Immigration Office

The most ironic thing I saw today was the sign in front of the Immigration Office that said, "One Stop Shop." I arrived at the office at about 10 am, not sure what to expect. I know I needed to renew my visa and get a re-entry permit, not sure what the process was but I was expecting something about as fun as the DMV. It was oh-so-much worse. First of all, you don't even take a number. You wait in a line to write your name in a book. This is the queue. Then I waited. Waited. Waaaited. Keep in mind the waiting "room" is a series of chairs outside and it's about 95 degrees. Fun, I know.

Now it's 11:30 and the queue had moved forward about 5 people. I had 5 more people in front of me. Then this is where the humor kicks in, as it always seems to do without fail in this beautiful country. There is an announcement over the loudspeaker that the staff is breaking for lunch, so please come back at 1:00pm. Really? An hour and a half for lunch and you brilliant folks didn't come up with a schedule where maybe some people could continue working while some people go eat lunch? Such a Thai thing to do, I love it to death. So I grab some food and return to wait some more at 1:00pm. My name is called about a half hour later and I bring my papers to the counter. The woman then tells me to fill out (another) form and then take a seat. I very easily could have done this over the three and a half hours, but what can you do? I return the completed form and she takes my paperwork and has me take a seat. They are so good at saying that phrase...take a seat.

I wait another hour and they call my name to come into the office. I literally sit down at a desk and watch a woman in a uniform sift through my papers. I don't sign anything and she doesn't say anything to me. Then she collects my money and hands my papers to someone else behind her. Now I'm not sure where to go or what to do, so I stand there and she says, of course, "take a seat." At least this time the seat was in the indoor waiting room. Movin' on up. So I'm taking my seat and these two girls who work in the office are CMU students (I can tell by the school uniform they are wearing.) They were just handed my paperwork by the third person who checked it and one of them is copying my information in a giant book. I kid you not. I did not see a single computer in this place. The other girl was writing doodles on a napkin and blotting her lipstick. Nice.

Then the girl hands my papers to another man in a uniform at a different desk. He calls me over and I sit down while he sifts through my papers. Once again I don't sign anything and he doesn't say anything to me but he was the manly man who put that all-important stamp in my passport. I ask him about the re-entry visa (because everyone I've asked about that at this point kept saying "after, after") and he directs me to a window where I went through the process again. I filled out a new form, waited some more, and finally got that other all-important stamp. I was home by 4pm.

One-stop shop.