Visa Acquisition at Home - Just Kidding, Its Not Fun

In my last post regarding obtaining a visa at home, I laid out all the difficulties that need to be overcome when getting a visa issued hundreds of miles away from the nearest consulate.  My specific goal was obtaining a Chinese visa prior to leaving for my trip, which was presented with an added layer of difficulty by finding a 3rd party to have to take my passport to a consulate as the Chinese consulates no longer accept mail in orders.  That experience turned out to be relatively painless to get the visa issued and passport returned, with the only drawback being $50 in extra shipping and service fees.  Thinking it would be all well and good for obtaining a Vietnamese visa, whose consulates DO accept mail in deliveries, was a very poor lapse in judgment. Maybe use of a travel agency like Liberty Travel might not be a bad idea after all

The procedure for obtaining a Vietnamese visa at a consulate in the USA is a pretty standard routine.  Fill out an application form with intended travel information, affix a 2x2 passport photo, insert $XX.00 money order payable to the consulate or consulate general, and mail with included return postage.  Of course, being in the technological age now, all of this information is listed on the consulate's website.  After looking through the site, and deciphering the fee's file hosted on the visa listing, I sent my $30 money order with my passport to the Vietnamese consulate in Washington DC.   Delivery confirmation showed they received it, a week went by, and my outbound tracking number has not shown shipment.  Confused, I contacted the consulate to make sure everything was okay.

Contacting a Consulate? Don't Get Your Hopes Up

Contacting a consulate is difficult.  Immensely difficult.  Many horror stories are abound on the internet about phone lines that lead to nowhere and emails that go without response and are lost to an overfull inbox for the rest of time.  The Vietnamese consulate in Washington DC was no different, although online stories suggest that the San Francisco office is beyond worse in customer service.  The first email bounced back as undeliverable 48 hours after sent.  The second was replied to many, many hours later after being extracted from a spam filter.  While waiting for an email response, I decided to call just in case.  Four different phone numbers are listed for consular services, and multiple calls over 4 hours led to no answer, up until 15 minutes prior to the consulate closing.  Ironically, just prior to the phone call that actually went through, I received an email response stating only this:  "NEITHER YOUR PASSPORT NUMBER NOR YOUR NAME SHOW UP IN OUR SYSTEM."

Sending off mass phone calls immediately, I finally got an answer.  The lady on the other end, who unfortunately is receiving the brunt of my grief at this point, instantly knew who I was before I introduced myself.  After telling her what I sent with my package, she came back with "Oh, that might be why, the visa fee is $70."  $70.  Not $30 like the website says.  Well, the website is half right, as I was told the visa fee is in fact $30, but there are two processing fees of $20 each totaling up to $70.  She informed me that my passport was likely put aside for someone to contact me, and they just haven't yet.  Of course, if I sent my $40 in they would process my application right away.  So I did, since leaving in 4 weeks entails that I need my passport with a bit of urgency.

Day 2: No Sight of Passport

At the close of business the following day, I called the consulate back to inform them that my money was being sent out, and to find out if my passport has been retrieved.  Somehow I got through on the first try, and spoke with the same woman as before who was very brief during this conversation.  Again, no confirmation on whether or not my passport is even there, but was told that they would be contacting me via email when they know more information.  Luckily, followers on Twitter reminded me that this is a bureaucracy that we are talking about, and they have my passport.  Unfortunately that is probably the only good guarantee a bureaucracy can account for.  The unknown of my missing travel pass is very upsetting.  Within 24 hours of this post going live, my extra payment should arrive and hopefully make my passport magically be found and processed.  Otherwise I may have to make the 8 hour trip to the consulate to speak with someone personally.

Avoid the Headache, Use a Travel Agent or 3rd Party!

I am not here to say that all consulates are bad.  Consulates do great work in getting you entry visas into countries of your choosing, which is an unfortunate necessity for travel.  The down side to this is that they are located few and far between and either require you to lose possession of your passport through a 3rd party service or by mail-in delivery.  Based upon my current experience (as well as hundreds of other similar stories that pop up on Google), I can see why using a 3rd party can be beneficial for this endeavor.  The extra cost may range $30-$75 for the service, but the guarantee is present that some human being will have physical knowledge of your passports location at all time is worth the cost.  It might eat a day of travel out of your budget, but it is a necessity to avoid headaches such as the one that I am in through at the moment.

Update: Visa Approved! Passport Is Home!

After a week and a half of unanswered emails, non-responsive phone calls, and a general lack of information about the location of my passport, I finally received confirmation at 10:20am July 20th, 2010.  My passport was being sent home along with a brand new Vietnamese visa!  Of course, this was not without its frustrations.  The passport was sent out 2 days after it was promised to be shipped, but I can get past that now that it is in my possession and the visa has been obtained.  I have noticed one down side to this whole endeavor however, and that is in the validity period.  While most embassies issue visas good for 1 month from the date of first use, it appears that my Vietnamese visa is good for one month from the date I specified on my application.  Considering I am not sure entirely what day I wanted to enter Vietnam on, this is rather upsetting.  Now I am limited to be in Vietnam from October 10th to November 10th.  More time in China, sure, but now probably less free time to explore Laos, Burma, or Borneo with my extra time between then and my girlfriends arrival to Singapore on December 27th.   Oh well.  I've got a visa, that's all that matters, right?

Posted in: Commitment,Planning,Vietnam,Visas