So when I entered Uganda at the Entebbe Airport, I naturally handed my passport over. I got the 20 questions routine that I was expecting. One of the standard questions is, “Why are you coming to Uganda?” FSD alerted me that the only choices are business or tourism, so a volunteer should choose tourism.
Unfortunately, when I answered “tourism,” the customs lady didn’t quite believe me. “Ten weeks is quite a long time for tourism, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess. Not really, though.”
So, she used her ball point pen to carve a big “2 MO” across the top of my passport. This means that I am authorized to stay for two months. Eight weeks. Not ten.
Now what?
Yesterday, I went to the passport office here in Jinja. I told the secretary my problem, and she kindly explained that they would help me. All I had to do was come back later. I asked, “Is tomorrow ok?” She said yes.
Today, I went again. Trudging through the rain and mud, I arrived at 1:30. The door was locked, I knocked. A man came and shouted through the glass “It’s lunch time!” I asked when lunch was over. “Two o’clock!” I waited.
Two rolled around and the secretary unlocked the door. I walked in, she said he’d be right with me. He was just finishing up his lunch. Half an hour passed. Forty five minutes. I opened my book. At three, he walked out of his office and stood over me, silently staring into my head.
“I, um, need to get my visa extended,” I told him.
He kept staring.
I fumbled in my backpack to find my passport, pulled it out and showed him. “You see? It says 2 months, but it’s a three month visa. It says valid until August 25th.”
A few more seconds passed, then he asked, “Do you know what a visa is?”
“Yes.”
“Define it.”
Ok, this is ridiculous. I didn’t say that. I said, “Well, I can’t define it, but I know what it is.”
Looking at my chest, he said, “Do you know what a shirt is? Can you define a shirt?”
Ugh. Somebody shoot me. “A shirt is something that you wear on the upper half of your body.”
“Can a man or a woman wear it? Can anybody wear it?”
“Yes.”
Apparently I passed. Or I failed. I don’t know what the test was for, but he goes on: ”A visa is a form that allows you to apply for entry into a country. You can be considered for entry while your visa is valid. Your visitor’s pass says how long you are allowed to stay. Yours says you are allowed to stay until the 24th of July.”
Slight panic hits. “But my flight leaves on the 31st of July.”
“Well, the immigration officer can extend a visitor’s pass at his discretion.”
Great! Let’s get this done with. “OK, so can we do that?”
“Well your visitor’s pass isn’t expired until the 24th of July. It is only the 3rd. There is no reason to extend it now.”
A waterfall of reasons roared in my mind. I’ve already come here twice, let’s do it now. You’ve got nothing better to do. If I wait until it is expired, I am here illegally. Usually one does things before the absolute last minute.
Any of these I thought would suffice. I tried to explain them politely.
“No, you should come back later. Sometime after the 20th, when it is almost expired. If we do it now, we’d just be wasting resources.”
“What resources? I’m here already. We’re already halfway through the meeting.”
“Not your resources. My resources. Come back later.”
The secretary and other worker just laughed. I must have been staring, because I was just stunned. He walked back into his office and closed the door.
I was informed by my family when I arrived that government officials like to flaunt their power over anyone they can. It is a result of so few government jobs being available, they say. “You just have to deal with the big man.”
Wow – I didn’t expect anything worse than Bangladesh corruption. But apparently Uganda wins the prize.
Did you try offering a bribe? Usually officials in Bangladesh are very frank about the need for bribes – they’ll come out and say it and even recommend the amount you should give.
But, maybe in Uganda things are different. You’d have to suck up first – to flatter the guy in his position of power. Then you’d have to offer to financially compensate him for taking “the trouble” to do this sooner and for “wasting” his resources.
Yeah I might have to do that in the end, but for now I still have a few options. First, I’m going to drop by immigration office in the capital of Kampala. Hopefully the main office is a little more professional than its small-town brother.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to go back again when it is closer to expiring. I’d like to avoid bribes, since giving them seems to perpetuate the problem, but sometimes you have to be practical I guess.
That sucks! My first reaction would be to do some serious eyebrow raising and mean looks, But I guess that isnt approprite. Just go with it and do what you need to do to get your extention. Remember that people need you and guys like this are just a rock in your path, dont let him trip you up.
Also you guys are awesome for this project.
you are fantastico.
I probably would have done something that caused a chain of events leading to my imprisonment or deportation, or both, in some order. Something along the lines of asking him to define “wind.” Or maybe just kicking him in the shins. Knowing you, I’m surprised you didn’t throw an absolute fit. Uganda must finally be tempering your egoism.
Matt,
I think you had a bit of a cultural clash here. What is for you nonsense, in Africa is logic. Why renovating a visa when is still valid? I had the same experience in Uganda several times, in Kenya, in Botswana. It is a process that usually takes a day, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. And if you can go with an Ugandan friend will be better to deal with the officer. Africa is a day by day culture, you don’t plan for too long in the future because life expectancy is low so you live on the day, you survive the day. And you go by that. At least that has been my experience there. Once an Ugandan told me when I was exactly trying to plan over a contingency: why worrying what is after the bridge before you cross it. You get to worry about it once you have crossed and if a problem is there.
Cheers!