Not time to go home yet.

Long story short: I couldn’t get my visa extension made official, so I’m now going to Nepal to apply for a new one.

The full story is a little complicated.

Beginning of November, I went to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to apply for a visa extension. That same day, the extension was approved, and I was directed to a separate office, the FRRO, to get my passport stamped. This was the beginning of a headache like I’ve never known.

First time at FRRO: I showed up with just the letter stating the approval of my extension. After waiting in a line for almost four hours, I was told that I needed to show a specific set of documents in order to make official my extension. No one had ever informed me of these requirements. Annoying, but at this point I brushed off the inconvenience.

One of these required docs was a “letter of undertaking”, which is a legal statement saying that someone will take responsibility for my actions while I’m in the country. The FRRO said they needed this letter from my company, Educomp. I talked to the secretary at Educomp, and she said that she couldn’t issue me this statement, and to ask AIESEC for it instead (the organization that manages my internship).

Second time at FRRO: I had gotten everything I needed, including the letter of undertaking from AIESEC. This time, I waited in line for three hours, just to have them tell me that they can’t accept the letter from AIESEC. It has to be from Educomp, because the conditions of my visa are related to my work with Educomp, not AIESEC.

I made a million phone calls and wrote a million emails. Finally Educomp told me that they would agree to write me a letter. The letter of undertaking has a specific format required by the FRRO. I showed the Educomp secretary this format, and she brushed it off saying that it would be fine if she did it her own way.

Several days later, she gave me the letter, and it wasn’t a letter of undertaking at all. Rather than say that Educomp would take responsibility for me, it only mentioned the fact that I’m an intern with them and that I would like to make official my visa extension.

I was highly skeptical that the FRRO would accept this, but considering the fluidity of most rules in India, I decided to fudge it and try again anyway.

Third time at FRRO: I begged and pleaded, visibly upset. They simply would not accept either the letter from Educomp or the undertaking from AIESEC. My hands and feet were tied. I even had the visa office call the secretary and my supervisor at Educomp to explain to them my situation in person. None of it worked. The secretary kept repeating that it was against company policy to give me this letter, which struck me as strange because I have never heard of any other interns’ companies having such a policy. When I told her, nearly in tears, that if I don’t receive this document, I’ll have to go home in two weeks, she said to me in a curt manner, “Go home then, that’s fine.”

This is the fault of this brick wall that is Indian bureaucracy. I can understand having rules and a system of doing things, especially something so important to a populous country as managing who comes and goes, but my experience was simply unreasonable. Here I have one Indian office (MHA) saying that I have permission to stay, but another office (FRRO) stubbornly refuses. What does it matter who writes my letter of undertaking? Whether AIESEC or Educomp decides to take responsibility for my actions in India, what’s the difference?

For the past three weeks, my fate in India has been determined by factors and bodies outside my control. I’m tired of pleading. I’m tired of making machines see reason.

For that, I’m headed to Nepal at the beginning of December. The current plan is to take a train to the Indian city of Gorakhpur, then a bus to the Nepal border, then another bus to Kathmandu. I’ll spend a week there where I’ll apply for a new Indian visa. According to every account that I’ve read, this is easy to do. Despite the unhappy events that are bringing me there, I’m excited for the chance to see Nepal. In the unlikely event that my visa application is denied, I’m entertaining the idea of either staying in Nepal or going to China, namely Tibet. Anything to fill up the time until March.

The point is, I’m trying everything in my power to not come home until I have to. I miss my family and I’m excited to see them when it’s time. But this is a time for me to explore, and I am determined not to let anything let this end prematurely.

Blue-faced rant.

First in a series of unfortunate events, the Chinese consulate delayed the renewal of my passport by a full two weeks. Despite telling me that I would receive it by August 17th, and despite my repeated phone calls when that date came and went, they continued to put it on hold at their office. Their only reason was that the Chicago office, where I applied, did not have Tennessee under their jurisdiction, despite my expressly telling them from the beginning that I paid Illinois taxes for four years, and despite getting the okay from an official during the application process.

By this time, I already had to send an official email to my company telling them to push my start date back from September 1st to September 15th. Frustrating, yes, but it pales to the ensuing mess of getting my visa.

Immediately upon receiving my passport, I shipped it out again to get it visa-approved. At first, I applied for a 6-month employment visa, but they called me from the beginning to tell me that my salary wouldn't be big enough for that type of visa. That was reasonable enough, so I switched my application to a 6-month entry visa. Fee of $113 paid.

The website specifically says that non-US citizens could expect a processing time of 4-6 days. Six days later, I called them asking about the status, only to hear a sleepy voice say, "Oh actually, you're a Chinese citizen, so the processing time is 2-3 weeks."

What? So now, I had to send another official email to the company pushing my start-date yet again to October 1st. By now, this is starting to reflect badly on me.

But surprise, this morning, I received an email saying that my passport has been shipped out with a visa successfully processed, and that I will be receiving it tomorrow in the mail.

What's this? Something happening on time? Dare I say, with some degree of efficiency? I called them once more to confirm, only to hear the same unthinking voice have this conversation with me:

"Your visa was only issued for 3 months."
"Why?!"
"Because you're a Chinese citizen."
"But my credit card was charged for the full 6 months!"
"We don't do refunds."
"Can't you give me a better reason for the shorter-term issue?"
"Talk to the FRRO (Foreign Regional Registration Officers)."
"Will I be able to extend this to 6 months?"
"Talk to the FRRO."
"But I have a job lined up in India! It was you who told me to switch it to an entry visa, and now, that job contract is not recognized in the visa I've been issued!"
"There's nothing I can do about it."

Not once did they notify me that my 6-month request would be denied. Not once was I given the impression that Chinese citizens would be given this impartial treatment. There must be some other legitimate reason my request was denied, but they purposefully eluded an explanation. Instead of trying to help me solve my problem, they point me to another faceless agency whose fine print I must dig through all over again. This entire month-long process of making travel preparations culminates in a 3-month visa, issued from government agencies run by automatons. The worst part of this is how helpless I feel.

I can see how this is profitable for them. They charged my card the full price, and only give me half the product, knowing full well that I'd be willing to pay extra to get the full product like I originally requested. My incentives and the incentives of these government bureaucrats don't line up. Did I mention that the only reason why I didn't want to go for more than 6 months is because I'd otherwise have to pay a ridiculous and unnecessary $450 re-entry permit back into the US?

If I don't get to go to India for more than 3 months, my dreams for the entire past year will have been dashed. This will not be the end of it.

UPDATE// What at first was indignation, now is panic. According to everything I've read so far, it seems like a virtual impossibility to get a 3-month visa extended. I've never felt anger of this intensity, but I simply can't find anywhere to direct it. I'm screaming curses at a towering wall of giant suited men, and they don't give a shit about me. I'm small, insignificant, just another applicant, just another ripple in the stream of paperwork that they sift through, 9-5, every day, every week, every year. This problem doesn't have a face.