visas and passports

we have been waiting for Maya's birth certificate, so we could apply for her passports, it took a month, but they finally came in. so we headed up to the israeli consulate in the city to get her passport paperwork in, and to get my aliyah visa. of course nothing is ever as simple as it seems. we had to, in order, go to the Jewish Agency to get signed paperwork, then to the state of california building to get her birth certificated appostilled, then to the Israeli consulate. of course the israeli consulate closes at 1pm, and we arent THAT close to city... so it required two days of running around.

the first issue was my name, which seems to be consistently spelled wrong, no matter how many times we correct the paperwork. then we headed to the consulate... which is always an experience in itself. the passport paperwork was easy... our passports, pictures of her (which took forever to get) and the paperwork... and shes on her way to being registered as an Israeli! then my paperwork...

they had asked for three copies of everything... which i had organized into three packets. when I handed it to the woman she yelled at me for not having it organized right... she handed it back and made me separate it out into the three copies of every paper with each other... when i handed it back she complained again, then resorted it into the way I had originally. fun. she kept saying she shouldnt be doing this... luckily y was there to back me up and complain right back.

all in all they say we should get both my visa and her passport in three weeks. we also sent in the paperwork for her american passport, which should be in in three weeks. so shell be an international citizen, and we will be ready for our aliyah. we are debating on flight dates, but sometime mid august. step by step

slowly slowly...

well, some good news at least!  we got a call from the Jewish agency, and I have been approved for my aliyah visa!  that means I can get approved for an NBN flight...  the only problem is, in typical bureaucratic fashion, only I got approved so far.  Y and the baby cant be approved until the baby is born and we can prove that with a birth certificate and an israeli passport.  that would be great, but that could be weeks from now, and they wont guarantee that either will be able to get on the NBN flight with me.  the joy.

so we are one step closer, two steps back.  i have to go up to the city to get my visa and turn it in to NBN, and hope they will at least give us spots for now.  they Jewish agency keeps telling me "yehieh beseder" (it will all be ok)... but i havent quite gotten to that point yet.  its almost as if i want this baby to come now, just to give us that extra time to get the paperwork organized!  but things will happen when they happen.

My brother-in-laws are in town from israel, with their girls, and so im getting a dose of israel and hebrew anyways.... its been interesting!