I HAVE MY RESIDENCY VISA!

EXCITING NEWS PEOPLE. I HAVE MY VISA!

I WILL BE RETURNING TO MY FAVOURITE COUNTRY BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR!

This exciting news did not come without its challenges, in true Sri Lankan style, where messages do not get relayed, the process changes and officials are not interested in why the visa is wanted/needed.

I shan't bore you with the long winded version of events, so here's a shortened version...

Tuesday last week (19th September), Angel and I stayed in Colombo whilst the rest of the team I came to Sri Lanka with headed on their 9 hour journey up to Jaffna to begin on the house build - "Build a home for Balayia & Kormatha".

After a morning of filling in forms, sitting in waiting rooms, numerous prayers, a near nervous breakdown and a close encounter with a nose bleed (sorry Angel!), we were finally invited to join the world's longest queue to see a stern looking immigration officer.

Despite my initial application and forms being checked over twice by officials there was never any hint my application my not be accepted. We were hopeful and positive about this part of the process, until we were sat face-to-face with the Immigration Officer in room 3.

She began looking through my forms, ticking the boxes, and then sighed. Something was clearly not correct.

After a lengthy conversation, not in English, I finally discovered what the issue was. The NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) who my Residency Visa application is with, had not requested my Entry Visa would be extended to be a Residential Visa.

The NGO department however had previously informed Angel the process to get Residency would be as follows:

1) Arrive in the country on Entry Visa

2) Fill in the forms at Immigration

3) Case would be reviewed and Residency Visa would be given on the same day

Did they know what they were saying? Nope.

As my Residency application was the first The Paalam Project have done since the new Government came into power, and since then, the processes have changed. Perhaps the NGO office were also unaware of these!

The stern looking Immigration Officer then proceeded to tell us, we needed to go to the NGO office, and they would then let us know how I could get my Residential Visa. Before we left, she drew a big, fat, long line through my application, and I took that as a REJECTION.

After a long conversation with the NGO office, we discovered the issue. My whole application needed to be re-submitted, to each office, and signed and approved again, under 'Residency' and not 'Entry'. However, the biggest issue, was that my Entry Visa application took 6 months to come through, and we had 6 days to get everything re-done.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Today, myself and Angel, after coming back from Jaffna a day early, had the privilege of experiencing the promise of a meeting with Sri Lankan officials, only to be stood up. We had a meeting with the NGO office to collect my signed and completed forms, only to discover that the office was padlocked and nobody was turning up.

It got to midday, when finally an administrator turned up to unlock the office. My application should have been ready for collection, however, a signature was missing from the form, and the director of the NGO office was in a meeting on the other side of Colombo.

A long tuktuk journey to an old Jam Factory, a missed deadline for applications and a sneaking into an office in front of strangers we were finally face-to-face with the same lady who rejected my application the first time. A quick plead with her as we walked in the room, I was confident we would get my visa. How wrong was I!

She confirmed all the information and my application I had submitted was correct, however, it was not that simple. I had missed the deadline, and applications had stopped being reviewed. This was a disaster - I am leaving the country tomorrow morning! Proof was supplied, and several 'Please miss', 'Please madam', 'please please please'(s) we were finally given the go-ahead to get my Residency Visa. She reviewed it, and ticked EVERYTHING.

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Time to book my flights!!

Sri Lanka, my love, I'm coming back for you soon.