Thursday, March 28, 2013

Tight Timing

Holy Strombole!  We received confirmation that we can have our appointment with the Ministry of Education on the 24th and our clinic appointments on the 29th.  That is all good.  The hard part is guarenteeing our visas will be here in time for us to fly there.  They sent an email saying we wouldn't receive them until the 28th.  Mike got on the phone, because I am so stuffed up I sound like a muppet character, and told them our situation and how I was previously told that if we had them in the mail asap the 18th would be fine for a deadline.

Right now, our passports are at the Russian Embassy in Ottawa waiting for the invitation to create the visa.  The invitation takes about two weeks to firm up.  The guy on the phone told us to start calling around the 10th of April and putting the screws to them because that is when the process could be hurried up.  Once the invite is received and we have met all the criteria (including an HIV test for this kind of visa! what?!) the visa is then created, imprinted into our passport and mailed back to us (there is a same-day option for mailing.  So, next step:  We go get blood done this week and then email the results to the visa centre once we have received them.  Then we start calling.  Then we book flights for the 21st or 22nd of April to arrive for the 24th appointment.

Holy Hannah this is tight!

No comments:

Post a Comment