Permis de Sejour- Phase 2

Back in December I wrote a really long post about us trying to complete our Permis De Sejour (Permanent Residency Card), and made the comment that this was something that could take any where from a few days to a few years to complete.  When I wrote that blog, we were told that we would be leaving the end of that week to go to Port and sign for it.  Well, it is now the middle of March and we are finally going this morning to HOPEFULLY finish it all up.  Again, TIH, so who has any idea if it will actually happen.

I know, your all dying to know what held it up for these past few months.  Theres got to be some interesting story there since it’s Haiti right?  Right!!

So when you fly into Haiti, as I’m sure most countries, you get this little green card and you are required to give it back when you go through customs as you are leaving the country.  When I came into the country last time, I for whatever reason was not given a green card.  I WAS NOT GIVEN A GREEN CARD.  I did not loose it.  I actually was not given a green card.  I don’t know how many times they have asked me to check for it, but I honestly don’t have one!

Part of the Permis de Sejour is giving them your Green card to ensure that you came into the country legally (I’m not sure who would want to come in here illegally, but I guess you have to check).  We sent the office a copy of the stamp on my passport about a 100 times which has the date when I arrived.  Still no good.  They just wouldn’t accept that for some reason.  So our guy in Port went to the airport and checked with the company that I flew in with to get their flight records to prove that I did infact come into the country on said date.  It’s not there.  They have no record of me being on their flight.  Really?  I mean I know I slept on the flight, but I was on it.  I had to get here somehow.  Technically, I think that this all means that I am here illegally right now, but thats all good!  Actually, I really am here illegally right now because we are supposed to leave every three months and it’s been closer to five.  Whoops!!

Over the past couple months we have been told about 6 times that “every things almost finished and you need to make reservations to come down this week. I’ll call you and let you know for sure,” only to have a few weeks go by without any communication from our guy in Port!  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy, this is just how Haiti is!

Well we were told this week that all is done except for us to go down and sign for it.  This weekend is the ONLY weekend we have available for several months so we decided to go, even though we have people here visiting us and have to miss their last day in Haiti.  We also decided to take Eventz and make a small trip out of it.  We will be staying with some of our friends for a few days before coming back to COTP.

Of course this being Haiti, nothing is for sure.  We wanted to go on Friday, but were told to go Thursday so that we have two days in case we need to sit at the office the entire time.  I mean it’s very possible that it might take two days to sign a piece of paper.

When discussing this trip, we originally wanted to come back Sunday, but Sunday is elections which means the possibility of riots for several days.  We booked our tickets for Saturday in case the airports shut down or there is any issues.

But, this morning I got online and read that there are RUMORS of Aristide, the exiled president, coming back TODAY!!  Yay, of all days he could return, supposedly he is going to return today.  No one knows what this means, but again their are rumors of riots.

And then of course theres always the issue of us taking Eventz, which to us is the biggest concern.  You never know when you will come across someone who isn’t pro international adoptions.  Whenever we go anywhere with him, we have to be careful since he is not yet legally ours.

Hoping that things go smoothly today and that we are able to get it all completed in a timely manner!!

Update:

Things went really well today for us.  We didn’t have any issues having Eventz with us at all.  He slept through his first airplane ride and was very well behaved during it all.  Our guy was waiting for us when we arrived at the airport and took us to the immigration office.  We were only there for an hour and most of this time was waiting for our second guy to show up.  This is phenomenal because I was expecting to sit there for hours before even getting seen.  We filled out the application, which was all in French, had our finger prints taken and were on our way!  We still are not yet finished with the process.  We have one more piece of paper we still have to give them, but are hoping that we will be done within a month.  Who knows though!  

While we were there, they again had a small issue with my arrival date, but some how it all worked out!  We are now at our friends house and relaxing!  Port au Prince is SO much different than CAP!  We are enjoying our time here and are excited to spend a few days together!