Most of the places we have visited on this trip we have been able to get a visa on arrival. We have only had to apply in advance for two, India and China. Those are also the most expensive visas we have had to get.
Shortly before we began our trip we applied for our India Visas. They were good for 6 months so we were able to time it to get them before we left. It was a major ordeal to get them all filled out. It seemed like what should be a straight forward process was not. We spent hours getting the applications ready to send. When I dropped them off at the Fed EX office to be shipped I felt like I was turning in a college paper and just needed to get my final grade. Yes, that much work and effort went into those applications. It was a huge relief to get our passports back and get the passing grade of an Indian Visa.
The second visa we needed in advance is China, but we were not able to get that one before we left since it was at the end of our trip and would have expired before we even got to use it. With a little research we found that we could get them in Hong Kong. That brings us to this part of our trip where we are in Hong Kong with the main purpose of getting our Chinese Visas.
Before arriving in Hong Kong Rich and I did a lot of researching to see what was required. We got the list of required documents from the official pages and then found advice on what, how, where, and when from various blogs. After a few hours of work we had the completed application packet for each person before we even arrived in Hong Kong.
Our first morning in Hong Kong we got up early, found some food for breakfast (so glad to find 7-11 nearby), and headed off to apply for the visas. Rich and I took Jenna with us and left the boys in our teeny tiny apartment to work on school while we were gone. We first figured out the metro system. We have the "I'm lost" look down because two different people helped us without our asking. With their help, we were able to find the right building much quicker than we would have on our own.
There was no line for the security screening (we had read it could be long). We went through the first line to get our waiting number. The employee handing out the numbers found a few things we needed to add to our applications so we worked on that while we waited for our turn. After about a half hour it was our turn and we handed over the first application. She looked at it and asked where the birth certificate was. We both gave her the blank look and said "birth certificate?" No where had we read anything about needing birth certificates. She gave us a paper of requirements for 1st time Chinese Visa applicants for children under 18 and they needed birth certificates and copies of parents passports. She told us to get them and apply later.
Feeling very deflated we returned to the seating area to regroup. We thought we could call Rich's parents and have them dig through our box of stuff we left at their house and scan and e-mail us the certificates. While Rich was hooking up his remote Internet to call them I looked through a pile of "important papers" that we haven't looked at since leaving and was so excited to find a copy of every one's birth certificate. Sometimes we do things right after all!
We made the necessary copies and once again got a number to wait for our turn. After another half hour we turned our packets in again and she pulled out several pages of items she said were not necessary (but were clearly listed on the official website as necessary!) and then asked us where our marriage certificate was. Once again we gave her the blank look and asked "marriage certificate?" After looking through the important papers file again we confirmed that we did not have one with us. She went and checked with another employee and then came back and said it was best if we had the certificate, but it was possible to process it without one and she would submit the application and call us if we needed to provide the certificate.
So we left our applications and walked out so confused about the whole process. We didn't need papers we thought were required, we had to find papers that were not mentioned. Now we wait to see if we will actually be heading to China in a few days or if we will have to come up with alternate plans! Isn't the Visa Game so much fun?
We won the visa game and we are going to China. What a relief!
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