Visa Adventures

Getting a visa was an adventure. It shouldn't have been, because the process is really very easy.

I, obviously, found as many ways as possible to screw this up. In the end, it resulted in a hilarious adventure to the Korean Consulate in Boston.


I assembled my materials, brought everything to the post office, and successfully posted my $17 overnight package to the consulate. As soon as I get back to the car, I realize I completely forgot to put a 2"x2" photo in the package, despite having the photos in my stack of Things To Put In The Application Package.

Well, I'll either get my visa anyway or they'll give me an angry phone call, right?

Two weeks pass and I've heard nothing from the Consulate. ETA Sarah calls me up and lets me know that the Consulate has gotten in touch with her about her application. I go into panic mode--why haven't they complained about mine yet?

I call up the Consulate and it's a repeat of my previous chickening-out episode: a barrage of Korean answers, which I blatantly ignore by responding, "Yes, I have a question about my visa application?"

I was supposed to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so that they could send my passport-with-visa back. She never mentions if my application was actually accepted, but I need to drive down to Newton to pick it up or drop of a 2"x2" photo either way.

Directions to and from: check.
Fulbright documents: check.
Gas in the truck: oh fffuuuu--

Oh, I'll just fill up somewhere in Newton lol

That's when I realized I had also forgotten my Vera clutch, which contains my credit card, cash, bank card, driver's license.

I get in the Consulate (Koreans in the corner muttering to each other, all I can make out was "yogi" [here] every 5 seconds, so maybe they were signing something). The TV is showing some Korean soccer game, probably taped from a year or two ago. The visa office is right in front of me. I walk up. "I, um, was wondering about my visa?"

"Photo ID, please?"

Oh. Right. All of my photo IDs are in my clutch. Which I don't have.

"I.. I don't have any."

The lady looks at me suspiciously.

"I forgot my wallet at home."

"I am sorry," she says, even though it is PAINFULLY blatant that she couldn't care less.

A good 35 seconds of silence follow in which I just stare at her. I just drove an hour down here, running on the red empty line the whole way, I need this visa STAT, and here I am thwarted by a tiny Korean woman behind her desk. What do I do? That's an idea. "What do I do?" I complain to her.

"You don't have photo ID?"

"NO! I forgot my wallet! I live far away!"

"Ah, where you live?"

"New Hampshire!"

"...do your cards have your name?"

I hastly try to shove my entire purse under the window, only to bashfully pull it back and slide out my health insurance card and my frequent flyer card under her wary eye. She looks at them, at my passport, quizzes me on my birthday and location of birth, and then--MIRACULOUSLY--she lets me have my passport/visa.

Thank. Goodness.

I blast my KPop+Disney mix CD to drown out the incessent dinging of the Low Fuel light and manage to get home without running out of gas. So maybe that was a long story, but it was a stressful/hilarious day and I still cannot believe how lucky I am that everything managed to work out just fine.