The Visa Application Challenge (pt. 2)

Hello my faithful readers:

In yesterday's blog I started sharing a bit about the Visa application process. Upon first glance it seemed easy, but once I started to dig in applying for my visa seemed like peeling an onion, it made me want to cry for no good reason at all! Now that I can breathe a whole lot easier (ok not really!) I want to share some of my challenges with you as I prepare to make my big move on August 12th! The next issue to crop up for me was the financial declaration form which needed to be signed off by someone who would be willing to say that they would take care of me should some financial disaster happen once I'm living there in Leuven.

The financial declaration form (or the sponsor letter) was a surprise issue for me; my mom was to sign off as my financial sponsor (on paper), although I am taking loans and using my savings to pay for my education. On the website for the Belgium Embassy and Consulates here in the US they requirements for proof of solvency of the financial sponsor were as follows:

1)W2 form of the last fiscal year
2)Letter of employment stating type and length of contract
3) Pay slips of the last 3 months
4) Form 1040 'individual income tax return'
5) A letter from their bank stating when they became an account holder and that they have always been in good standing

The sponsor needed to sign the financial support declaration form in person (with a valid ID) at the Embassy or Consulate General (nearest to them). This meant my mom had to drive up to Atlanta (almost two hours from my hometown of Columbus, GA) to do this. I happened to be home for vacation during this time and we made that frantic drive up to Atlanta (they only do Visa applications from 9:30 AM- 12 Noon). We got there and as I was circling around in the car, the woman told my mom that they needed my letter of registration and proof that I was receiving loans from the school. The woman agreed to let my mom sign the form in front of her, so that she wouldn't have to make the drive up to Atlanta again.

Getting the paperwork and proof of my loans from my school was a much bigger challenge than I expected. I had finally talked to the overwhelmed Foreign Relations Officer on the phone prior to my trip home. He needed a little more information from me (my 8 page Student Aid Report from the US based FAFSA loan program). It took a week and a half of calling several times EVERY morning before I got a response from him that he was working on my loans again. From my perspective the phone system in Belgium seems to be decades behind the American system. Most mornings the phone would ring and ring and ring, with no answer. No voicemail. No anything. The few days that I did get through after multiple rings - the person on the other end would answer, I'd say "hello!" and they would hang-up after a few more frantic "hellos" from my end of the phone. How can you not have voicemail at work in this day and age? Or not respond to e-mails?

Once I finally got the letter I needed from the Foreign Relations Office, my Mom had to get all of the paperwork back up to the Belgian Consulate in Atlanta, GA so they could sign off on it. My mom sent it back almost immediately and once the woman received it she called me and told me that she needed the form notarized!?!?! WHAT????? She said that she'd told my mom this (although this woman had proven herself multiple times of poor communication skills), but that she wouldn't be able to get back to it until the following Wednesday. We spoke on a Thursday and she was out until the following WEDNESDAY? Sigh...

Needless to say my mom (THE SUPERSTAR) immediately got a new version of the financial declaration letter in the priority mail and I just received the letter I needed on this past Monday July 27th. FINALLY the blasted letter arrived! Now I just needed to submit my application, in person, at the Consulate General Office of Belgium in NYC. I'll share that adventure with you all tomorrow in part 3 of The Visa Application Challenge.

Thanks for reading and I hope you are all having a fantastic week. Thank goodness it's Thursday already... time is flying by for me!

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach