Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Austria, if you're reading this, please give me a visa

For US citizens, you're allowed a 90-day tourist visa in Austria. My internship will end up lasting about a hundred some days - which requires me to get a work visa. A friend, however, advised me to "figure out all that visa stuff when you get there - no big deal." I will be filing this piece of advice alongside, "Those skinny jeans will look great on you!" in the total bullshit category.

What follows is a brief overview of my attempt to get a work visa:
  1. I call the Austrian magistrate to figure out how to get a visa
  2. The Austrian magistrate gives me the number to the US embassy in Vienna (?)
  3. I call the US embassy
  4. US embassy receptionist laughs, provides number to the Austrian mission to the UN (?)
  5. I call the Austrian mission to the UN; the person to whom I should speak is on holiday (go figure)
  6. I call the Austrian mission to the UN again; the receptionist tells me to visit the magistrate in person
  7. I go to the magistrate's office, get a form in German that may or may not be for getting a visa
  8. The clerk tells me that to process the form, I need to find who owns my building and have them sign off that I live there
  9. I leave the magistrate's office, throw cell phone on the ground in frustration
  10. Phone breaks
At this point, I'm not above groveling/crying/marrying an Austrian.

1 comment:

  1. Alternatively, you can make sure to leave the Schengen area for however many days you need to get back down to 90!! That's my plan for Greece. You already went to Croatia, so that counts... maybe hop down to Albania? Quick weekend trip to Istanbul? Or you could always hang out with us in Serbia next week!

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