Portuguese Visa Shenanigins

Preparation for living abroad and life in general has been going smoothly. My Portuguese language skills are improving, and last week the U.S. Fulbright Commission sent out a press release announcing receipt of my award. This week I am giving a few interviews with CSU Sacramento, the Sac Bee newspaper, and my local school district & Union in regards to it, which is exciting!


But today.....I hit the panic button.

My in progress long-term visa to Portugal consists of tons of paperwork which I finished 2 months ago. But I haven't been able to send it in to the Portuguese Consulate because I have been waiting to receive an FBI background check in the mail that must accompany the application. Supposedly it should take 6 weeks, and so at the end of last week I realized after checking my paperwork that it had been 8 weeks, with no FBI check still to my mailbox. I was kicking myself because  in hindsight I realized I should have sent it with confirmation of receipt because I had no idea if it even made it. I only have one month until I leave, and it takes up to 3-4 weeks once I send in all my Visa Paperwork to the Consulate in SF to get it approved. Yikes.


Let's just say I'm running a tight timeline.


I woke up early this morning to call the FBI agency back east, ready to deal with a barricade of filters to talk with an actual person. I was mentally preparing myself for the worst case scenario: they never received my request through US mail, which means I'd be starting over, and they "don't expedite under any circumstances" their website clearly stated-- which could mean another 6-8 weeks.  I already had handy my U.S. congresswomens' contact information in case I needed help from a big hitter.


I finally reached a woman at the FBI agency, and calmly told her my situation. I gave her my address which she told me she'd use to look it up in the computer.


"I'm sorry but there is no record that we received anything from your address. Is there any other address that we would be sending it to?" My heart began beating louder in my chest.


"No," I replied. "I only have one address, my home, that I put on the background check application." I repeated my address to her, and asked her not-as-calmly to check again.


"No, I don't have anything," she lethargically repeated. She was beginning to sound like the teacher from Snoopy in my head.


I said, "Well, is there another way to look up to see if anything was received, like my social security number? How about I give you that?" Panic mode was setting in.


"No, just the address ma'am. I'll check one more time in the system."..... "Oh, wait, actually, here you are. It was send out on the 17th. You should be getting it today or tomorrow."


Hallelujah!!!


Opening up my mailbox today, I exhaled a giant, deep, sighhhh of relief to see the self addressed envelope with the FBI background check enclosed.  I promptly rushed to the post office to mail off the packet for my Visa, made sure to pay extra for confirmation of receipt, which it's now (hopefully safely!) on its way to the Consulate in San Fran...