indian embassy
I had a most interesting visit to the Indian Embassy this morning. For starters, the map they had on their website was wrong. We drove around neighborhoods for a while to no avail, then just happened to run into an Indian man on the street who knew where it was! He lead the way in his car - thanks man!
I did all my homework online to find out exactly what I needed to get the visa. Fill out tourist form V-1, bring proof of your return plane ticket, and hotel confirmation. Great! So we did all that. Didn't have a glue stick at home so had to paper clip our photos on the pages.
Got to the window and the guy starts ticking off all the unfilled areas - which indicate on the form only need to be filled in when you qualify for those conditions. For example, "Sign here as a tesatment that if you are entering India for 1 year or more, you will leave if you find out you have AIDS". So, I didn't sign because I won't be there for a year. But we had to sign anyway. Several areas like this follow.
THEN...you also have to fill out 'this' form, in duplicate. WTF!! Why wasn't that form, or that information ON THE WEBSITE under visa requirements??? So we had to fill those out in a last minute scramble. He also screamed we couldn't affix the photo with paper clip. I'm like, great - I don't have GLUE on me do I? So, I chewed a piece of gum and used little bits like glue strips. Quite genius really, and it worked.
With all the ado about those forms, we finally get a ticket to the window to apply - only to find out we're also supposed to have a photo copy of our passport and work permit. Which seems odd considering I was about to HAND OVER MY ACTUAL PASSPORT. Isn't the original more proof than a copy? So, Rory had to push his way back in a huddle of men to get photo copies at 30 cents each.
Then at the cashier's window, the woman charge me and my female co-worker an extra 10QR, for no apparent reason. We already got charged an extra 75QR for being Americans. Gotta love it.
So, off to India next weekend for Rory's big 3-0!!!! Going diving in Goa, woohoo!!!
I did all my homework online to find out exactly what I needed to get the visa. Fill out tourist form V-1, bring proof of your return plane ticket, and hotel confirmation. Great! So we did all that. Didn't have a glue stick at home so had to paper clip our photos on the pages.
Got to the window and the guy starts ticking off all the unfilled areas - which indicate on the form only need to be filled in when you qualify for those conditions. For example, "Sign here as a tesatment that if you are entering India for 1 year or more, you will leave if you find out you have AIDS". So, I didn't sign because I won't be there for a year. But we had to sign anyway. Several areas like this follow.
THEN...you also have to fill out 'this' form, in duplicate. WTF!! Why wasn't that form, or that information ON THE WEBSITE under visa requirements??? So we had to fill those out in a last minute scramble. He also screamed we couldn't affix the photo with paper clip. I'm like, great - I don't have GLUE on me do I? So, I chewed a piece of gum and used little bits like glue strips. Quite genius really, and it worked.
With all the ado about those forms, we finally get a ticket to the window to apply - only to find out we're also supposed to have a photo copy of our passport and work permit. Which seems odd considering I was about to HAND OVER MY ACTUAL PASSPORT. Isn't the original more proof than a copy? So, Rory had to push his way back in a huddle of men to get photo copies at 30 cents each.
Then at the cashier's window, the woman charge me and my female co-worker an extra 10QR, for no apparent reason. We already got charged an extra 75QR for being Americans. Gotta love it.
So, off to India next weekend for Rory's big 3-0!!!! Going diving in Goa, woohoo!!!
