Germany and My Visa

I have had to give myself a bit of time to recuperate before I could write this, and even still, when I finished writing it yesterday, I wanted to hit things...

Well, our trip to Germany had its pros and cons. As many of you do not know, we HAD to exit the country. I was only allowed to remain in Ukraine for 90 days. Jason received a visa, and, once in the country, he had 45 days to register (please see my entry "In which I got sick and Jason paid a fine"). His entire process took a good two and a half months. We were told, however, that I could get a "family reunion visa" tied to his, but we had to do it AFTER he was registered and we had to do it out of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the policy is brand new, so Fulbright Kiev had admittedly little information about where to go and what to do. We ended up in Frankfurt, Germany. I wrote to 5 consulates/embassies (London, Paris, Rome, Dubai, and Frankfurt) and Frankfurt was the only one that wrote back and knew what I needed. They also said that it would only take a day to get my visa done.

Elizabeth and Thomas were great hosts, helping us find and eat some of the things we were missing, taking us shopping in Frankfurt and Mannheim, and sneaking me across the border into France (note: my passport was at the Ukrainian Consulate). The weather was, if not sunny, at least pleasant. We were able to bike and hike and generally enjoyed the out of doors and Germany's well-ordered society. Had our trip ended when it was supposed to, we would have looked back and said, "what a pleasant trip".

HOWEVER:

1. When we arrived and turned in our paperwork (all stamped and appropriately notarized), they said it would take no less than 10 days. When we told them we were flying out in less than seven, they said, "Maybe Monday", the day before we were supposed to leave.
2. We returned on Monday and the consular officer stated, "maybe after lunch". So, we hung around in Frankfurt all day-- which would not have been so bad had all of the museums not been closed. In the end, we bought extra clothes, assuming we were missing our flight and staying longer. It was a good call.
3. Monday Night we returned to E&T in defeat. No Visa. Our Tuesday morning flight could not be rescheduled or refunded. Neither could our airport hotel. Further, we did not know when they would issue a visa and release my passport, so we did not know what day we could leave.
4. Jason got up early on Tuesday and began sending emails, canceling classes and other meetings. He sent an email to Fulbright Kiev, who called the Consular General of Ukraine in Frankfurt. A short time later, I received an email stating that my visa was ready. The Fulbright office seemed baffled by our urgency. 
5. We scheduled a new RT flight on Austrian Airlines (cheaper than OW)- FRA-Kiev-FRA, and made the assumption that we might be able to use the return. We scheduled it for the middle of June. 
6. We arrived at the consulate and the officer ran to the back and issued my visa. However, he insisted upon photocopying a credit card of ours before he would return my passport. The visa contained within is good for 45 days, or until May 25. Thus, we can't use our original return flight on July or our new return in June.
7. We arrived back in Kiev the next day- exhausted and frustrated. Our $1000 trip had turned into $2500-3000. 
8. We went straight to the Fulbright office from the airport. I was very angry and told them that I didn't have a spare $3000 and that the visa was only for 45 days. Their response? Oh yes, we knew it would only be for 45 days-- in fact, we told you this. (NOTE: Actually, they told us that they didn't have any information. We have two sets of relatively high IQs and decent memories, so I think one or the both of us would recall such vital information about a process that concerned us directly). Then, they said it was possible to get reimbursed...whaaaaa? They NEVER mentioned reimbursement of expenses for the visa process. Otherwise, we would have painstakingly saved our receipts. Further words and insinuations were exchanged until I finally told Jason that they were both useless and awful, and I saw (see) no reason to communicate with them further. In the end, they suggested that I just leave in May, but if Jason does, he could have his funding cut. Lovely people, what?
9. The evening train to Kharkov was sold out, so we got tickets for the 6 am train and spent the night in a hotel.
10. Jason is upset because the situation has left us powerless to act. I am upset by the number of lies I politely endured from the Consulate and Fulbright. I need to hit things, if not the people directly responsible. 

And so we are left, trying to figure out what to do and re-arrange our re-arranged flights and travel.

On the up side, we got the Loire bike trip ironed out with Elizabeth. We are all scheduled to go from July 4-13. If anyone wants to join us, just let us know and we can send you the itinerary.