Monday, October 4, 2010

Bureaucratic phone calls

The quest for a residency permit continues, as my 90-day visa gets close to expiry...

I suppose the possibility of deportation is enough reason for anyone to get motivated to make some phone calls. :)

Since I last wrote about needing to make progress, nothing had happened. Last week was spent "trying" to make a phone call, which meant that pretty much every day I "intended" to do it, but put it off due to the fact that I either 1) didn't have time 2) didn't have a working phone 3) didn't have the right phone number.

It's imperative to call during work hours, of course.

I know that a lot of this was due to my own procrastination, but it didn't seem possible that SO many things could go wrong when trying to make one phone call! 

Then there was the weekend...continue/-

Monday

This morning I woke up and picked up my cell phone to see that the balance was 3 rubles (about 10 cents). Not again! Then a friend came to my rescue and put some money in my account using an electronic pay station. :)

Now that I had both a working phone AND a phone number, I could finally get down to business. I dialed the number...and got a fax machine. Arrrrrrrgh.

This happened several times. I checked and rechecked the phone number and it was the one I had used before and that a friend of mine had recommended. And I still got a BEEEEEEP. So I thought maybe it was just an automated answering machine?

An hour later...success! The phone RANG and there was a PERSON on the other end. She looked up my last name and said everything was all set and I could go to the local office for pick-up....after Wednesday.

This is great, but I'm still not sure when I can actually get into the local office and get my hands on this piece of paper, or get the stamp, or whatever is going to happen next. I can't seem to get through by phone to that office. So far I just have a few words of verbal confirmation from the central office, and that will have to be my progress for the day...

2 comments:

  1. Hi Liz,

    I'm sorry you are having trouble with your residency permit.

    Soviet City blog has a post about this that may be helpful.

    Larissa and I are reluctant experts about all things A-vere, the office where I have been many times these past 10 years. It's easier now. I have a permanent Jeet-Na-Vees-is- ta.

    Try to get someone to help you with the phone call.

    Also, feel free to contact us. We're here to help you!

    Rob
    American Russia Observations
    http://www.amrusob.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much! The OVIR is different in different neighborhoods, so I'm not sure about this one, but hopefully I will figure it out soon.

    ReplyDelete

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