It has been a few days and I have been negligent to update on this very important matter. This was brought to my attention when my sister called for the scoop on Monday’s meeting.
For those who like the bottom line up front here it is. On Monday January 4th 2010 Christy and I will be applying for our (first time) visa. This means we are starting all over and need to receive a different type of visa for which there are only 60 places each year.
For those who are interested in the visit and a few clarifications continue reading.
Our good friends, the Perrys, had Kati and Elena sleep over so Christy and I could go to the visa office alone to talk with the government worker which was a big help.
Fortunately, we were one of the first ones in that day and the official was in a good mood, he actually smiled a few times. He informed us that there was nothing to do but reapply for a first time visa on January 4th.
Our current visa runs out on January 5th and told him we don’t want to be left out in the cold with no visa. He said that the best thing to do was talk with the first time visa office on Monday the 4th. We reiterated that we want to do the right things and are already settled here with an apartment, work and Kati in school and wanted to find a good solution to this predicament. He smiled and said there is always a solution.
So the adventure continues on Monday morning. Christy and I will be standing in line long before the visa office opens to, hopefully, ensure an early place in line for the few visa places for our particualr visa status we need.
Communication is always tricky in that the communicator thinks they are communicating clearly until someone gives feedback on what they understand. My sister asked a very good question about what does this mean for us…what if we don’t have all the documents by Monday….will we be kicked out of the country……
No we will not be kicked out of the country but it does put some added stress to our lives and jumping through hoops to provide all the necessary documentation, time in gathering the documents, waiting for appointments etc… It has been our experience that since there are only 60 spots each year we need to apply on the very first day the visa office is open so our application is one of the first to be processed in order to “secure” a position before the spots get filled up. On previous years we have had people apply on the 15th of January and all the spots have already been filled. This would mean that we would have tourist visas that would last only 3 months and would need to leave the EU in order to “renew” our status.
So we will keep you in the loop as things progress. Your continued prayers are appreciated, that we would be in the 60 that would receive visas this years, that they would process our applications quickly and that we (and the Austrian government) would find a good solution for our status in the country after Jan. 5th. Pray that they would provide something that we would not be on a tourist visa but a special visa that would cover us until we receive our perminant visa.
