Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: October 2, 2012

Dan and ЈУСТИНИЈАН I

The day before we left for our Balkan vacation, I received a call from an expat friend of mine.  She told me that she was being expelled as she had overstayed her visa.  The day before she had gone to the airport to catch a flight to Vienna; at the airport, the Macedonian Immigration Officer counted the days that she had been in Macedonia.  As with me, her days in Macedonia far exceed the rule of no more than 90 days within a 180-day period.  She missed that flight, and after interrogating her for a couple of hours and many calls by her to people in authority, Macedonian Immigration expelled her from the country ordering her to leave the very next day.

Before her call, I had become complacent in my efforts to become a legal resident in Macedonia.  After many, many exits and entries with no one noticing the total days that I have been here, I believed it unlikely that anyone would ever notice.

For our Balkan vacation, we crossed the border from Macedonia into Albania with no problems.  We returned two weeks later crossing from Kosovo into Macedonia.  Again, no problems.  But, spurred into action by my friend's experience, last week I assembled all the documents and their translations as specified last time by the woman at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOI).  Friday, I went to the MOI.  I arrived at 12:30 pm and discovered that the office is open only from 9 am to 12:30 pm.  Today, I returned with Dan who wanted to inquire about an extension of his resident visa which expires on November 14, 2012.

The same MOI woman took my package of documents and looked at Dan's resident visa card.  She said I cannot apply for a card unless the term of Dan's resident card is for one year.  She said she told us about that requirement the last time we were in.  She did not!

So, it is a Catch-22 for us/me.  We have just 3 months left to be in Macedonia, I have overstayed my tourist visa by 6 months, and I cannot get a card.

Dan has issues because his INCOMPETENT Macedonian lawyer proceeded as if Dan was an employee working in Macedonia and earning a salary here.  Dan is a volunteer and while his living expenses are reimbursed, he receives no money in Macedonia.  The Department of Labor wanted him to submit information showing that health care insurance, taxes, etc were being withheld from a Macedonian salary.  Since he is not an employee, he couldn't comply with the document request.

Also, last week I met our landlady once again at the Police Station to register my presence in Macedonia.  Because I don't have a resident card, I must report to the Police Station with my landlady within 48 hours of entrance into Macedonia.  This time, the officer was very bureaucratic even checking in his prior book for my last registration.  He also informed me that I was in violation because I had not advised the Police that I was leaving Macedonia within 24 hours of my departure.  I have been here since January 12, and this is the first time anyone has advised me of this departure notice requirement.

September 8 was Independence Day in Macedonia.  A new statue complex, which includes an eternal flame, was opened for unidentified Macedonian Fallen Heros.  The first statue is of Prometheus.  Prometheus caused quite a bit of trouble initially because he was buck naked.  Citing a complaint from unspecified women's organizations, the government directed the artist to cover the offending body part.  Now Prometheus wears a golden diaper.

Behind Prometheus, is a doorway to eternity leading to the eternal flame and beyond to the winged goddess symbolizing victory.  In the middle portion of the complex is a second doorway topped by 4 golden horses.  Above the doorway are the Latin words for immortality, freedom and justice.  The words are etched into the marble.  That is unfortunate because the Latin word for justice,  JUSTITA, is misspelled "JUSTICA."  The artist should have stuck with Cyrillic lettering as used on the statue of Justinian.  In that case, although he would not have been able to read his own name, Macedonians can.

Yet Another Kink in the Pursuit of a Visa: June 11, 2012

Dan just called me to report that the rental agreement I altered did not pass muster with two different notaries.  Not only must we have the rental agreement re-typed, our landlady must provide proof that she owns the apartment.  Now this last step seems like it should have nothing to do with our Visas, but that is the latest demand that we must meet.  So, our landlady must start her own bureaucratic nightmare to obtain a new certificate to prove she owns the property because the certificate must be less than 6 months old.  Why does where we live or how the property is owned make any difference to the Macedonian government or to our pursuit for a Visa?

On a much lighter note, this morning my IWA friends and I had another Monday Hike.  We went again to Matka Canyon and found the trailhead for the easier trail up to the Church of St. Nilola.  

The fastest way to the trailhead is across a small bridge over the kayak course and along some narrow concrete dams built in the River Treska.  That was an adventure in itself.  

On the other side of the River Treska, we met a very sweet little dog who hiked to the top and back with us and then just went back to where she lives in the forest.

Church of St. Nikola

The air was a little steamy from yesterday's heavy rain, but the trail was mostly shaded on the way up the mountain.  We had a picnic in this small covered terrace with a fabulous view of St. Andrea and the restaurant at Lake Matka.

This little dog was so nice.  Corby, Celia's dog, led the group, and this little female brought up the rear.  

Having Fun in Macedonia, but still Illegal: June 8, 2012

Dan returned Friday, June 1, from his short trip to Washington DC.  The whole purpose of the trip was to pick up his work permit.  The work permit turned out to be an unimpressive piece of paper.  The guy at the Macedonian Embassy in DC told Dan that the piece of paper should be date stamped by immigration upon arrival in Skopje.  As instructed, Dan showed the immigration officer the paper, but the officer shrugged his shoulders and didn't know what to do with the piece of paper.  It was not date stamped.

When foreigners enter Macedonia they are required to be registered within 48 hours with the police. On Saturday, Dan met Olivera (our landlady) at the police station for the purpose of his registration.  The police department did not have any registration cards and told Dan and Olivera to come back on Monday.

On Tuesday (June 5) Dan and his lawyer went to the Ministry of Interior to see if the work permit would now get him a resident visa.  It did not.  Dan was told that he needed the new resident card from the police and that he needed to present a notarized rental agreement for the apartment.

On Wednesday, Dan and Olivera went again to the police department.  Dan wrote the date of entry into Macedonia as June 1. The police did not notice that his residence registration was 96 hours after his arrival in Macedonia.  Dan left the police station with his new registration card.

Olivera brought her copy of our rental agreement written in Macedonian.  I changed the dates on the rental agreement to begin June 3, 2012 (not January 15).   Now, the agreement must be notarized which means that both Dan and Olivera must appear before a notary on Monday, June 11.

On Tuesday, June 12, after submitting all the newly secured documents, Dan will have his photo taken by an official photographer (who only works Tuesdays and Thursdays and only until 2:00 pm) at the Ministry of Interior.  I'm hoping that no further requests for additional documentation will be made, and that finally, he will receive his visa.

When Dan went to DC, he was also carrying my credit report, my criminal history, our marriage license all of which had been translated into Macedonian and notarized.  He was instructed by his Macedonian lawyer to present these documents to the Macedonian Embassy in the US to begin the process of securing my visa.  Dan, as instructed, presented my documents but the embassy employee shrugged and said I would have to come myself to get a visa to live in Macedonia.

We have already lived in Skopje for five months and been illegal for two of those five months.  Since we've been here, he has had to get his criminal history and credit report, have them translated into Macedonian, have them notarized, and had to get them again as they became older than 60 days.  He had to hide in our apartment one day because someone from the Ministry was going to visit the ABA office to make sure the ABA still planned to hire Dan.  He has had to provide a statement that no Macedonian has the same qualifications as Dan so the ABA can only hire Dan.  All this even though Dan is the only ABA presence in Macedonia.

The Macedonian Embassy employee in DC told Dan a joke about Macedonian immigration officers:

Why do some immigration officers have one star while some have two stars?  One star means someone in the officer's family can read and write; two stars mean the officer can also read and write.  Dan told Olivera this joke and she told us a similar joke:  Why do police officers go everywhere in pairs? Because one officer can read and the other can write.

We're beginning to understand why these jokes exist in Macedonia.  There must be some version for Macedonian Embassy workers as well.

In this long process, I've heard that some people simply give up or even get new passports to restart the 90 day visa-free period.  The Macedonian Embassy workers told Dan that for me if anyone questioned my lack of a visa to say that it had been applied for and was in process--even though it is not.

Dan is away again--working. This time he is holding a training class in Štip.  Štip, pronounced Shteep, is about two hours east of Skopje.  The course begins today and will continue until Sunday afternoon.

Between his trips out of country/town, we have taken advantage of two festivals.  The OFFest is a five-day festival of world music.  We went to performances on three nights.  The other festival, Buskerfest, is a festival of street performers.  It begins each evening just as the the heat of the day leaves.  There are mime statues, musicians, tight-rope walkers, sword swallowers, jugglers, and a Canadian who lays down on a bed of nails with a spectator standing on top of him.

This human statue maintained her tranquility when faced with a bratty little boy who first kicked her and then kept tugging on her clothes and even attempted to hit her.

The Buskerfest will end this weekend; our quest for legal status in Macedonia will not.

I'm an Illegal Alien; I'm an American in Macedonia

Dan and I arrived in Macedonia on Jan 12 with the belief that if we left the country every 90 days, we could maintain our legal status in Macedonia.  Last week we learned we were wrong because about three years ago, Macedonia changed their laws to comply with EU requirements.  Now visitors can remain in Macedonia without a visa for only 90 days of 180 days.  Subtracting my time outside of Macedonia, yesterday I became an illegal alien.  Dan becomes an illegal alien next week.

Dan's Macedonian lawyer has advised us that since he is in the process of securing a work visa that we should be okay.  But, that is only his word.  We are worried that when we go to Cairo, Egypt, at the end of the month, we will either be thrown out of Macedonia or not be allowed to re-enter Macedonia as we have over stayed our non-visa status.

We've had varying stories about what happens when you overstay.  Some people have received reprimands at the border but been allowed to enter while others have been refused entry.

At least now we can have a Plan B in place for Kali Cat should we not be allowed to return to Macedonia.

Today, Monday, was a holiday for Easter Sunday.  Dan didn't have to work so he joined the Monday hike.  We hiked about two hours across and up to middle Vodno making a loop to return to the start.  The weather was beautiful while we were hiking.  The slope of the mountain is covered with small gardens, orchards, and vineyards.  Despite the weather, yellow forsythia and wild plum and apple trees covered with white blossoms said it was truly Spring.

We felt the first sprinkles as we returned to our apartment.  The rest of the day was mostly gray with intermittent rain.