...I'd encounter the first set of "roadblocks" in the process of obtaining my student visa for teaching abroad in Spain. (I should have known that things were moving along too smoothly!)
So... last week I was able to schedule a doctor's appointment to get my medical forms for CIEE filled out and my letter of good health for the Spanish Consulate written and signed by my doctor. Went into the office on Tuesday morning, went back to pick up the paperwork Wednesday afternoon. Easy. Simple. No problems.
I shouldn't have expected the same easiness to apply to the Consulate's "police background check" requirement!
Okay, so, the Consulate in NYC requires that I go to my local police station (or, in Ellington's case, my local state trooper's office) so that they can run a criminal background check on my name and, seeing that nothing comes up, write me a letter or "Certificate of Good Behavior". Once I receive this, I am to send it in to Connecticut's Secretary of the State's office where, after paying a fee of $40, they will stamp it with the "Apostille of the Hague," a special authentication thus making my background check legal for use in Spain. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Right. Well, at least that's what I thought. Two weeks ago, I went to the trooper's office where the sergeant (luckily, a very pleasant man!) ran my name through the system and agreed to write and sign my certificate of good behavior. A few days later, I picked it up from the office and filled out the order form for the Apostille. I wrote the check and sent it in to the Secretary of the State. Simple. Done. Right?
Wrong.
So, last Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from the Secretary of the State's office telling me that the certificate had to be notarized before it could receive the Apostille. I was a little upset at not having known this requirement, but thought, okay, I'll just take it to the town clerk or any bank and have them notarize it for me. Well, I've never had anything notarized before and assumed that it was just some stamp for legalizing signatures. I should have known that the notary official needs the person SIGNING the letter to bring the document to be notarized, not the person RECEIVING said document. I found out this morning when, after arriving at the bank and asking for a notary official to legalize my document, the woman told me "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you need the trooper who signed this letter to come in to notarize it, you yourself can't."
After all the stress that I've been going through, worrying about this stupid visa, I just nearly started crying in her office from the sheer frustration of it all. So... not knowing what to do, I went back to the trooper's office. I couldn't believe that I had to ask him yet another favor... and this time with a notary requirement involved! I didn't want to put him out or cause him an inconvenience! But, like I said, the sergeant was very nice, and after hearing my story and how necessary this was for my teach abroad experience, he agreed to drive down with me to the town clerk's office to have his signature notarized. I thanked him about a million times and then went on my way.
So, I get back to the home where I'm babysitting (more on that in a bit) and I find the following email in my inbox from CIEE: "And in visa news… it seems consulates are migrating from the local/state background check requirement to FBI background reports/checks, much in the way they are slowly migrating from the Schengen Visa Application to the National Visa Application. At this point participants are catching on that consulates can make changes quickly and without notice." What?! I have to now, after going through all that trouble to get the local background check taken care of, get an FBI background check?! My appointment with the Spanish Consulate is on Thursday, July 22nd and FBI background checks can take up to 12 weeks to come back to you! Definitely NOT going to work for my situation. Luckily, though, after panicking for a few minutes about yet another problem, I checked on the NYC Consulate's website and its FBI background check requirement doesn't go into effect for student visas until October 1st. However, I'm going to start the process for the FBI background check, too, just in case. As I've come to find out, the consulates change their requirements all the time and without notice (or rhyme or reason, for that matter...) I just hope that now I have everything in order!
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