All is good in the neighborhood

Ben had his appointment yesterday at the foreigner office to get fingerprinted for his official visa card. The paper for the appointment said to come between 3 and 6pm. So we figured we'd get there at 3 and be close to the front of the line. Not true. We got there at 3 on the dot. I saw the line I thought we were supposed to be in but there were about 20 people in it and I didn't want to stand in line and wait and get to the front and be told I was in the wrong line. So I asked one of the guards where to go and he pointed to a tent which I had not seen at first. The tent was JAM PACKED with people. He said to go over and ask "¿Quién es la última?" Who is the last? We walked in and could not believe the amount of people in there and the utter inefficiency of the whole thing. Ben counted and we were #80 in line. I was in shock. Apparently after getting out of school at 12:30pm instead of going home for lunch we should've gone straight to the appointment!

After standing in the same spot for a half hour we moved! We only made it to the other side of the aisle but we were still pretty happy. After that first half hour we moved a little more consistently but it still took us two and half hours to move out of tent and into the line that waits outside the building. We finally get inside and to a desk where we turn in the paperwork. Ben's program gave him a list of documents he needed to bring. We made all the copies and extra copies and checked and double checked and even triple checked that he had everything. As we are sitting there though, I could tell she was not finding everything she needs. She told us we needed to make a copy of the visa in the passport and the entry stamp! I looked at the list Ben's program gave us and that particular item was definitely not on the list! Fortunately the complex has a copy machine for people to use and she told us we could go out, make the copies and then come back in and wait at her desk until she finished with her current client. We wouldn't have to wait in line forever again!!

So we go out to make the copies and the machine only takes 10 and 20 cent coins. We have two 10 cent coins but we need to make 2 copies and one copy is 20 cents. I head back to where one of the guards is and asks him if he can change a 50 cent coin. He looked at me and said it was my lucky day. He had change! So we make our copies and go back inside. The lady processes his papers and we are good to go! Ben had another appointment for Thursday because we are leaving Spain before he gets his official card (it takes 40 days for him to get his card!) and he needs authorization to come back in because his visa in his passport expires this month. Basically that means collecting more documents, paying another tax and coming back to turn it all in again. It is called an Autorización de regreso appointment and they are only available between 9am and 1pm. We figured since we were already there though we would just ask if we could do it then. I asked the lady and she looked at me and paused for a second and said ok but that we needed to make more copies of the passport and a copy of the paper we just got for picking up Ben's card and we needed to hurry because she was off soon. Yes!!! But we only had a 1 euro coin. I was going to be really upset if the one thing that kept us from getting this second appointment done was not having the correct change. She then explained there was a change machine on the other side of the copy machine. So we rushed out, got change, made the copies and went back in, waited for her to finish with her current client and then sat back down. It took her awhile to process everything because she had to go to a whole other office to do it. But we sat patiently and waited. At this point we'd been there for almost 3 hours so what was another 15 minutes if it meant we didn't have to return on Thursday.

She came back with the document we needed and we got out of there. After 3 hours we finally had everything taken care of. The icing on top of the cake was coming home and having an email from World First (a company that helps make international transfers) saying that our money was received and set to be transferred to our account in the States. For whatever reason my Spanish bank card doesn't always work online so when we buy plane tickets or reserve hotel rooms online we have to use our American credit cards and since paypal has been locking me out of my account for over a month we needed to find another way to transfer the money back home. World First was an answer to prayer!

After all our productivity yesterday we can just sit back and relax the rest of the week. And let me tell you, we are looking forward to it!

This youtube video is an accurate representation of what it is like to turn papers in. (Minus the fact she just walks right in and sits down. For it to be truly accurate she needs to stand in line for 3 hours.)

Spanish Bureaucracy