OK, so most regulars on here have been involved in a visa application process a few times in their life.
I unfortunately have to do this on an almost daily basis, and today am absolutely driven mad by this. The reason being as that rather then using an agent, we do all our asian crew management onboard and it falls on me... Now earlier this year I had to organise and take 35 crew for US visas in Paris, which was stressful, with flights, trains, hotels, paperwork, what seemed like a million garauntee letters, spending 6 hours on the phone booking the bloody appointments and then a big of an argument with the Embassy Visa Supervisor. In the end we got our visas, but since the whole process cost 20,000 pounds+ before we even reached the door, I was praying quite a bit that didn't go wrong. In fact a few people got the wrong visas issued, and the only way to get in touch with the US Embassy was to a call a 14 euro phone line to get a fax number to then send a fax to the embassy (WHO ON EARTH USES FAX IN THIS MODERN DAY???), and they replied 2 weeks later to tell us to send the passport and another prepaid self addressed envelope to fix the problem. So well, just a ridiculous situation.
Now generally, we are in Europe and we need to get our crew 'Schengen' entry visas, which officially they should get from the Embassy of the first European country they will enter. However, in actual fact we have an Agent in Amsterdam, who can process the visas on arrival at Schiphol Airport whilst the crew are in transit and then they fly onwards to the vessel. It costs money, but it saves us a lot of hassle. Now the Schengen system is supposed to cover the whole of Europe and all Schengen countries, and with one visa you can visit all countries without borders! Great you all say, thinking what a wonderful idea!
Now despite this supposedly being one system, we are now in Spain where they do things differently, and we cannot use our guy in Amsterdam and we have to use the Spanish Embassy in Jakarta/Manila etc. I now have 5 guys, who remain at home on extended leave waiting for visas, the embassy has had letters sent from the Police in Barcelona and the Spanish Foreign Office in Madrid supporting getting our guys visas, yet still the embassy is not responding (apparently its fax machine is broken), and they won't give our guys a reason for why the visas aren't yet being issued...
So now, we goto the UK where they have the most twisted immigration policy. If you want to enter the UK from Indonesian or the Philippines you need a visa, even as a visitor or in transit. However, if you hold an official 'Seamans Identity Book', you can enter without a visa and join a ship, very very easily. Hence why I'm now trying to get my guys into Gibraltar and get them onboard there now!
Welcome to Ricky's visa nightmare!
