That was close... too close

I just spent my whole afternoon at the US Embassy today to get a non-immigrant visa for my upcoming trip to the US. Had a 2:30 PM appointment and I arrived fashionably on time at 1:30 PM. Hey, the girl at the other end of the line did say to come 1 hour before... and although the wife was telling me to be earlier, it turned out I still arrived too early. I ended up having to wait on a long line for the pre-screening since the embassy seemed to be running a bit behind schedule.

Because I never really bothered to check all my documents thoroughly, I found out that I had several problems as I moved closer and closer to the front of the line. First, my application document wasn't printed very well. So much so that the middle part of the document from top to bottom wasn't actually readable. What can I say? Stupid printer from the office. I never bothered to reprint the damn thing since I figured they had a copy of this as well. Also, another colleague who was also flying to the US told me not to bother to reprint as long as the barcode and app ID was readable. Which it was, so there. Of course I was really planning on reprinting it just to be safe, but it was more than a month ago when I did this so I figured I had all the time in the world. Ass!

Second, I was sure that the pictures I brought didn't comply with what the app form required. How did I know besides the document itself describing the proper size? Well, everyone else in that line had bigger pictures attached to their forms. And all of them seemed to have the same size. What I had were extras from my passport renewal pics. Shit!

Third, the wife forgot to include my employment certificate in the envelope. Fuck! I dont have one shred of evidence that I am actually employed by the company that I am gonna claim to be sponsoring this stupid trip. And NO, I don't have an ID yet. Not even a business card. OK.. OK.. I forgot to bring the certificate, not the wife. But more on this later.

So I was essentially almost certain that I would get declined. What I was actually contemplating on doing was to try to reschedule the interview appointment maybe after a week or so, just so I dont have to reapply again and worse... have to pay the $100 fee all over again. Obviously this time from my wallet. Ouch!

I swear, if I had access to a PLDT phoneline while I was standing there... I would've tried to reschedule. I was in fact thinking of calling the office and and have one of my colleagues call to resched and pretend to be me. But then my cellphone was already safely locked at the embassy entrance. And then I look up front and find myslef looking eye to eye with the window guy. He motions me forward with his pen. Fuck!

Immediately, the app form gets noticed. He then asked me if I had another copy of it since it wasn't acceptable. I tried to justify it by saying that I was told it was OK by the call center girl I talked to when I scheduled the interview... but who was I kidding? He asks me if I remember the girl's name. I think of giving a fictitious name for a second but hesitate. She might actually exist so I tell him NO. Luckily, he gives me another form and simply asks me to redo the whole appform and just reattach the pic. I asked about the barcode on the printed form. He said it's fine. So I complete it and then submit it. I grab my yellow slip and sit on the bench to wait. I then just realize that he didn't mention anything about the size of my pic. Fuck yeah!

And so it's another line and another 40 minute wait. Finally, I do the finger printing and then to the actual interview. This is it. We do the usual Q&A. Pretty standard stuff. But I did detect a little bit of change when I told him what my job title was. I think I got a bit more credibility. If only I could prove it. So went the mandatory question:

"Do you have an employment certificate with you... an ID perhaps?"

"I dont have a company ID yet."

[In the background, I hear an old man just got declined]

"How long have you been with this commpany?"

"Three months."

[awkward pause]

Before it got too negative... I had to do something.

"Err... what I do have is an electronic ID that we use for biometric security in the office. It's what identifies the entries and exits to each section in our building and is complimented by finger print scanning in the IT room. So it's actually more important for us than those company IDs with pictures in them."

"OK. Can I see it?"

[Of course, our ELID isn't really that complicated. It's just what we use for the front door, and our rooms arent secured with more of those either. Heck, not even our server room had real biometric security like finger print or iris scan. Not even a passcode.]

He flips it over and tries to study it. He sees the only thing written on the front are the words "ELID: Electronic Identification" and nothing referencing my company name. He types something in his PC, and then hands it back. He asks a few more questions about my work and then types some more. Finally, he instructs me to go back to the embassy pavillion and pay for the passport delivery at Delbros. My VISA will be ready in a week's time. I retrieve the yellow slip from him, smile, and bid him a nice day.

Holy Crap! Did I just pull that stunt?