« It’s not raining right now! | Home | Heavy metal preview »

Windows Visa

Yesterday I had to march down to the Kreisverwaltungsreferat to procure my visa. (The Kreisverwaltungsreferat is some municipal building whose name I won’t translate because it would have to be broken up into several words in English, and that’s no fun. While we’re at it, the German word for “visa” is Aufenthaltsgenehmigung.) It was of course pouring rain, so our small party opted to take public transportation, which meant we had to transfer twice to get there. But with those two transfers, we didn’t really get wet at all. Thumbs up.

We arrive at the office and find out we have to split up according to last name, as the building is organized in such a way that a certain office handle matters for anyone whose last name begins with A through D, for example. I had to make my way through the maze of a building—really, you cannot imagine how maniacally this place was laid out, I mean I think the architect got off on right angles or something—back to the section called S, Sch, but NOT St. I pulled out my passport and double checked whether this was indeed my spot, then, sufficiently satisfied, tried to figure out whom I was supposed to talk to in this vast waiting room in order to get some assistance.

The answer was that there was no official person present to talk to, nor did it seem that there ever might be. There was a machine on the wall with a single button on it. I pressed that junk and out was coughed a ticket with a number on it: 111. I noticed that directly above me was a rather large display board that listed the numbers, er, people, currently being helped, as well as the room in which that alleged helping was taking place. So I sat myself down like a good alien and waited for the deli-style service system to deem me worthy of getting a tasty visa sandwich.

Turns out that the kind lady behind door number 8 at S, Sch, but NOT St only wanted to collect my declaration of residence form. To get the Aufenthaltsgenehmigung, first I had to go upstairs, find the S, Sch, but NOT St office up there, then take a deep breath and ask whether I could pretty please have my visa sandwich now.

I found the office, but since I was a student, I was sent elsewhere. To a terrible overcrowded place full of international students who also did not know what the hell was going on, though they were a bit more overt about it. I was told by the staff there that they were too busy, so I could not be given a number, and that therefore I would have to come back on Monday. Mind you, this was at 11:30am. They close at noon on Fridays because this country blows my mind. But anyway.

Sometime next week I’ll go over again. Apparently the form I filled out and handed in yesterday gets me three months of legal status in Germany, so I’ll ride that out for awhile before coughing up the unexpected (although I don’t know why) 50€ fee. Screw that, man. Convert that to dollars and it gets tragic.

UPDATE: I’ve found out that since I’m here on a full scholarship, there will be no charge for the visa. All I have to do is bring my letter of award for the grant money, and I should be in the clear. That letter also outlines the stipend I’ll be receiving while here, so I can prove to the office here that I’m not going to be applying for welfare.