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Rambling was interrupted yesterday...
May. 26th, 2007 09:07 am...by lawyer calling me from Austria, to inquire about some visa application.
What I don't get is this: Experience shows that news concerning new visa regulations, new visa requirements etc. spread faster than ebola, both among Austrian immigrants and foreign applicants. For example: Last October, we discovered that the visa mafia's newest trick (a rather stupid one, though) was to supply applicants with forged flight reservations. (Visa applicants have to submit, among other documents, a flight reservation - the ticket has to be presented only when they come to retrieve the visa) After I'd rejected maybe ten applications on the grounds of forged documentation, the fake reservations disappeared immediately. So why, do I ask, haven't people yet become aware that hiring a lawyer is absolutely useless when it comes to visa applications? Especially hiring a non-specialized lawyer (there's only a handful of lawyers specializing in immigration law anyway), who doesn't know the first thing about immigration law? So this lawyer called me yesterday, to inquire about an application. The terminology he used suggested that he wasn't one of the few specialists. So I asked, in dulcet tones, whether he was representing the Austrian sponsor. Yes, he said, of course. So I said, in even sweeter tones, that this was really a pity, because he'd have to represent the applicant in order to get any information. Silence. Then, "But I'm representing the applicant as well!" "Oh, really," I said, "and how would the applicant have managed to give you power of attorney, seeing as he's still here in Turkey?"
This, however didn't keep said lawyer from writing to us. And his Austrian client will of course have to pay, although the letter won't change the outcome by a single iota. Oh, well. I can't keep people from hiring lawyers, so let them have their fun and pay lots of money for nothing.
No thunderstorm yesterday, only a wee bit of rain hardly worth mentioning. But today the sky is already clouded, and the weatherforecast promises thunderstorms, so I hope they're right for once. (The last three times they weren't)For now, the door to the kitchen balcony is still open, ze boyz are wandering in and out and occasionally chasing each other, I have transferred the notebook, modem etc. to the kitchen table and am sitting here with a cup of black coffee,some juice, a cigarette and 3 days of leisure ahead of me. Not bad.
I already bought my ticket for the trip to Vienna. Since my mum is going to have her operation on 5 June, I intended to leave on the 5th, but of course the ambassador didn't allow me to leave before the 6th. The 1st Secretary is still on holiday on the 5th, and Madam Ambassador shall be in Istanbul on the 5th (which isn't allowed, because one of them always has to be in Ankara), and so I have to hold the fort. Since I'm certainly not going to tell her that I have to go to Vienna because of my mother, I silently gritted my teeth and accepted that I'll have to leave on the 6th, to come back on the 11th. It's not goig to be a holiday in the relax-and-enjoy sense of the word, but I'd feel horrible if I didn't go. After all, my mother is 78, and having part of your intestine removed at that age isn't a piece of cake. I'll be staying at Janine's place, because throwing Daniel out of my flat for a mere 5 days is unnecessary. Besides, my own flat wouldn't feel right without ze boyz.
Ok, and now I'll start writing - pinch hit has to be finished and posted on Monday.
But here's another bit of picspam, to celebrate ze embassy girlz.
ETA: Pinch hit finished and uploaded - that was easier than I thought. I still hate it. Bwaaaah! I think I'll have a siesta now, to sleep off the hate.
What I don't get is this: Experience shows that news concerning new visa regulations, new visa requirements etc. spread faster than ebola, both among Austrian immigrants and foreign applicants. For example: Last October, we discovered that the visa mafia's newest trick (a rather stupid one, though) was to supply applicants with forged flight reservations. (Visa applicants have to submit, among other documents, a flight reservation - the ticket has to be presented only when they come to retrieve the visa) After I'd rejected maybe ten applications on the grounds of forged documentation, the fake reservations disappeared immediately. So why, do I ask, haven't people yet become aware that hiring a lawyer is absolutely useless when it comes to visa applications? Especially hiring a non-specialized lawyer (there's only a handful of lawyers specializing in immigration law anyway), who doesn't know the first thing about immigration law? So this lawyer called me yesterday, to inquire about an application. The terminology he used suggested that he wasn't one of the few specialists. So I asked, in dulcet tones, whether he was representing the Austrian sponsor. Yes, he said, of course. So I said, in even sweeter tones, that this was really a pity, because he'd have to represent the applicant in order to get any information. Silence. Then, "But I'm representing the applicant as well!" "Oh, really," I said, "and how would the applicant have managed to give you power of attorney, seeing as he's still here in Turkey?"
This, however didn't keep said lawyer from writing to us. And his Austrian client will of course have to pay, although the letter won't change the outcome by a single iota. Oh, well. I can't keep people from hiring lawyers, so let them have their fun and pay lots of money for nothing.
No thunderstorm yesterday, only a wee bit of rain hardly worth mentioning. But today the sky is already clouded, and the weatherforecast promises thunderstorms, so I hope they're right for once. (The last three times they weren't)For now, the door to the kitchen balcony is still open, ze boyz are wandering in and out and occasionally chasing each other, I have transferred the notebook, modem etc. to the kitchen table and am sitting here with a cup of black coffee,some juice, a cigarette and 3 days of leisure ahead of me. Not bad.
I already bought my ticket for the trip to Vienna. Since my mum is going to have her operation on 5 June, I intended to leave on the 5th, but of course the ambassador didn't allow me to leave before the 6th. The 1st Secretary is still on holiday on the 5th, and Madam Ambassador shall be in Istanbul on the 5th (which isn't allowed, because one of them always has to be in Ankara), and so I have to hold the fort. Since I'm certainly not going to tell her that I have to go to Vienna because of my mother, I silently gritted my teeth and accepted that I'll have to leave on the 6th, to come back on the 11th. It's not goig to be a holiday in the relax-and-enjoy sense of the word, but I'd feel horrible if I didn't go. After all, my mother is 78, and having part of your intestine removed at that age isn't a piece of cake. I'll be staying at Janine's place, because throwing Daniel out of my flat for a mere 5 days is unnecessary. Besides, my own flat wouldn't feel right without ze boyz.
Ok, and now I'll start writing - pinch hit has to be finished and posted on Monday.
But here's another bit of picspam, to celebrate ze embassy girlz.
( piccies )
ETA: Pinch hit finished and uploaded - that was easier than I thought. I still hate it. Bwaaaah! I think I'll have a siesta now, to sleep off the hate.
