Last Friday we had our date with immigration.
Under normal circumstances this can be a 2 or 3 day process. Fortunately, the company uses an agent which ultimately means someone grabs a ticket on our behalf (think nrma/vic roads) allowing us to waltz in hours later and be near the top of the queue.
We sit and wait our turn, and regardless of how you tuck away your feet and elbows you're trampled as is local custom.
Eventually we're called into another room and first up I'm directed to 'sign here, here and here'. The forms are in Bahasa Indonesian and our guy doesn't seem too forthcoming with explanations. I sign whilst Shell looks on with that "what are you thinking!" look.
We have a quick whispered conversation about signing unknown agreements, and Shell is adamant that she won't do the same. She's called over and asked to sign.....which she does......in silence... yeah, that's telling them! You go girl!
We're then photographed and electronically fingerprinted and sent on our way. The agent advises we'll get our passports back Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. This turns out to be correct, except my passport is immediately sent off to the shipping company to organise release of our shipment, so I won't get to see my passport for another 5 to 10 days. What did I sign?
Under normal circumstances this can be a 2 or 3 day process. Fortunately, the company uses an agent which ultimately means someone grabs a ticket on our behalf (think nrma/vic roads) allowing us to waltz in hours later and be near the top of the queue.
We sit and wait our turn, and regardless of how you tuck away your feet and elbows you're trampled as is local custom.
Eventually we're called into another room and first up I'm directed to 'sign here, here and here'. The forms are in Bahasa Indonesian and our guy doesn't seem too forthcoming with explanations. I sign whilst Shell looks on with that "what are you thinking!" look.
We have a quick whispered conversation about signing unknown agreements, and Shell is adamant that she won't do the same. She's called over and asked to sign.....which she does......in silence... yeah, that's telling them! You go girl!
We're then photographed and electronically fingerprinted and sent on our way. The agent advises we'll get our passports back Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. This turns out to be correct, except my passport is immediately sent off to the shipping company to organise release of our shipment, so I won't get to see my passport for another 5 to 10 days. What did I sign?
posted from Bloggeroid
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