Mood:
irritatedGetting Visas Part Yut (Yi, in Mandaring, one in English) - Monday
For the past couple of weeks, I had diligently looked at the Chinese Embassy website for instructions on how to obtain a Visa to enter China. You do not need to go in person, one person can go for the whole group. I typed up the applications that we would each need. I took passport type photos and printed them for each of us. I made sure I had everything that was required as per the list of items needed. Basically, a passport with empty pages, at least 6 months before it expires, one passport photo and an application. You pay for the visa when you go pick it up with a credit card, money order or cash, no personal checks. And according to the website, if you were born in China, you needed to have an old passport with a visa or your old Chinese passport, so I also had my mom’s old passport with her most recent visa to China. I had everything in my backpack ready to go.
So, I woke up nice and early this morning to go into NYC to get our visas for China. There are six Chinese Embassy offices in the United States and someone must go to the designated office for your state to get your visa. If you are not near the office, you can have someone go in your stead. I caught the bus by home, which dropped me off at Port Authority. This was the first time I had taken the bus from Jersey to NYC, so it was a new experience for me. This was also the first time I have taken public transportation in at least 1.5 years. I think the last time was the subway to see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center with the kids in 2007. The ride in was not bad, took about 1 hour and I didn't have to look for parking. After getting off the bus on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues I walked down to the Chinese Embassy located on 42nd and 12th Avenue. The walk itself was not too bad; it took me about 15 minutes. I got to the Embassy around 9:10, 10 minutes after it opened.
As I walked past the crosstown bus at between 9th and 10th Avenues, a Chinese man got off in a big rush and almost knocked me down. I had a feeling that this guy was headed to the same place I was. He set off at a brisk pace, while I walked slowly and when I got to the door of the Embassy, I spotted him speaking with two women. I also noticed that there was a bus stop right in front of the Embassy, so I have no idea why he didn’t wait to get off the bus. In addition to the bus stop, the other thing that I noticed was a group of about 15-20 old ladies doing Tai Chi across the street.
The man and his two lady friends got on the line to enter the building right in front of me. In order to enter the building, you must show the security guard at the door your identification. After that, there is a bag check with metal detectors. Apparently two of these three people had never been through a security line with a metal detector before. Lady #1 walks through the metal detector with no problems. Lady #2 picked today to wear a lovely belt made of what appeared to be 90% metal and didn’t feel the need to take it off until the third time through the detector. The security guard asked the guy to open his bag and empty his pockets and he took that to mean take your bag, you are free to go. So, I stood there for about 5 minutes waiting for dumb and dumber to go.
I get into the Travel Documentation area and there were lines everywhere with no information whatsoever as to which line to stand in. Line 1, the closest one to the door was apparently for photos. There is a middle area with four rows of seats. And there was another line that snaked from the front of the room into an “L” shape towards the door. This line I later found out was for people paying for and picking up their travel documents. Two ladies at the chairs in the middle area confirmed that that was where I wanted to be. Apparently, instead of standing on line, you sit on line. When someone goes up to a window, everyone slides down one seat until you are at the front of the line.
I take my seat next to these two ladies and a man comes up to my other side and asks if this was where he wanted to be. Apparently, there used to be a number system, similar to the deli counter at the supermarket that they no longer use. This gentleman proved to be some entertainment for me. When we first started out, we were in row 3, as we got closer to row 1, he started feeling the need to scream out “Hey you, go to that window” or “Hey, it’s your turn” or something to that effect when someone didn’t get off seat #1 quick enough.
Finally I was up; the time spent online was probably about 15 minutes. I got to the window with the four applications, four new passports and one old passport. I hand over the applications and passports. The lady starts going through the documents, making notations on the applications. Then she asked “where are the old passports?” I handed her my mom’s old passport…
Embassy worker: Where are the other passports?
Me: I didn’t bring my old passport.
E: You need the old passports for everybody; we need to see the old visas.
Me: The kids do not have old passports.
E: The form says they have been to China.
Me: They have never been to China.
E: You make mistake. (Chinese people are just so damned blunt when they speak. I felt like I committed some heinous crime and deserved to be executed). If they have never been to China, where are there birth certificates?
Me: I did not bring them. I did not know that you needed birth certificates for them.
E: Their parents are Chinese, you need birth certificate.
Me: Their parents were not born in China.
E: Does not matter.
Me: Your website didn’t say anything about that.
E: There is a whole section on website about this.
Me: There is a section there that is in Chinese. What if you don’t read Chinese?
E: You need to find someone to translate it. Also, you need to show which hotel you are staying in or if you are staying with friends, you need to put their contact information and have a letter from them inviting you to stay with them.
Well, there was a section that said For Children with Chinese Parents with it was a link in Chinese. I took it to mean parents born in China. My mom read it and said that it is for kids that had parents born in China. Well, apparently, they did not mean that and it is for any child of Chinese descent.
So, I left there, and started to walk back to the Port Authority. I had just under two hours to waste for the next bus, so I walked around the station and tried to look for a seat to do some reading. The seats by the terminals were not made for people vertically challenged like myself. They folded up, I guess to save room for rush hour, similar to a movie theater seat. However, they were only about six inches deep and 12 inches wide. There was no way I would be able to sit on these seats unless I was at least 3 inches taller, so I found some normal seats and read for a while. The bus ride home was uneventful, I took a nice nap.
I got home and I called to make sure that I had everything that I needed for tomorrow. I called repeatedly for about 25 minutes before I got an actual person on the phone. Then I decided to see what time they closed, so maybe I could just go back into the City today and get everything done. They are opened from 9-12 and then from 1-2:30. I am amazed by Chinese beauracracy. Getting Visas part two coming up tomorrow and part three hopefully on Friday when we go pick them up!
Getting Visas Part Yi (Er, in Mandarin, two in English) - Tuesday
So, on the phone yesterday when I finally got a hold of a human, I was told that I needed the following items for the following people:
Me and my Mom
Application
Passport
Old Passport with old visa to China
Izz and Chubba
Application
Passport
Copy of my passport
Original and copy of their birth certificates
I made two copies of my passport, reprinted the applications to show the hotel we are staying in, made copies of the kids’ birth certificates and dug up my old passport. Everything was in my backpack ready to go.
I took a later bus today, figuring I didn’t really need to get there at 9:00 when the embassy opens. Again, the group of old ladies were across the street, this time they were sitting on the ground meditating. I got to the embassy around 9:45, the line through security was a bit longer by this time and there was no longer a security guard at the door asking for your ID. I opened my bag for the guy at the metal detectors and he asked me for my ID. He said “the sign says show ID.” I showed my ID and looked around for a while but could not find it. Then my head turned toward the top of the metal detector where there was a 2 inch sign that said “Show ID.”
I went inside and went to the middle section. By this time, the line was much longer than yesterday. I was seated in seat 32 of 32. Everyone else had to stand until they became lucky contestant 32. The line did not move for about five minutes. Then I moved about 8 seats in 5 minutes. When I got to the last seat in the 4th row or the first seat in the 4th row, depending on how you look at it. I realized what this line reminded me of. Every time we moved up a seat, it was like doing the wave at a ball game.
After observing the line for a while, I quickly realized that the line would move quickly for a while because they quickly sent people away. Then these people would come back after a while and go to the head of the line. One guy who had been sent away came back to the head of the line and another guy in the seat line told him to go to the back of the line and the first guy got pretty pissed off and started yelling at the second guy. The security guard had to come over and quiet them down.
I stayed on line for about 1 hour and I was finally in seat #1, well seat #2. The lady in seat #1 was just there to keep someone company and he had just been sent away from the window to refill his application. I walked up to the window and gave the lady all my documents, neatly tucked into the corresponding passport. She starts going through everything. Hands me kids’ birth certificate 1, kids’ birth certificate 2, then she goes, you need a copy of this page (handing me my old passport) and a copy of this page (handing me my mom’s old passport). Sigh. Then she hands back everything to me and says, “give me everything at one time.”
I go to the photocopy towards the back of the room. So, how many Chinese men does it take to make a photocopy? Apparently six, there were six guys standing next to the photocopier trying to help the first guy make a copy of his passport. After they finally figure out what to do, the next four guys make their copies. I guess number six was not paying attention because when it was his turn, he did not know to just press the green button. He kept pressing the number 1 before pressing the green button, which resulted in the copier not allowing him to make 1111 copies with the 25 cents that he put in the machine. I made my copies and went back to the head of the line.
I waited for the lady to finish up with the couple she was helping. The returning to the head of the line is pretty messy as a bunch of people just stand in front of the windows waiting. I got to the window and handed everything back to her. She then asked me for the address of my place of employment. When I told her that I was unemployed at the moment, I was told that my occupation was not Engineer, my occupation is unemployed and I must fill out the first page of the application again. SIGH. I filled out the first page of the application again and handed it back in. She then went through everything again and handed me two yellow slips of paper and said to come back on Friday to pick up the passports.
So, the lesson here is make copies of everything even if you are not told to. Bring everything that you can imagine, even if you are not told to, birth certificates, hotel information, flight information, old passports, for you, your parents, children and anyone you can think of. Everyone I have talked to mentioned that it used to be so much easier to get a visa, you just brought your passport and gave them money.
Friday is visa pick-up day. I noted on both days that by 9:30, there was virtually no line for pick-ups. Let’s see how that goes…
Getting Visas Part Som (San, in Mandarin, three in English) - Friday
This morning, I woke up early to drag the kids and my mom with me to the Chinese Embassy. We left the house at 8:00, I had hoped to get to 42nd Street by 9:30, as I figured from my past experience on Monday and Tuesday that the pick-up line would be fairly short by this time and I saw a parking lot that had an all day early bird special for $14 after taxes.
Getting out into Manhattan via car took about half an hour longer than the bus. There are bus only lanes going to and through the Lincoln Tunnel. We arrived at the parking lot around 9:30 and walked to the Chinese Embassy. The usual old ladies were across the street doing their tai chi. The guard was once again missing at the front door and IDs were requested by the metal detectors. Once inside, I noticed the visa application line was longer than Monday and Tuesday’s lines.
I went to line #9, where I was supposed to hand in the receipts that I was given on Tuesday. I was the fourth person on line. The person at the counter would take the receipts and leave the window for a little while, then return for the next customer. I got up to the window and handed in my receipts and was given a tag with a number on it and the lady pointed toward my left side, signaling me to go to window 8. Windows 8 and 10 both serve the same purpose. I stood on line at window 8 for about 15 minutes, apparently there was some issue with the person at the head of the line.
I went up and handed in my number card. The lady picked up two envelopes which the lady from window 9 had placed next to her and asked me for $520. I paid with my credit card and was handed the passports and receipt.
The pickup process was pretty painless. However, I did not understand the need for standing on two lines. Why not just have three windows where you hand in the receipts, pay and pick up the visas? The Chinese I suppose have their own strange way of thinking or they just enjoy having people stand on line.
Look for my next update probably on September 8th or so…
ABC
not sure
happy