How to Renew a Visa

Showing grandparents around Clove Island

So you need to renew your visa.  This handy instruction manual will teach you everything you need to know for obtaining or renewing your visa on the islands.  Just follow the simple and easy instructions below and everything will be quickly resolved.

Lesson #1: Obtaining/Renewing your visa is never simple or easy:  Keep in mind that in theory getting your visa involves 3 simple steps:
        1. Bring a letter of request and passport to the appropriate government official
        2. Obtain a letter of approval from the appropriate government official
        3. Take letter of approval, 2 photos, and a passport to the immigration office for             the official visa stamp in your passport.
Note: “In theory” is a key phrase, for although you may be convinced the process is simple, each step has it’s many pitfalls.

Lesson #2: Finding the appropriate government official is a mystery wrapped in an enigma:  The best you can hope for at this step is that you are in the right building.  Having found the right building you may be able to find your way to the right office and then maybe even the correct official.  Maybe. (see Lesson #1 for further instruction)  Cautionary note: It does not matter how many times you’ve done this before, or how many people you recognize in the office.  The correct person will change over time, and no one is sure how or why.  Ask lots of questions but expect different answers.

Cooking by headlamp, power woes continue

Lesson #3 Obtaining the letter of approval from the appropriate government official is like trying to catch a fish covered in baby oil.  Government officials are extremely slippery and hard to pin down.  They have a way of appearing and disappearing, and rarely stay where you want them to be.  Moreover, often you have to catch the small ones who will lead you to the big ones.  Case in point:  First catch the official’s secretary.  She is the one with the key to the office.  Next catch the official’s assistant.  This is the person responsible for writing the letter of approval (often times you have to hold on to this one for a long time as they will not actually write the letter without lots of coaxing).  Finally you try to catch the official who must sign the letter (but this being a big important government official type their work day starts around 9 and they are out of the office by 9:30, so while you were standing over the smaller one explaining how to spell V-I-S-A correctly on the very important paper that they could have simply copied from the previous year and changed the date, the big fish has gotten away.)  At this point it is good to refer back to lesson #1 for further guidance.

Old traditional carved doors

Lesson #4 Be prepared for mind-numbing boredom, insane levels of bureaucracy, and an extremely unmotivated workforce.  Although these three factors can be found at all levels of the process, it is most infuriating for the final step.  After obtaining your letter of approval and bringing everything you need to immigration, and finding the appropriate office, the final step seems quite easy—stamping and signing the visa.  As you step into a room with four workers who are chatting, there is the possibility you may have a glimmer of hope:  Four workers who aren’t busy! They will be able to stamp all our passports quickly.  Leave this glimmer of hope behind.  Upon entering the building one of the four will promptly put their head down and go to sleep.  After some debate one will agree to work on the stamping process while the other two continue with the important job of talking.  This leaves you with one person doing the job, who would rather be talking.  Hours later you may leave with your visas.  Note: check your passport, for though this woman has only one job to do and it consists of writing only a few words and a few dates she often makes mistakes.  If this should happen to you refer to Lesson #1

Written from experience from the past few days. We are currently stuck on step 2 of the process after two full, long mornings of waiting and contriving. We pray for patience.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom is feeling all better. Thanks for your prayers. Our entire team made it back to the islands safely and have seemed to transition well back into island life. We were blessed by the well wishes of our friends and neighbors on our return and have enjoyed showing Megan’s parents our life here. We were also thankful to hear that the island group continued meeting while we were gone. Many of you have prayed for Ma Imani’s family. While we were gone Ma Imani’s father died fairly suddenly (though he was old and weak). This sad event however has brought the fighting siblings together. Several asked Ma Imani’s forgiveness and she is now spending time with her mother and sisters everyday. We are very grateful for this turn of events.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray that the rest of the visa renewal process will go quickly and easily and that Tom will have patience and good interactions. Our team is in the middle of an intensive language push, pray that one and all would see encouraging improvement in their abilities to understand and communicate important things in the local language. Pray for Megan’s parents as they travel back to the States.