Visas Arrived!?!?!?!?

Our visas arrived on August 10th.....! It took awhile to figure out whether or not that was good news.

An envelope from the Czech Consulate arrived in the mail Monday. Kristine excitedly gathered the kids around and dialed my number at work. She read the text on the visa while the voice message system gave its message. The visa declared that we would be allowed to stay in the country from September 1, 2009 to January 28, 2010. Her message simply stated, "Uh, call home when you get in."

When I got in at the end of the day I called to ask if she needed me to do anything before I got home. She said in a dull voice, "No, you better just come home."

Oh boy, I thought, we got the visas and she is just sounding unhappy to not let on! I got on my bike. Or, maybe we got a letter saying they rejected us. I pedaled harder. Or, maybe things did not go well for my mom who had surgery that day. I frantically whipped through intersections. My brain raced with the good or bad news that might await me.

At home, Lucy met me at the door and asked if I had heard the good news - we got our visas. Shoot, I thought, relieved, there goes Kristine's surprise. I found Kristine upstairs, crying. She quickly explained the visa date issue (thankfully, all went very well for my mom).

Sixty days. All that time chasing documents, writing explanations, translating, getting notaries to sign, mailing and the money in the application and mailings. All that to get sixty more days than if we just waltzed in as tourists. Five months instead of the full year we requested and no explanation. We weren't even sure if we would be able to enter the country since the visa did not kick in until September 1 and we would arrive on August 25.

I was firmly in denial. A typo, I reasoned, a simple typo. On all five visas? Cut and paste, no doubt.

We did all we could, sent emails to our contact at the consulate, let our friends in Ceske Budejovice know, and prayed.

On Tuesday, Kristine spoke with someone at the Czech Consulate and found out that entering on the 25th would not be a problem because we could enter as tourists. Great relief. Also, we could use the remainder of the 90 day (out of 180 days) max tourist time following the visa expiration. Furthermore, according to changes in the rules for the Schengen Area on a handy page on the American Embassy website, we would maybe be able to then start our next 180 day period that would allow us to spend 3 months as tourists in the Czech Republic. Clear?

On Wednesday, we got word from our friends that the Czech Foreign Police had concerns about our proof that we could access our funds and that it would be a straightforward thing to get the visa extended when we arrive there and can talk through it with them.

In the end, we got our visas.