Vicissitudes

Ah, the wonders of attempting to move overseas. The different languages, the new cultures, the numerous flaming hoops through which one must jump; I doubt these will ever get old. Primarily because governments, at least the one in Spain, seem to love to randomly and arbitrarily change the rules as the prospective immigrant makes his or her way through the process. In my case, this means that when my fiance applied for her student visa there was no way for a spouse or dependent to apply with her. That is to say, had we been married before leaving for Spain, there was no visa for which I could apply that would allow me to stay in Spain with her.

All of that changed on 1 November 2010 for reasons unknown to us, the US Consular Office in Madrid and quite probably to the very government that changed these rules as answers seem to change with each office we call and each person we speak with. Immigrating to Spain is beginning to feel like trying to hit a moving target. In an earthquake. While wearing a blindfold.

As the sands continue to shift under my feet it appears that for the moment they have fixed me in a position whereby I must travel back to Miami to apply in person for a spouse-of-student visa. The Miami consular office, it seems, will not accept a proxy. So I will in all likelihood have to pack up my stuff, fly to Miami on the 17th of March, mill about the United States while a functionary ponders my fate and then travel back to Barcelona. Presuming, of course, that said functionary greets my application favorably. Needless to say, this has done nothing positive for my mood which had already been stressed by an exceedingly long back-up of my computer that kept me up until 4am.

I believe, though, now more than ever that this will all be worth it. It will certainly give me more to write about moving forward. I am attempting to sort out in my head a trip that will take me first to Miami, then Tampa, then perhaps Philadelphia to see friends and family I haven't seen in months (and hopefully a Lightning game or two!). It won't be cheap but I hope it will be valuable. I just wish it wasn't such a pain in the ass.

There are other options, no matter how limited or unpalatable they may be. Everything's still up in the air at the moment and so I am anxious to see how this all plays out over the coming months. But I'll come through this just fine, a little wiser and with a bunch of material to write about.