Immigration Office

Immigration Office

So we have officially been in Uganda for 3 months!!! I know this because our visas needed to be renewed.  Before we left we sent in our passports and got 6 month visas...or so we thought.  When we arrived in country they stamped our passports but only gave us 3 months.  Apparently no matter what you have the person sitting there can give you whatever they wish. So on Monday we headed to the office which isn't too far away, maybe 7 minutes or so. We are lucky that we didn't have to go to Kampala because we were just getting an extension. We arrived around noon and didn't have to wait to talk to someone.  They told us that we needed to get a special pass because Benj was working on getting a work permit and the kids needed student passes. He told us that we needed to get the organization to write a letter to let them know that we would be working with them and indeed were working on a work permit. So we left and headed to talk to the guy who needed to write the letter for us.  He was just leaving but would write it as soon as he got back. We went and had lunch and then got the letter and headed back to the immigration office around 2pm. Apparently it was lunch time so we stood around for ten minutes or so and watched Ellie chase a bunch of dragonflies (that Izaac thought were wasps).  We went back in and gave the guy the letter and then he told us that we needed to write a letter stating that we would be homeschooling Izaac and Ellie. (why he couldn't tell us that the first time we were there I can't be sure.) So we left again, this time asking if we all had to come back or if just Benj could. They said it was fine if just Benj came which was great because by this time is was already past rest time.  We got home and Benj typed up a letter, got the money out we needed to pay for the visas and then headed back to the office around 3/3:30pm. Finally we had given them everything they needed to process the visas. I figured that they would just stamp them and we would be good to go but they said it would take two days to process and we could come back on Wednesday to pick up our passports with the new visas.

Waiting outside while Benj is working on the Visas

Benj texted the guy on Wednesday asking what time he should come get the passports and he told him to come at 2pm. So Benj went at 2pm and the guy wasn't there. They told him to come back at 3:30pm. So Benj came home and went back at 3:30pm. The guy still was not there but this time he at least left the passports!! So Benj and I are good for another 3 months and hopefully will have work permits before that time is up and the kids are good for a year on their student passes.  Praise the Lord!!!  The kids did tell us however that they want Beckie and Ruudy to adopt them if we have to leave in 3 months since they can stay longer.  So thank you for praying for us and please continue to pray that we get our work permits!

Just jumping around while we wait!