Paper, forms and fees, oh my!

The last few days have been all about paperwork. Yesterday, I went to a government office to have copies of our marriage license certified by the UAE. This is very important because the certified license extends Meg’s health insurance coverage to me and allows us to live together (seriously). The UAE takes marriage quite seriously. As an example, if you have a baby, right after delivery they will ask for your marriage license. If you don’t have, both parents could wind up in jail! The process was reminiscent of the DMV….take a number, wait to get called, go to a new line, fork over some cash, wait some more and then you’re done. But in all fairness to the UAE, all the time and effort I spent to get the license certified was NOTHING compared to the hoops the US government made us jump through to certify it…

The paper-inspired theme continued through today, when Megan received her resident VISA. Hooray! This process took several weeks and allows her to legally work, live and have access to health insurance in the UAE for up to 3 years. It also gives her the right to rent an apartment and get a liquor license! Membership has its rewards!

However because she is now a resident of the UAE, she is required to obtain a UAE driver’s license. To get a license, she has to present her valid Virginia license, get an eye test, fill out more forms and of course, pay a small fee. But wait…there’s more. Before she can apply for a UAE driver’s license, she now needs a UAE National Identification Card. This is a relatively new procedure for all residents. Nevertheless, this will take up to 2 weeks to get. In the interim, she can’t rent or drive a car in the UAE. Sigh.

As for me, well that’s a completely different story. I can rent a car for up to a month and drive with just my VA license. However it has limits. I’m here on a tourist VISA which only lasts 30 days (Oct 19th). Which brings me to today – for several hours I waited in numerous lines, talked to half a dozen people and forked over a small fee in order to extend my VISA until Nov 18th (The UAE Foreign Affairs operation has quite the racket going – the cashier was quite busy!) Before the VISA expires, I have to either:

A) leave the country and return, which gives me a new 30 day period,
B) get a job and have the employer sponsor me for a residency VISA (like what Meg has), OR
C) get a family VISA that is sponsored by Meg’s VISA….it costs money but saves the trips over the border

Lots of rules but luckily there always seems to be a option to buy the right paperwork to keep our trip legit….funny how that works no matter where in the world you go…

To give you a better appreciation of why this paperwork drives us more crazy than normal, you need look no further than my current office in the apartment. This will change drastically when we move into our new place, but for now, it’s quite a sight.

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