So one of the perks of living in Lisbon is being an immigrant and dealing the the bureaucracy which comes along with. Or to quote the nice lady at the health center, "this is were we wait" and this is where I would like to talk about the trials associated with that.
I will start with my own story in brief.
I am here under family regrouping as my wife has a job here. Neither one of us has any claim to Portuguese blood or ties to the US government which makes us more the exception rather than the rule.
My wife applied for the position here in the fall of 2008 and waited and waited and waited and had honestly forgotten about the Lisbon job until February 2009 when they asked if she was still interested on a Friday and if yes could we have something signed, notarized, and in the mail to them the following Monday.
It was then we started the application process in the US. Since we were east of the Mississippi we dealt with the Portuguese embassy in Washington, DC. By comparing notes with others the list of documents that the east coast office asked for was pretty different from the west coast but basically: proof of birth, proof of marriage, criminal background check from local municipality (sometimes they want the FBI to do the checking), and employment contract.
We also wanted to take our dog with us - which wasn't too bad - she just had to be inspected by a veterinary doctor who has credentials with the USDA within 3 months of departure. We forgot to check with the airline which wanted the inspection within 3 weeks, oops, back to the vet.
Then we crated her up, went to a back room in Logan International Airport and gave a guy in a TSA uniform cash (no receipt) and our dog and then walked away hoping that she wouldn't get misplaced or wind up in Acapulco. When we arrived we were lucky. Our dog was waiting for us in the baggage area AND a vet was there. Did I mention the vet did not know that there was a dog on our flight?
Then we collected ourselves and moved to the Bica neighborhood in Lisbon, but that is another story. Tune in tomorrow for "Enter the dragon lady"
I will start with my own story in brief.
I am here under family regrouping as my wife has a job here. Neither one of us has any claim to Portuguese blood or ties to the US government which makes us more the exception rather than the rule.
My wife applied for the position here in the fall of 2008 and waited and waited and waited and had honestly forgotten about the Lisbon job until February 2009 when they asked if she was still interested on a Friday and if yes could we have something signed, notarized, and in the mail to them the following Monday.
It was then we started the application process in the US. Since we were east of the Mississippi we dealt with the Portuguese embassy in Washington, DC. By comparing notes with others the list of documents that the east coast office asked for was pretty different from the west coast but basically: proof of birth, proof of marriage, criminal background check from local municipality (sometimes they want the FBI to do the checking), and employment contract.
We also wanted to take our dog with us - which wasn't too bad - she just had to be inspected by a veterinary doctor who has credentials with the USDA within 3 months of departure. We forgot to check with the airline which wanted the inspection within 3 weeks, oops, back to the vet.
Then we crated her up, went to a back room in Logan International Airport and gave a guy in a TSA uniform cash (no receipt) and our dog and then walked away hoping that she wouldn't get misplaced or wind up in Acapulco. When we arrived we were lucky. Our dog was waiting for us in the baggage area AND a vet was there. Did I mention the vet did not know that there was a dog on our flight?
Then we collected ourselves and moved to the Bica neighborhood in Lisbon, but that is another story. Tune in tomorrow for "Enter the dragon lady"
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