Festivities...New Arm. Passport / Countdown
Well this year's May 28 Festival in Little Armenia was GREAT! It was very well organized (by the AYF), and unlike other May 28-s it was a beautiful day in Southern California to take a stroll down Hollywood Blvd. and grab some kebab or soujoukh! :) They had various bands playing, but the highlight had to be when Paul B. (not a fan of this guy) sang while Mayor Villaragosa danced shoorch-bar, after which Paul said, "Bravo Mayor, aga" hahahaha But seriously, it was a great day, with Armenian food, Armenian ice cream, Armenian art, the HyeRiders, a petting zoo and pony ride corner, etc..... fun for the whole family! I hope they continue this tradition. :)
So, I don't know if I wrote about how my purse was stolen in Hayasdan while I was there in the winter. It just so happened on the day that I had my passports in my purse (both US and Armenian residency). Now, replacing the US one was not a big deal really. The "excitement" came when I called the Consulate in LA and asked how one would go about replacing a stolen Armenian residency passport. Did you guess what they said yet? Ya.... I need to start the whole process all over again. (How does that make sense???) So I asked Baron Hagop, "So I need to pay another $300?", and he said... "No..." - so I thought, oh ok, good so THERE ISSSSSS a replacement of some sorts, but then he continued with.. "...now the price is $400". haha... there goes that thought! I guess I will take care of this at Ovir (my oh-so-favorite place) when I get to Yerevan, because even if I apply now, it'll get to L.A. asdvadz kideh when... since apparently, the consulate doesn't make shipments when there aren't "enough" applicants.
The whole phone call and no replacement issue reminded me of how things are done in Armenia. Such a twisted logic, or atleast it seems that way to me. They just have a different style of doing things... (like the construction workers who INSIST you need to put the light switch of YOUR bathroom on the outside, even if you are paying him to put it on the inside). haha
The countdown has already started... 24 days left. I'm very excited. This year, I'm renting an apartment close to Cascade.... should be nice. I'll see if I can find some pics from the Festival...
TSUH! :)~
So, I don't know if I wrote about how my purse was stolen in Hayasdan while I was there in the winter. It just so happened on the day that I had my passports in my purse (both US and Armenian residency). Now, replacing the US one was not a big deal really. The "excitement" came when I called the Consulate in LA and asked how one would go about replacing a stolen Armenian residency passport. Did you guess what they said yet? Ya.... I need to start the whole process all over again. (How does that make sense???) So I asked Baron Hagop, "So I need to pay another $300?", and he said... "No..." - so I thought, oh ok, good so THERE ISSSSSS a replacement of some sorts, but then he continued with.. "...now the price is $400". haha... there goes that thought! I guess I will take care of this at Ovir (my oh-so-favorite place) when I get to Yerevan, because even if I apply now, it'll get to L.A. asdvadz kideh when... since apparently, the consulate doesn't make shipments when there aren't "enough" applicants.
The whole phone call and no replacement issue reminded me of how things are done in Armenia. Such a twisted logic, or atleast it seems that way to me. They just have a different style of doing things... (like the construction workers who INSIST you need to put the light switch of YOUR bathroom on the outside, even if you are paying him to put it on the inside). haha
The countdown has already started... 24 days left. I'm very excited. This year, I'm renting an apartment close to Cascade.... should be nice. I'll see if I can find some pics from the Festival...
TSUH! :)~
posted by shooosh at 7:28 AM
3 Comments:
Twisted logic, that's a sympathetic way to phrase it. You want to hear an Armenian immigration horror story? My wife came to the US on a K-1 visa and has to officially exit out of the Armenian census system before she goes back to visit loved ones in Armenia, even though she would still technically be an Armenian citizen. She needs to do this to assure her untangled return to the US, via the Armenian Airport. Even though she has a US green card, we have so far paid over $1100 USD in fees and bribes, just to file her out. What’s funny is that if she gets on an airplane bound for the US from let’s say Ankara or Tbilisi, she would have no departure problems.
We applied for this so called “proper exiting status” back in October of 2005 and we are still waiting. Her paper's are currently at the Armenian Foreign Ministries office in Yerevan. It's been there for over 3 weeks. Why? Because my mother-in-law refused to pay a bribe when asked and pissed off an agent that prompted this delay. All Foreign Ministries need to do is fax the paperwork over to the LA Consulate office. I don’t even have faith in Armenian Los Angeles Consulates office. God knows how long it will stay there before forward activity?
Current Armenian immigration policy is extremely backwards and in many ways sided to benefit the corrupt bureaucratic officials in various immigration related departments such as OVIR and the Yerevan passport office. This “proper exiting status” policy also keeps families apart. I don’t know how long we have to wait? It is so unpleasant to deal with such a corrupt system.
It will work out for you. Just write a letter to the US Embasador representing Armenia. He should speed things up. Good luck
Hi Jack,
Funny!!! Your situation sounds allot like ours, the only difference is I am still trying to leave Yerevan with my wife. We thought we were all set to get on the airplane once my wife got the K-1 visa from the US consulate, now we have come to find out that OVIR wants another 40-50 days to officially exit my wife’s name out of the Armenian census system. We have tried everything we can think of to speed up the process, (including bribes) but to no avail. If we could fly out of Tbilisi airport (or even Moscow for that matter) and finish the process of signing out, at the Armenian consulate in Los Angeles, that would be great (even if does take a long time). Any suggestions? Would we have any problems with port of entry officials at the US airport if my wife’s passport doesn’t have an Armenian exit stamp in it? If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. We can’t wait to get home. Thanks, John
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