Visas

We visited the Chinese embassy in London three times in our attempts to get visas for the trip. The first vist we were sure we had everything but the complex nature of detailing the paper trail from adopting a Chinese child to her becoming a US citizen and then receiving British citizenship could not easily be shown. We not only had to produce our current passports but our previous passports with the previous visas, our daughters previous passports and her original Chinese passport. The adoption paperwork, originals and copies were needed and we fell down because some of the paperwork was not A4, it was an American size. This coupled with the adoption certificate not being an original and our itinerary not being fully evidenced tipped us over into having to make another journey.

Remember, cross the Ts and dot the Is.

I must say the man doing the checking was befuddled with the scope of paperwork in front of him and I have every sympathy. I asked his name and was unusually patient and pleasant as he bound up our paperwork. My sympathy grew as the next person he dealt with was a very loud and very angry Australian man pointing at pieces of paper and protesting at the rigorous process he was being forced to follow. We trudged off out into London crest-fallen but wiser for the experience.

I returned alone a week later and asked for Eric by name, and a little 'yes sir, no sir' went a long way. Our correctly sized paperwork, original documentation and a very detailed itinerary, did the trick and he smiled and stamped each and every document, bundled them up and gave me three receipts.

He then explained the current regulations, in full, and why my wife's visa duration was significantly shorter. he then outlined the costs in detail and the proceedure for collection. I smiled and nodded in a way I hoped indicated I understood his every word, in reality I just kept hearing 'your visas will now be processed'. Oddly there were different Australians applying for visas on this occasion, and they too were shouting and frustratedly forcing paperwork through tiny windows in a vain attempt to sway the decision making process. I am pretty sure it did not work for them either.

Another week later and the best part of £500 spent we collected our passports and visas and believed ourselves clever for having endured the experience. All in all we were exhausted and this was only the beginning, but it was however a good lesson in patience and how to apply for official Chinese documentation.

我们去了中国驻伦敦大使馆三次，我们试图获得这次旅行的签证。第一次办理过程中我们都确信我们准备好了所有数据，但不是容易显示详细说明文件线索，从收养中国孩子到她成为美国公民，然后取得英国公民身份的复杂性。我们不仅要拿出我们现有的护照，而且还要拿出我们以前的护照和以前的签证，我们的女儿以前的护照和她原来的中国护照。收养的文件，原本和副本都需要，我们栽了，因为一些文件不是A4，而是美国文件的大小。这加上收养证书不是一个原版，我们的行程没有被充分证明，也使我们不得不进行另一个旅程。

我们必须确定每个细节我们都注意到了

我必须说，做检查的人与他面前的文件的范围混淆了，我有同感。当他绑定我们的文件时，我问了他的名字，并且异常耐心和愉快。我逐渐同情他，因为他处理的下一个人，是一个说话非常大声且非常愤怒的澳大利亚人，他指着纸张并在严格的过程中抗议他被迫遵循。我们闯入了伦敦的山峰，但是对于这种经历更为聪明。

我一个星期后独自回来，并用Eric的名字问他大有帮助，有一点'是的,先生，没有,先生'。我们正确大小的文件，原始文件和一个非常详细的行程，获得成功，他微笑和再每一个文件盖了章，捆绑起来，给了我三份收据。

然后，他解释了全部当前的规定，为什么我的妻子的签证时间明显短了些。 他然后概述了详细的成本和收集的程序。 我微笑着点点头，希望表示我明白他的每一个字，实际上我只是不断听到“你的签证将被处理”。奇怪的是，有不同的澳大利亚人在这个时候申请签证，他们也大喊和沮丧地将文件推进通过微小的窗户，试图摆脱决策过程。 我很确定它对他们也不起作用。

另一个星期后，最好的部分是花了500英镑来收集我们的护照和签证，并相信我们能够体验这些经验。总而言之，我们精疲力尽，这只是开始，但它是一个很好的教训，耐心和如何申请官方中文文件。