I have my residency/work permit!
As some of you may recall, I had to have a student visa when I studied in Mainz. I had to pay 50 euro, and leave my passport with the government agent while my visa was prepared. This time, I had a little different experience.
I was required to apply for my residency permit before June 1. That meant that I had to go to an honorary consulate in order to get original copies of my passport and birth certificate verified, before sending my application to the Austrian Consulate in Los Angeles. The honorary consular in Portland was great. His daughter was doing the same thing as I am doing this year (she was here last year), and we was very familiar with the whole process. We had a good talk, and he wished me well. I mailed my application via certified mail at the end of May, and hoped for the best. Come the middle/end of June, I checked the status of the package via the USPS website, and it showed that it hadn't arrived. A bit of panic set it, thinking that it was lost, I'd have to apply all over again, my residency permit would be delayed...all kinds of things went through my mind. I finally got a hold of someone at the Austrian Consulate in L.A., and they said that my application had arrived on the 20th of May, and that it had arrived in Austria already on the 30th of May. Thank you very much, United States Postal Service, for allowing me to PAY extra for a service that wasn't even followed through with....needless to say, I was a bit frustrated with the post office, but in the end my residency permit application was received and processed!
Fast forward to Wednesday. I had scheduled time off in the morning from my school, because I needed to go to the residency permit office, which there is only one location and open during very specific hours. I went on Wednesday only to find out (after I had forgotten) that they were closed on Wednesdays!!!!!! I knew that, and I had looked it up, but I forgot. I got a thorough scolding from the lady behind the counter, telling me that I should have known they were closed because I should have read the big sign on the door outside and looked on the website. Ok, sorry. Excuse me for thinking that government agencies should be open 5 days a week!
So, I went to school on Thursday, and lucky enough the office was open in the afternoon. After walking around the palace gardens, I went back to the government offices and asked where to pick up my residency permit. After trying to find me in the computer, the lady behind the counter gave me a number and told me to go to the 5th floor. I stand in line for the elevator for about 10 minutes, and finally get to the 5th floor. There is a sign up with numbers on one side, room numbers on the other. Mind you there is no order in which they call a number. It is completely random. I had number 250, and they called numbers 218, 244, 251...all at random. Finally, after sitting for about half an hour, my number was called. I went into the office, and the lady was seemed to be very nice. She was very friendly, and didn't seem to be too worried about seeing my passport or city registration. She asked me if I payed yet, and I said no. She told me to go pay, and then come back. Leaving my passport with someone else really made me feel naked! Not having it made me feel really funny. So, I got to the cashier, on the 6th floor, and payed the 143 euros, went back downstairs, and back into the office. I signed my name on the dotted line, received my "Alien Card"!! and walked out of there a free, legitimate, working citizen of the city of Vienna, Austria! Hooray!
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