Doing the Embassy Two Step

Time for an update on the paper chase.  In order for Hapny to receive a visa allowing her to give birth in this country, Singapore immigration requires that she present an official letter from the Indonesian embassy stating that the infant will be a citizen of Indonesia and not that of Singapore. After the birth, Aron will have to do the hoop jumping with the U.S. embassy to get Blossom Clover U.S. citizenship as well along with a social security number and passport. But first things first.

Indonesian embassy

A number of documents must be presented to Indonesia (passport copies, original marriage certificate) along with a signed letter from Hapny's doctor stating the expected date of delivery and that the pregnancy is normal and the birth will be in Singapore...bla, bla....We knew it would be Monday of this week before we could get the signed letter from the doctor, although we tried to get it sooner with the help of ISOS, the health insurance company. We were feeling some urgency to take care of these matters since Hapny and Sofie have 30 day Singapore visas, which is standard, and their current visas expire the 16th of May. (U.S. citizens are granted 90 day visas, so my status is not in jeopardy.) Unlike Singapore, which is the model of efficiency, Indonesia operates in, shall we say, a more relaxed fashion. It is not unusual for cash offerings to be accepted "under the table" to facilitate or hasten needed action. Hapny and I had been dialing the phone number of the Indonesian embassy to no avail in attempt to ask if she needed an appointment to request the official letter.  Most of our calls went unanswered or were forwarded to extensions that were unanswered. Once I tried dialing '0' after the voicemail message and an actual human picked up.  When asked about making an appointment, the woman dismissed the idea and said we should just come by.  So, on Monday morning the 5th of May, the day Hapny was seen by her obstetrician, we left with 2 signed originals of a letter from the doctor detailing Hapny's medical status, her due date, etc. That afternoon after we moved to our apartment home, we took a taxi to the Indonesian embassy and filtered into a room with a lot of other people waiting in lines and sitting in chairs waiting for their number to be called as in "take a number, take a seat." Fortunately, the wait wasn't too long before Hapny's number flashed on the board. She went to the service window with Sofie and me right behind her. It probably took all of 20 seconds for Hapny to be told that she would have to come back to show documents in the morning. Afternoons are for picking up documents. Too bad we couldn't obtain that information by phone and save ourselves the cost of two taxi rides (about $15). On Tuesday morning, we repeated the procedure. Took a cab to the embassy, took a ticket, and took a seat. A longer wait this time. Then it was Hapny's turn and we huddled together at the window where Hapny slid the documents through the opening to a rather sullen embassy worker. Everything was acceptable except for the doctor's letter! There was an animated exchange of words in Indonesian before Hapny gathered all the documents and turned to me to say that the doctor's letter was not acceptable because it wasn't addressed to the embassy, but rather to the insurance company that also needed the same letter! I said in all seriousness, "Can't we white out the address at the top of the letter and write in the embassy address? This is ridiculous!" Of course not, was the obvious answer.

Dr. Chan's clinic.

We left in utter frustration knowing we would have to hassle the doctor for a new letter. We took a taxi to Novena where the doctor's clinic was located next to the hospital. On the way, Hapny called the clinic and we were relieved to learn that Dr. Chan was in fact there seeing patients.  That was a lucky break. We arrived and explained the situation. Dr. Chan kindly showed us into her office and she took out her personal stationery notepad and began hand writing the letter. We provided the embassy address. She signed it, stamped it with an imprint of the office address (too new to be on official stationery), and put it in an envelope for us. We checked the time. With luck we might be able to catch a taxi and return to the embassy to submit the letter and supporting documents before the noon hour, when the embassy stops receiving petitioners for the day.  We got lucky to grab a taxi outside the hospital as it dropped off an individual. We hastened the driver to get us to the embassy and when we explained the situation, his advice was to slip the embassy worker some money to get what we needed. "That's how business is done in Indonesia," he said. I was fully prepared to do that, if we met with further resistance. I had enough familiarity with Indonesia from previous visits to recognize the truth in the cabbie's statement. We were deposited at the embassy gate and, breathlessly, we ran as swiftly as a pregnant woman and 5-year old would allow, but we managed to get inside with a few minutes to spare.

The embassy letter

This time, when Hapny's number came up, we held our breath as she handed over the documents this time to a different embassy representative. This lady seemed less severe and she only gave the precious letter a cursory glance! How ironic....at least, I think that's irony! Anyway, the lady gave Hapny a card with a stamped number on it that correlated to the number of her case. She was instructed to come back at 3 on the following day (Wednesday).  We left feeling jubilant, but exhausted by the whole process, and we weren't even sure what to expect when we returned on Wednesday. Well, happy ending there. For the fourth time in three days, we took a taxi to the Indonesian embassy. Hapny went up to the window and she was handed a beautiful letter on embassy letterhead. Victory was ours! Next step, take the letter and more copies of the pertinent documents to Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Singapore Immigration office.

Happy to say not much drama there. We were escorted by an agent from the insurance company who knew the ropes.  It's a very large building with many more people coming to renew visas and passports and such, but the efficiency of the place is impressive. Everything ran like clockwork. Hapny got approved for a 90 day visa and so did Sofie.  End of story!