interesting experience to get a schengen visa....
Jun 9, 2016, 10:27 pm
#33
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Funny how consular/immigration people can be.
Back in the early 1980s, I went to live in West Germany. I had to go the local office (in Aachen, on the Dutch border and far from the normal "US zone" in the south) to arrange my status/documents. Being young and naive, I just went to the local office waited my turn. Virtually everyone else in the waiting room was Turkish or Yugoslavian. When my turn came, I sat down in front of a very young German official, handed him my US passport, and greeted him in my best (shaky) formal German.
He looked stunned and turned to ask his (much older) colleague:
"I have never seen an American passport before - what do I give him?"
To which the colleague, after glancing at my passport and me in a suit and tie, replied:
"Anything he wants".
I walked out 10 minutes later with a multi-year residency/work permit and a note to another office that they should issue me a driving license immediately.
I am sure that would not happen today, but it sure made my day.
Back in the early 1980s, I went to live in West Germany. I had to go the local office (in Aachen, on the Dutch border and far from the normal "US zone" in the south) to arrange my status/documents. Being young and naive, I just went to the local office waited my turn. Virtually everyone else in the waiting room was Turkish or Yugoslavian. When my turn came, I sat down in front of a very young German official, handed him my US passport, and greeted him in my best (shaky) formal German.
He looked stunned and turned to ask his (much older) colleague:
"I have never seen an American passport before - what do I give him?"
To which the colleague, after glancing at my passport and me in a suit and tie, replied:
"Anything he wants".
I walked out 10 minutes later with a multi-year residency/work permit and a note to another office that they should issue me a driving license immediately.
I am sure that would not happen today, but it sure made my day.
Jun 9, 2016, 10:51 pm
#34
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sorry for resurrecting an old thread but i thought i must give an update of my experience this past saturday evening....
my wife & i were attending a friend's dinner party & the same visa counselor from 4 years ago was there as well....at first i didn't recognize her but kept thinking i had seen her somewhere before....after a while it struck me that this was probably the same girl....
i asked the hostess who this girl was....it turned out she was the wife of one of the host's friends but she didn't know her well or whether she worked for the dutch embassy....curiosity got the better of me so i asked her to introduce me to her....we walked up to her & after the introduction i asked her if she worked at the dutch embassy....she confirmed that she used to work there but hadn't done so for a number of years now....
i then started to narrate the incident that took place & my friend the hostess had a good laugh while this girl seemed a little embarrassed....i asked her why she left her job at the embassy & she said she moved on to another job....i told her i hoped where ever she was working now she was treating the people she came across with a little more respect & humility than she showed me....
my friend sensed the sarcasm in my voice & took it upon herself to find out from common friends what happened with her employment at the dutch embassy....turns out she was asked to leave because the people at the embassy got a few complaints about her & were not happy with her performance....
hopefully the embassy replaced her with someone more respectful & knowledgeable....
my wife & i were attending a friend's dinner party & the same visa counselor from 4 years ago was there as well....at first i didn't recognize her but kept thinking i had seen her somewhere before....after a while it struck me that this was probably the same girl....
i asked the hostess who this girl was....it turned out she was the wife of one of the host's friends but she didn't know her well or whether she worked for the dutch embassy....curiosity got the better of me so i asked her to introduce me to her....we walked up to her & after the introduction i asked her if she worked at the dutch embassy....she confirmed that she used to work there but hadn't done so for a number of years now....
i then started to narrate the incident that took place & my friend the hostess had a good laugh while this girl seemed a little embarrassed....i asked her why she left her job at the embassy & she said she moved on to another job....i told her i hoped where ever she was working now she was treating the people she came across with a little more respect & humility than she showed me....
my friend sensed the sarcasm in my voice & took it upon herself to find out from common friends what happened with her employment at the dutch embassy....turns out she was asked to leave because the people at the embassy got a few complaints about her & were not happy with her performance....
hopefully the embassy replaced her with someone more respectful & knowledgeable....
Jun 10, 2016, 3:56 am
#35
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it was not just me, the people she interviewed before me were also treated with a great amount of disrespect & were asked stupid questions....
Jun 11, 2016, 12:43 pm
#36
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They must have a scheme to hire the people who will accept the lowest compensation and fewest job benefits. Maybe a reverse auction, where potential hires bid for the job with the least amount they will accept. Obviously, their training is minimal. As an American, this is an astonishing story to me. I cannot imagine going through this kind of a farcical process. I would have been beside myself.
Jun 12, 2016, 10:44 am
#38
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Great posting. It must have been a very frustrating experience.
One thing to keep in mind with Schengen visas: You always have to (re-)apply at the consulate of the country that you will visit first. If you are flying to the Netherlands, then going to France, you have to get the visa from the NL consulate. They used to be somewhat lax about this rule, but the last couple of years the authorities have cracked down. Some of my colleagues have had their "knuckles rapped" for not following this rule.
One thing to keep in mind with Schengen visas: You always have to (re-)apply at the consulate of the country that you will visit first. If you are flying to the Netherlands, then going to France, you have to get the visa from the NL consulate. They used to be somewhat lax about this rule, but the last couple of years the authorities have cracked down. Some of my colleagues have had their "knuckles rapped" for not following this rule.
Jun 12, 2016, 11:38 am
#39
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Great posting. It must have been a very frustrating experience.
One thing to keep in mind with Schengen visas: You always have to (re-)apply at the consulate of the country that you will visit first. If you are flying to the Netherlands, then going to France, you have to get the visa from the NL consulate. They used to be somewhat lax about this rule, but the last couple of years the authorities have cracked down. Some of my colleagues have had their "knuckles rapped" for not following this rule.
One thing to keep in mind with Schengen visas: You always have to (re-)apply at the consulate of the country that you will visit first. If you are flying to the Netherlands, then going to France, you have to get the visa from the NL consulate. They used to be somewhat lax about this rule, but the last couple of years the authorities have cracked down. Some of my colleagues have had their "knuckles rapped" for not following this rule.
Jun 12, 2016, 10:20 pm
#40
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They must have a scheme to hire the people who will accept the lowest compensation and fewest job benefits. Maybe a reverse auction, where potential hires bid for the job with the least amount they will accept. Obviously, their training is minimal. As an American, this is an astonishing story to me. I cannot imagine going through this kind of a farcical process. I would have been beside myself.
Aug 11, 2016, 11:26 pm
#41
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Not sure why Americans are so surprised. I've found the local staff at American posts (at least in Israel, France, and Sweden) to be horrendous people. The American diplomatic staff are generally excellent though
Aug 12, 2016, 9:33 am
#42
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I deal with the local staff at our embassy in Sweden and they seem at least as good or substantially better than local staff I encounter elsewhere at our consulates/embassies. Same goes for even when I am just observing.
Aug 14, 2016, 6:17 am
#43
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Not to bring race into this, but potentially my kippa (religious Jew) brought something into it? Twice (out of 2 visits) I was treated quite nastily by local staff
Aug 14, 2016, 6:41 pm
#44
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Which country, and treated nastily how? It sounded like a reference to the services at the US Embassy in Stockholm. I would be surprised if religion has anything to do with it, especially given what I know about some of these people working for us in Sweden. While they aren't all very friendly, certainly not anywhere close to as bad as I see many other countries' embassies/consulates treat their own citizens even of their own demographic majority background.