So here's the deal. I'm off to France in 10 days. Pretty damn cool, I must admit.
I made the prescribed pilgrimage down to the consulate in Miami last sunday, in order to be near the first in line the next morning- and that worked out nicely, I was #4. Sweet.
Consequently, my parents took me there, and used it as an opportunity for a truncated Miami vacation. Despite having lived in FL since I was 6, I'd never seen Miami before. I need to get out more.
It turned out that the hotel we chose happened to be in the same building as the consulate itself, pretty damn convenient, nice hotel too. Monday morning, I was in the consulate, with my applications, pictures, passport, etc... everything seemed to be in order- then I noticed the signage- NO VISAS WILL BE GIVEN OUT WITHIN 24 hours.
So, I give the woman all of my materials, she checks them out, and says- you can pick up your passport on wend.... ahhhhhh. So, she sees my discomfort at this, and explained that I should give her an express mail envelope and the passport can get mailed to me... So thats what I did- headed to the Post Office, got what I needed, took it back the the consulate and that was that.
My passport arrived today, and that is the very last road block to safely and legally making it to France. Stoked.
I am glad I didn't wait even longer to go to Miami. So, moral of the story is that nothing happens in one day, when dealing with the French Bureaucracy, and this is just phase one. haha, get used to a year full of it. C'est la vie, non?
4 comments:
francing.
taiwaning
mon ami, I think I should let you know that the country you have called home is just as full of glorious Bureaucracy. This is coming from the son of an immigrant. I have seen the inside of too many offices dealing with immigration.
Weird. I had no problem getting mine the same day. I guess the French change the rules whenever they get bored.
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