Angry Americans

To fully understand the ridiculousness of an immigration office employee's recent statements, we have to travel back in time to November 7th, 2008 when I first visited said office. This day I went to the office with the hope of sitting down and talking with someone about my options and the best way to go about things in the quest to obtain a legal right to stay in Norway above and beyond the 3 months granted by my tourist visa. I never intended to turn in my application; I didn't have any money with me, or the passport photos I knew were necessary. Just going to INQUIRE. When it was my turn, I was welcomed to the counter with a friendly vær så god (which among other things can mean 'after you') and a smile. But I am telling you, as soon as that lady saw my passport her attitude took an abrupt 180. I explained my goal, and my purpose for being there and she looked straight into my eyes and said, 'Well you've just done this all wrong'. 'Uh...ok...the application, or...what do you mean?' 'Just everything. You can't just come here and get a job and start working. If I did that in America it just wouldn't work out would it?' Now, if I would have been a bit more assertive, I would have asked for my papers and my passport back and I would have walked right out of that office. However, that is not what happened that 7th day of November. I was desperate to find out more, and desperate to work it all out (and most likely, I was intimidated by the huge sheet of thick, clear plastic slobbered with forehead prints that separated me from this employee. So I continued to ask...and finally understood when she said that I had done it 'all' wrong that she meant I should aplly from within the U.S. and not from Norway.

Got it. Lars and I had both read that on the UDI site, but the problem is that the site and the laws contradict themselves so many times it is hard to keep it straight. Also, it seems a bit challenging aka, impossible, to have the incumbent job offer before you arrive in the country. But then again, maybe that's the intention anyway. But since I had in fact NOT applied at all, you would think she would just tell me that it is really best to apply from the U.S. and send me on my way... but no...

She had already stamped and notarized my application and she told me that there was a chance that it would be ok. I supposed that I had to go through with it. She told me she had all the information that she needed, but just needed the 1100, kr to get my application along its way. Oh boy, you should have seen the look on her face when I told her that I hadn't brought money with me. But I suppose you don't have to if you can just imagine a contemptuous voice saying 'Well it isn't free you know'. I borrowed the money from Ivana (I would say a friend, but that is a bit of a stretch) who was in the waiting room and hesitantly suggested that maybe, oh just maybe we should include the a picture that is requested on the top of the application. 'Yes, I suppose that would be good,' she answered.

So it would be easy to assume that this woman just had a huge bunch in her panties, or that she was just generally an unpleasant person. But I had noticed that she greeted me warmly, and that she treated the person before me with grace. So I suspected that it was something about me that really turned her off. I think I left the office thinking that it had to do with me speaking English to her during this interaction, which was something I felt guilty about already. I didn't know much Norwegian at all back in November (when I had been in class for about 2 weeks).

So it was with renewed hope that I visited the office again with Lars this Tuesday. I thought that the interaction should be a much more pleasant one now that I could converse in Norwegian. And I couldn't have been more wrong. After waiting an hour to have our turn at the plastic monster, we were greeted by the same, condescending, assuming, over-tanned and thus over-wrinkled, bitter, middle aged woman with the same suspiciously friendly 'vær så god!'. My spirits, which were already dwindling, dropped to the floor in a shriveled little ball. I took a big swallow and approached the desk and said in Norwegian that I got this letter in the mail. The letter has all the information that she needed, so luckily I didn't have to explain more than that. And 'luckily' for me, since there was a Norwegian person with me, she would successfully ignore me and talk in Norwegian as if I wasn't there and couldn't understand a damn thing -- even though I had explained to her (in Norwegian) that I could manage her language.

But it only gets better. As she read us the rejection letter I could feel Lars' tension mounting. You see, he has spent the past days researching the Norwegian laws and finding what I feel are more than just loopholes but instead actual paths that my application could have, and most likely would have traveled upon unhindered. To this woman's credit, she is not the one that has made the decision on my application, it is UDI who has done that. But Lars began to explain to her, that if someone (HER, for example) in this office could have helped me properly when I came in November and gave me some answers to my questions, then we could have done it the right way and avoided all this trouble in the first place. Her response to that was that of course she would help someone that came in asking questions, as she snook a nervous glance at me. Lars continued, and asked if there was someone that we could sit down with and talk to. Nope. Absolutely not. And with her next words I finally and completely understood her reaction and general attitude towards me. In response to the hastiness with which she, or excuse me, someone 'processed' my application in November she basically said, and I quote with my own translation and paraphrase, 'Well we just get so many angry Americans in here that think they have rights in this country, when they don't, so we just go ahead send their applications right away in so they can get their negative response.' It was obvious that there was also an implication that their negative response (was one that they deserve) and that they just send their application in (so they don't have to deal with us self-righteous Americans). Great. So that's when I lost it. I managed to squeak out the Norwegian equivalent of, 'But I wasn't an angry American...' before the tears really started streaming down my cheeks. I was so mad and overwhelmed with this woman's unfair prejudice that I almost left. She was truly unbelievable.

So that is the story. Apparently this woman hasn't learned a lesson that many of us learn in our early youth--that you cannot assume things about every member of a group based on the actions of one, or maybe to give her the benefit of the doubt, the actions of a few, or many.

I realize that I haven't even mentioned why they rejected my application because I have been so caught up with this hellish woman! But they rejected it on the grounds that I applied from within Norway and not from the U.S. So from here, I will be putting together an appeal which will include all the things that I should have had in the first place that make my request reasonable and much more likely to be granted. I have to appeal within three weeks, and then I am allowed to stay legally in the country for the duration of the appeal, which according the the UDI website is approximately one month. If my appeal is not accepted then I guess I will have to head back to the U.S. and try again from there. Who knows.

So now I just keep playing the waiting game. Love it.