Bureaucracy!

Well, it appears that my work visa won't process in time for my first day of work. The process has been shepherded along by one of the professionals at the headhunting firm that recruited me, and I can only imagine how long it would take if I were trying to do it myself!

To my understanding, here's what's going on:

-My work visa will be ready, guaranteed, by Thursday, probably Wednesday, and if we're lucky, sometime tomorrow. Tomorrow, of course, is my first day of work. The lady who is assisting with my visa, however, said the following: "I don't know what you're used to, but the first day of work isn't real work. You'll meet your colleagues, probably go out for lunch with your colleagues, receive various identification cards, and passwords for computer systems, take a tour of the facilities, and then probably go home early, so it's not really work". Apparently, this means that no-one will get in trouble if I do this "non-work" work without a work visa. Okay!

-Now, I need to let someone know that I have entered the country, and where I will be living. This has, apparently, been done for me behind the scenes. Okay.

-Next, I need a personal identification number. I have referred to the "D-number" in previous posts, and that is one form of personal identification number - but apparently is really only intended for those who are in the country temporarily. This does not apply to me, of course, because at this time next year, I expect to be in roughly the same place (hopefully a nicer apartment!). Thus, I need a permanent one. Still, I may get a D-number before I get a permanent one. This probably should have been secured before I got here, but they needed a certified copy of my passport (certified by an embassy), so that couldn't be done. Apparently, I will tromp off to the police ("politi") tomorrow to get that moving. Unfortunately, that could take up to a week.

That third one (the number, either temporary or permanent) is required for many things, the most relevant of which is a bank account. The bank account will allow us to wire money from Canada (for instance, the proceeds of our house sale!) I mean, even if we could purchase a car in straight cash pulled from a credit card or something, we would still require the number in order to register the car, or purchase car insurance. Careening around a foreign country in an unregistered, uninsured car with a foreign license seems like a bad idea. Needless to say, we'll be waiting until we get the number, then the bank account, and then we'll be set to go.