Mission "Visa for Brazil" Failed

End of this month, I leave for Brazil to do part of my research for half a year there. To do research, I need a visa. And it turns out that this process is very complicated...

Let's start with the OK part. To apply for a visa for Brazil, there turned out to be many prerequisites.

To start with, I needed a Conduct of Good Behaviour, which is a document issued my the Ministry of Justice, that states that you are not a criminal. I went to the municipality to apply for this document, but they didn't know how to deal with it, because normally you only need these documents when requested by an employer with a written letter. In the end, they said that they would submit my application if I would get a print of the web page of the Brazilian Embassy where it was listed that a conduct of good behaviour was required. And I needed to fill in a form which needed some information about my identity and a choice for screening profile that they perform on your criminal record. This, surprisingly, did list a profile for a visa. After returning with all this information (the local municipality is only open in the mornings, so that was some days later), they did send it to the Ministry of Justice, and one week later I received the document by mail. Great!

The next document was a proof of birth in the Netherlands. But for this, I had to go to the municipality in the city where I was born! At least, there they worked in a more professional matter and I got the document with only an hour of waiting.

Then a proof of residence in the Netherlands for at least twelve months. For that I needed to go to the local municipality again, and there again they didn't know what to do with it. They decided to give me a proof that I live in the municipal for more than twelve months (since I was born actually; I never moved outside the municipal). Phew, we are getting somewhere.

I also needed a document that I had sufficient income. The people at the personnel department helped me by giving me a document listing my gross income (which is a lot higher than my nett income; I now realize where this difference in money is needed for...)

Some of the other requirements were easy: two photos, and a passport that is at least valid for six months.

Then I could finally fill in the main form (a badly formatted word document) and go to the embassy to apply for the visa! Which I tried today and which is the bad part of the story.

To get the mood right, let me first say that it rained the entire day.

The day started fine. I needed to go to the embassy in The Hague and when I arrived in Utrecht, the train to The Hague was already waiting for me. But then the first thing went wrong: I needed to take bus with the number 22, but the driver didn't know about the bus stop where I had to leave. So, I queued for a long time at this information desk, where they told me that the name of the bus stop was "Mauritskade" and not "Mauritslaan" (all streets there are either ...laan or ...kade). The driver of the next bus that turned up fortunately knew where I had to leave the bus.

I left the bus at bus stop Mauritskade, and needed to go to number 19. Assuming that this would be the street Mauritskade, I saw number 14, and walked around a bit to see in which direction the higher numbers are. These buildings are all so big that walking around takes a while. But, number 19 was nowhere to be seen. After some roaming around I finally found it, but it turned out to be the Embassy of Iran! A picture of me looking at this building in the most curious way is probably decorating the desktop of the director of Homeland Security now.

After roaming around even more, I coincidently walked in yet another road, which turned out to be the actual Mauritskade, and I finally found the location. A friendly man opened the door, but when I told him that I needed a Visa, he told me that I actually had to go to the embassy in Rotterdam! (Grr, why did the people at the municipal tell me to go to this address in The Hague?!).

Then I arrived in Rotterdam. The embassy should be at the "Stationsplein" which is connected to the station. So, that should be easy to find. But I didn't exactly know where and this Stationsplein and the buildings around it are big. So, again after circling a bit I found the right entrance, and with the help of some computers inside, I found a way to the embassy desk inside this mace.

Now I could finally get this over with, at least that is what I thought. So, with a big grin on my face I dumped this huge pile of documents on the desk. I first had to convince the guy from the desk that I am not a student any more, but employed by the University (I was still so young he said).

The guy behind it looked through it all, but did not accept the document that my professor wrote: I need a license from the Ministry of Science in Brazil for my research. And whatever I tried, he did not want to give me a visa until I have this license. He even said at that point that I obviously overlooked the requirements, because it was listed there. Well, I had studied these requirements a long time, and all I could think of on how to satisfy this requirement was this letter of my professor! At that point I would really have liked to grab this guy by his tie and pull him over his desk! But he may still be of use to me...

At least, if I manage to get this license. If not, then I have to take my fallback option: going to Brazil as a tourist. Since I get paid by the university in the Netherlands, there is basically no difference. But I wonder if the officials in Brazil agree if they ever find out...