Immigration... How long can it take?

Argentina immigration was so enamored with our family in April, they did not let us leave the country. They stamped us out, then had second thoughts at the border, canceled the exit in our passports and turned us around. This calamity meant that our visas expire on May 10.

For the last week, it has been locura, madness, as the kids and I try to renew our visas and stay legally!!!

Day 1 - Friday, 4 de Mayo - We have 6 days left in the country on our current visa.

I pull the kids out of school. I miss physical therapy. We get to the immigration office at 7:30 AM. We are first in line. I get processed. Antonio gets half way through the process, and ... everything goes black. The electricity in the entire city was cut. They sent us home.

Two and a half hours later, the lights are back on, and we return, only to be turned away. The lights in the office are still off and the computer technician is working on the "system." They tell us to come back on Monday.

I am a little annoyed that I have to take my kids out of school again?!?! A compassionate woman pulls me aside, and on the down-low she tells me not to bring the kids. Cool.

Day 1 - Sitting in the dark

BORING

Day 2 - Monday, 7 de Mayo - We have 3 days left on our visas.

GO HOME!

I show up at the office at 9:15, after physical therapy.

There is a sign on the door - Systems Are Down. Pardon the bother. WHAT?? I go in the office and talk to the couple sitting back enjoying mate and a day off with pay. They insist I come back... tomorrow... with my kids. Yup, I have to take them out of school AGAIN. LAME.

Day 3 - Tuesday, 8 de Mayo - We have 2 days left on our visas.

The kids and I rendezvous at 9:10 at CIK. We walk to immigration. It is PACKED. Everyone and his mother are trying to get the work done from the last week. We inspect our place in the crowd. Finally it is out turn and just in time. They only process 10 people a day for visa issues, ?!?! and we are numbers 8, 9, and 10. Everyone after us gets turned away. Thank goodness I was processed on Friday, or I would have been unlucky number 11.

The kids place each fingerprint on the mini scanner which takes nearly an hour ?!?! then Adam picks them up and takes them to school.

I am handed our four invoices which I need to pay at the National Bank two blocks away. The line is endless. The waiting room is overflowing. People are spilling out the door, I take a number and wait. I only have two hours before I have to pick up the kids from school. I don't think I will make it.

There is one line that is moving. I decide to stand in it and play my, "Gringa, Extranjera, I don't know what I am doing," card. Twenty minutes later I am at the front, I explain my situation, and the guy gives me a new number - with priority. The Gringa card worked! Ten more minutes, and my special number pops up on the screen. People are always happy to take my money, so paying the bills takes less than three minutes.

I trot back to Immigration with my stamped receipts and hand them over. I am told to wait "un ratito." Fifteen minutes later, I look at my watch. I have 13 minutes to get home and get in the car to pick up the kids from school on-time. I ask if I can come back tomorrow, and receive a crazy-eye, "Si!"

I run home, down a half liter of water and with a minute to spare, I get in the car and pick up the kids... in the same workout clothes I put on at 5:30 in the morning, smelly, and starving, but I made it on time! Whoot!

Day 4 - Wednesday, 9 de Mayo - One day left on the visas.

I show up at Immigration; it is packed; I am recognized, and within five minutes I have my papers and success.

Then, standing in the middle of the room with 25 people watching, they ask about my husband... Why wasn't he here? Why didn't we renew his Visa?

Well folks, with one day to spare, he is boarding a plane in Buenos Aires this evening and leaving the country. He needed a vacation (and to teach a workshop), so he is off to the lovely Grecian island of Crete for the next 10 days.