After getting approved for my long-stay student visa, I was told to come back the following Monday to pick it up. It takes at least a week to process, and there were a lot of people that shared my appointment time. Nearly everyone that went before me that was approved was told to come back on Christmas Eve. I suppose that, after a certain amount of people have been told to come back for their completed visa, they have to have a cut off point. I wasn't complaining about waiting an extra few days... I didn't want to go back on Christmas Eve!
... However, with the huge snow storm that we got a few days after Christmas, I wasn't able to pick up my visa until the next Monday. Since I didn't have to make an official appointment to go and get it, that was okay. The man that approved me for my visa told me that I could pick it up on or after that date--just not earlier, and as long as I was there between 9-10AM. Since that is the time they tell everyone to come, it actually was a very good idea to get there early.
My step-dad and I drove to NYC and, as I said in an earlier entry, he was not allowed to come in with me. He had to drop me off in front of the building, where there was already a pretty long line of people waiting to get in. We waited in the cold for a good fifteen minutes or so before the door opened--and the man that approved me for my visa came outside! He asked us who was there for their first appointment and who was there to pick up a completed visa. He let the first-timers in first, and the rest of us a few minutes later.
Once I was inside, I was told to go to window 3 and hand over my passport and receipt from last time. After that was done, I was told to sit in the (very, very crowded) waiting area. It was hot and boring, and it took a long time to get called up. In fact, I couldn't understand what they said over the microphone and misheard my name and went up when someone else was actually called. That actually wasn't a big deal--I went up to the window and asked if that was my name, and it wasn't, but the woman there asked for my name anyway and found my application in the pile, asked if I had any other papers to give her ("No."), and then told me to sit (or stand, rather) in the waiting area again. More people were there by that point so I didn't even bother sitting, thinking that I wouldn't be waiting much longer. Wrong! I'm gonna say that, overall, I waited for at least an hour and a half from the time I got there to the time I left.
Once my name actually was called, and I got my passport back, I was told to check that everything was correct--the spelling of my name, my passport number, etc. All was well and I was able to leave! I felt guilty for having my step-dad wait for so long when he was nice enough to take me into the city, but I had a feeling that it would take a long time. It was a good thing we got there at 9AM. Any later than that would have been problematic.
The worst part is over! Now the only thing left to do is pack, and, well... I've barely started. Oops!
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