“Hell is other people”

Good Afternoon,

I’m an American requiring a visa to visit Vietnam in October. I have the application, but need to know what the current fees are. Can you please send me the details of what fees will be required to apply for this visa by mail?

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Regards,

Stephanie

Depending on where you’ve traveled, not being able to cross the border is probably not something you consider when making your plans. It never has been for me until I discovered three of the countries I’d be visiting would require entry visas.

Turkey: I was told by the Turkish consulate to bring $20 with me…I will pay for it at the border. That sounds convenient and not entirely…questionable. I’ll let you know how it goes. Hopefully.

Vietnam: Here’s where things became slightly more nerve wracking. If you are currently in possession of a passport, it’s probably about the last thing you want to lose. My crime spree activity has been non-existent lately, so I don’t anticipate having to flee the country at a moment’s notice. And, given the low rates of Americans traveling abroad these days, the state department can turn one around for you pretty quickly. That said, having to put mine in the mail, albeit Priority Express, both ways, and with all the tracking numbers and bells and whistles, was a little nerve wracking. Plus, I didn’t want to lose my stamps. But the only offices are in D.C. and San Francisco. So, the mail it was.

Other than the twenty minutes of incompetence you have to expect from any trip to the post office, it was kind of…not too bad. I put my trust in the postal service and the Embassy of Vietnam and one week later I had my passport, visa for entry to Vietnam included, and a lovely map of Vietnam.

India: A choice! Mail or in-person? There is actually an Indian consulate in Chicago, so I figured this one would be the easiest and would cause the least anxiety. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I’ve been away from an office environment too long it would seem.

First, you have to fill out an online application, which though long and detailed, is not horrible. Once that’s done, they tell you all the other paperwork you need to bring and what time your appointment is. Applications processed before 11am can be turned around that same day. Great! I made my appointment for 10:15am.

That, I know, was a mistake.

First, they gave me the wrong address. Not only was it the wrong address…it was to their competitor. And apparently, it happens a lot, because the woman there wasn’t surprised to see me or the other guy who got there at the same time as me.  Second, “appointment” is a term used pretty loosely. It’s really a “suggestion” to get into one of the poorly organized lines at a certain time. Lines filled with people who didn’t spend as much time as you did organizing their paperwork. There were three counters. On the left, a guy I swear was just pausing needlessly. I mean mid-walk, he would just stop. And stare. In the center was the competent worker churning through customers. There’s always one…but always only one. And on the right, a man helping someone who had so much paperwork strewn about the counter, he may as well have been doing his taxes. He was there when I arrived…and when I left, an hour later.

Then there are your colorful characters, like the lady who insisted on paying by a method it must have said at least 37 times in the application wasn’t acceptable. Or the woman who asked about every single issue except the one she was there for, including how her friend in India could change her visa from a five-year to a ten-year. You know, those characters.

After waiting the 45 seconds it took to process my application, the one I took pains to be done correctly and save everyone time and hassle, the time stamped on my receipt was 11:06. It was probably to be expected. I’d have to come back downtown so I could be there between 5:30 and 6pm ONLY the next day.

So, the lesson we learned today: If cash at the border isn’t an option, just mail your passport. Even if it’s to your home city, the aggravation of having to deal with people in person trumps the anxiety of putting your passport in a cardboard envelope everytime.