It's beginning to look at lot like X-mas...

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Because of all this red tape!

I'll keep this brief. We arrive in Shanghai September 9th and went to PSB to renew our visas the next day. We were told that we could only get a 10 day extension. Since we ALREADY HAD 10 days left on our visa (good till September 18th), we asked for our passports back, so we could maybe do a visa run to Hong Kong and then make it back in the country in time for Alex's parents visit in Bejing.

They told us no. I asked very nicely "Please?" And was told no. "We have started the process, we must now finish the process", says the Deputy Chief. "Please, can we have our passports back?" "NO. WE WILL CALL YOU WHEN YOUR VISA IS READY. GOOD DAY!"

So we left. And we waited. And waited. We starting calling the PSB around the 16th, in a panic, because our current visa would run out the next day.

"Your visa isn't finished yet. " This is the refrain I hear from them every freaking day.

We woke up early and went to the PSB today( the 19th). We first went to collection and then she sent us to the the "Station Manager". She told us something in Chinese and then told us to go see another lady at the Express Visa Lane. I was excited, perhaps there had been some mistake, they were going to Express Visa our visas!

But no. "Your visa isn't finished yet. We will call when it's finished." says the lady in blue.

"Um," I say, gritting my teeth and smiling " Is there anything we can do to speed up the process? Would you like bank statements or references?"

"NO."

"OK, well, can I talk to someone else about this?"

She sighs and says " No. This is being reviewed by another department."

"Ok", I say,"Can we speak to someone from THAT department?"

"No."

"OK, can you tell when you think it will be ready for pickup?"

"No."

By this point Alex and I both are breathing deeply, trying to get our tempers under control. We'd swore to each other that we would NOT raise our voices or curse or throw a tantrum. It was very tempting.

"OK, can you tell us what the problem is? "

Can you guess her answer?

So here's the thing: we've been waiting here for a 10 day extension. You know what 10 day extension is? It's a "Get the hell out of China!" visa. It means that you've already extended your visa for the last time and they want you to leave China before you can come back in. It's called an Exit Visa.

Can you guess how long we've been waiting for our 10 day "Get the hell out of China!" visa extension? Yup, 10 days. In those ten days we could have already been to Hong Kong and back. Hell, we could gone back to the States and back!

"Ma'am, we would like to leave this country, and to do that, we want our passports back. We can't leave until we get the passports back. Is there anyway to get our passports back?"

"No."

We decided to call in the big dogs, the big dogs in this case being the US Embassy. I shot off an email to consulate here in Shanghai and within 2 hours, a very nice woman called me back. I explained our situation and she was quite sympathetic. However, she said we should wait until next Friday and if we still don't have our passports back by then, we should contact her again. She thinks there is no problem and that they are just being very slow.

Alex's parents are supposed to arrive on the 23rd, which is only 3 days away. I'm going crazy here, and both Alex and I are frustrated to the point of boiling over about every little thing. When we were talking to the Station Chief, she took a moment to speak to someone else and Alex took that moment to say, "I'm going to throttle this woman."

"What?"

He leans in quietly and says with a huge grin on his face " I'm going to lean across the desk and THROTTLE this woman."

I want to do the same.

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