Visa Process

This morning I went to the Belgian Consulate here in NYC.  I must say as far as consulates go, I was quite pleased.  Though there was only one person servicing people, she was pleasant, efficient and knowledgeable.

For my work in the past, I have had the (dis)pleasure of visiting several consulates and have never had as pleasant an experience as I had today.

Let me start at the beginning.  The consulate opened at 9:30am.  I arrived at 9:36.  I was allowed to enter the building and, not even that, I was allowed to enter a nice, clean, warm, comfortable waiting area.  I waited about 10 minutes, then handed in my paperwork and a wad of cash.  The lady then handed me a receipt and told me to come back next Monday.

Now, this may not seem overly shocking to those of you who have never had the pleasure of applying for an Italian visa.  Oh the wonderful beautiful land of my ancestors and birthplace of Pocket Coffee.  Great wine, great food, great sights, not terribly service-oriented people.  If you are a guest in their house, they will feed you and feed you and entertain you and feed you and give you the shirt off their backs.  But if you are in a grocery store (or any kind of store) you are assumed untrustworthy and, in fact, worthy of scorn.  This goes doubly so if you are applying for a visa.

Of my several trips to multiple Italian consulates, I have been met with misinformation, rudeness and, on one occasion, out and out refusal.   In NYC, a visa applicant is expected to arrive in the wee hours of the morning, long before the consulate is open, in order to secure a position as the one of (possibly) 25 people that will be seen that day.  One is expected to sit outside of the consulate no matter what the weather.  I must at this point mention that there are no benches outside of the consulate.  Therefore, no matter what the weather, no matter what your age or physical condition, one must either stand for hours or sit on the sidewalk.  For a few hours until they start letting people in 3 at a time.

At that point, you and all your bags are inspected and you are asked a series of questions.  Then and only then are you allowed to go to the waiting area and take a number.

Now, I understand that Belgium (population 10 million) is a smaller country than Italy (population 59 million).  But both are Schengen States and members of the EU.  So I ask you, Italy, why can you not be more like your friendly Flemish northern neighbor?  In fact, Italy, with nearly 6 times the number of inhabitants, why aren’t you better than Belgium.  More resources, more establishment?  So what if you have 7 major political parties, organized crime and changed your minds halfway through WWII.  Can’t you give people a bench, at least?

P.S. For you non-Italian speakers out there, here is the wikipedia link for Pocket Coffee. Realize its greatness.