Today we had a very interesting situation develop.
As I went to turn in my family’s applications for our Residence Permit here in China, I was told at the last minute that I still lacked one very important accompanying document that they had previously forgotten to mention. No biggie, except the fact that our visa expires TOMORROW and the document that they need, what is called an ‘Employment Permit’, will take at least 15 working days to be issued!
(I asked if it could be done any quicker and I was told “No, and even if it could, our boss (the guy who has to sign off) is on vacation until the 18th!”)
So we have less than 20 hours now to get a document that is supposed to take until June to be ready, or else the Visa Issuing Department of the Provincial Public Security Bureau will not issue our residence permit, and we will be ‘illegal aliens’ within China’s borders.
And it is the PSB’s fault for not having told me until noon today!!! But who do I complain to in China, where the PSB is the law??!!
I am not really that upset. This is not really all that suprising in China… stuff like this happens everyday in this massive bureaucracy. I am more amused and looking forward to see what happens tomorrow afternoon when I go back to the PSB to try and turn in our applications once again.
Most likely they will decide to go ahead and issue the permits, even without the ‘important’ documents that we still lack, because they know we aren’t going to be able to ‘flee the border’ by midnight; especially with two kids in tow (we live 27 hours by train from the nearest border).
But please pray that God would work this fiasco out for good. We do love Him, and that is why we were here. I can’t imagine putting up with so much bureaucratic BULL if we didn’t really know that God had called us to be here and share with these people!
More to come after tomorrow…
I’ll be prayin’ for ya bro!