Well, you may remember that I posted about a month ago about my trip to HK to apply for my work visa. It was Jan. 16 that I got my work visa and went back to GL with 30 days for the school that I work for to submit all the necessary paperwork for our family to get residence permits. Residence permits will allow us to stay legally long-term in our city. No more having to leave the country every 60 days.

It didn’t go down like that. . .

When I went back, the school was very busy with end of semester finals so I tried to go to the different offices and take care of it myself. Ultimately, I didn’t have all of the necessary papers and someone from the school would have to be present. So, I waited. Then the Chinese New Year holiday came (everyone was off work and offices were closed) and went. . . and on the LAST possible day, they took me to get my residence permit.

When we got there, we were told my physical which I had gotten at the beginning of this process (LAST JUNE! This is a LOOOONG process huh?) had expired, but since it was the last day of my temporary visa there was no way to get another one and have the results that same day. I was told I had to leave the country immediately because my temporary visa was expired and the residence permit was not obtained within the 30 day time frame that I had been given.

It was an incredibly stressful day to say the least. D and the kids still have their tourist visa so they could stay, but my tourist visa was voided when I applied for the work permit (that now expired). So. . . I’m BACK in HK and applying again for the same thing. Hopefully, this time when I go back things can be taken care of in a more timely manner.

When I turned my paperwork in Monday morning for another work permit, they asked me to write a detailed explanation of why I was requesting the same thing again and wasn’t able to get the residence permit within 30 days. Hopefully, they understand and look on my situation with favor so I can pick up my new work permit on Wednesday and go home! I miss my family, and this process has had so many hiccups along the way that I don’t think it could have been any more complicated.