In America, we complain about government red tape. The most laughable are the “paperwork reduction” notices that require reams of useless paper. Yet, we don’t really appreciate what it’s like beyond our borders.
Every country has its bureaucracy, but Ukraine takes the cake. After having been registered in Odessa under new laws, I had to “unregister” in order to move to Kiev. We’ve been working at it for 6 months, now, trying every way possible to rush things through, and we STILL are not fully registered.
Praise God for the steps already accomplished: Invitation letter from the church, Permit from the Department of Religion, another Invitation letter from the church, buy temporary health insurance (a formality), leave the country to get a new type of visa, third Invitation letter from the church, Second Permit from the Department of Religion, application form to Migration Service, buy second health insurance (also a formality), and finally, receiving our “Temporary Residence Booklets”!
Each step entailed numerous visits to notaries and translation offices, getting copies of all in triplicate, and waiting in long lines (and shoving crowds). Aren’t we having fun?
However, there is still ONE more step – registering our address in that little booklet. We’ve been working at that since September. Since we don’t yet have EVERYTHING correct in our paperwork, we’ve been avoiding the authorities whenever we could.
Yesterday, however, I needed another legal form, available only from our local Housing Authority. Ours happens to be located on the very street where the bloody riots occurred three weeks ago. So, I had to walk through two protester barricades and three riot police lines! The barricades at City Hall look like the ones in “Les Miserables,” and the police had 13 bus loads of riot police with black helmets, shields and batons. This is NOT where I wanted to go, with my papers “not in order”!
Would you go through all that, just to get a piece of paper that OUGHT to be available on the web as a free download? Besides that, I had to push my way to the front of the line in the Housing Authority and talk the lady into giving it to me (in mixed Ukrainian and Russian)!
All of this process is simply to prove that I DO live here at THIS ADDRESS! Think about that, the next time you are standing in line, waiting your orderly turn at the U.S. Post Office, and see a free stack of “Change of Address” forms!
