed, with only the windows in front having been replaced over time (and maybe a few pieces of furniture). I suppose I should be grateful they spoke some English.

The building has three doors. At 10:00 am, each one had a line going up the stairs, out the door and curving down the respective street each door was facing. Since two faced onto the same patch of street (this is a tiny building), you couldn't see 10 ft. down the road for all the bodies pressed into line. After about 15 minutes of trial and error, I finally pushed to the front of the line (as CYA told me I had the right to do) and asked for the people I needed to see. They told me to go downstairs. Downstairs then told me to go upstairs. I told downstairs that this was not what I had been told and might I please see the person my program told me to see? After repeating this three times, they shooed me through to someone who knew my program and got me started. It was the visa process in Tampa all over again. People shouting and hitting tables, people crammed in unending lines and sitting in unchanging waiting rooms while walk-ins did their business and got papers stamped. The woman working with me told me that I would probably need to open a Greek bank account to prove that I had the resources to leave the country if necessary. I assured her that CYA had told me, not only that this was unnecessary, but strongly discouraged within the program. She sent me back, without the extension, to get more forms.

I went back after getting the papers and a few other documents (social security card, driver's license, etc.) that she had asked for, but had continued without anyway. Here's where it got really annoying. I came back an hour and 15 minutes before she said I needed to be back. When I got there, I was told that the person I needed to see wasn't back yet. This was fine with me as I had plenty of time before my final class of the day and I had homework with me. I was much less freaked out this time because I figured I must have every document they could possibly want to see and the building was much less crowded than it had been a few hours earlier. There were about 40 people in a downstairs waiting room, but I didn't see anyone being called up for anything, either in person or by intercom, so I chose to wait upstairs where I could see when the person I needed come in immediately. I waited there for 30-45 minutes to no avail. People in the office chatted and made jokes, walk-ins walked in with their papers and walked out with them again, now signed and stamped and sealed. Eventually someone asked what I was doing there. The woman who had been working with me told her my situation.

She said: "We have no more room today. Too many people waiting already. Come back tomorrow, 8 am."

I didn't want to fight anymore, so I left. Over half an hour, not a single person had been called from that waiting room (I assumed they were waiting for something else entirely), and they said they didn't have time to stamp my passport? I've already paid my fees and stood in my line. I have all my papers in order and had already been there once today and had CYA contact the office. I was so angry - I still am furious about how difficult this has all been, really. I've had to pay 150€ more than most people because the Tampa office had not changed over to the new visa that every other consulate had accepted at the beginning of the summer, and now this mess? I have wasted two (soon three) metro tickets and missed two classes for this process. It's absolutely ridiculous. The Mobile DMV didn't give me this much trouble! (Mind, I did not getting my license from them in the end.)

So, I'll be back at that office at 7:50 tomorrow morning, waiting politely for them to open the doors wide enough for me to shove my passport through to be stamped. Afterwords, I think I'll treat myself to a tour of the area to see if I can find crochet hooks and maybe a used bookstore, seeing as they'll have stolen one of my sleep-in mornings from me (first class isn't until after noon.)

In the meantime, sleep, so I can appear eager and cheerful to whoever has to deal with me tomorrow! Hopefully tomorrow's update will contain more success than today's!

Kαληνύχτα!