Recently I had a big scare, courtesy of the post office. After I returned from Jersey, I sent off my passport to the visa office. Before Christmas I was approved for an extension to my work permit (5 years) which is due to expire in April. Since I had to send in your passport to get the visa extension which goes with the work permit extension, I had to wait until after Jersey. I sent my passport to the office via recorded delivery, which allows signature confirmation of delivery. However, over the next week, the tracking system said it hadn't been delivered. It should've only taken one day. However, Victoria checked her bank account and the check she wrote to pay for it was cashed, so I felt that it probably was delivered after all. Then a week later I got a confirmation from the immigration department that the payment had cleared, and processing would begin.

This was obviously a source of relief to me. The process for an extension is supposed to take 4-9 weeks, and I will be going to Japan April 9, so I needed it to happen on time. Applying for a new passport would've taken too long. I'm going to Japan in April because my younger brother Paul is getting married there to Keiko, his Japanese (now) fiancee. I got a call about this in Jersey, which I forgot to mention in my account of the trip. Despite the process estimating a 4-9 week processing time, I got my passport back this week, less than one week after I got the confirmation of payment. I suppose things were more straightforward for me as I am from the U.S., not from Iraq or someplace more dangerous. The application for the visa extension mostly asks if you have committed genocide or terrorism, that sort of thing. Luckily I was able to put "no" for both of those. However, the definition of genocide was a bit open-ended. I think it defined genocide as trying to destroy a culture or group. It seems like this could include trying to shut down something like the Nazi party.

Of course, since nothing is simple with work permit stuff, I got a letter with my passport telling me I have been approved to work in the postion of "Assistant HR Adviser." I assumed that someone in the university HR department had made a mistake in writing down their job instead of my job. I was imaging a doomsday scenario where the university had to reapply for the work permit, then I would have to get another visa, etc. in a process taking many months. Thankfully, I called the immigration office, and the error was a clerical one that they were responsible for, not us. This means they just need to reissue the letter to me. Now I am all set to go to Japan. However, my passport expires next March, so I need to find out what to do then. From something I read on a website, I think I don't need to pay for a new visa stamp transfer as long as I carry both the old and the new passports with me whenever I travel.

I've checked the post office website, and according to them, the letter still hasn't been delivered. What great service that is.