Respite from uncertainty (and Migración Colombia's online system!) with residency

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

So after more than 12 years of having Colombia as my main base and ten years of various work visas, I've finally managed to get residency.

'Relax, you've got residency now.'

Truth be told, since securing a two-year M visa as an independent worker in 2022, residency wasn't a major priority.

Revel in residency

An M visa puts one on the road to residency. For most who have such a visa for work reasons, that road is a five-year one i.e. after five years of consecutive M visas — no breaks allowed — one can then apply for residency.

Thus, getting back on an M visa after the weaker V visa (effectively a tourist with official permission to do certain work) I had from 2020 to 2022 meant I was rather relaxed about my situation compared to the more troubling visa-application times in 2020 and 2021 (for some background on all that, see Colombia's tough love).

Nonetheless, the M visa I had was due to expire in November this year, so I was facing into another nervy renewal process — one just never knows. (After being granted — largely hassle-free — four year-long visas as an independent worker from 2014 to 2018, the process then got more complicated, as I explained in Colombia's independent work visa: ¿Vale la pena?)

Now, though, with my R visa approved — that's R for residency, in case you're not following — a nervy November is less likely. (I'm sure there'll be something else I'll be nervous or worried about, it's just unlikely it'll be visa-related.)

The biggest benefit of such a visa, as I see it at this stage in any case — no, it's not that I can now vote in local elections — is that I can leave Colombia for up to two years with no change to my legal status. It might seem strange that I'm highlighting this as a positive after just getting residency but I'm referring to the flexibility/freedom it offers. An M visa, in contrast, is invalidated if one is out of Colombia for more than 180 days.

'I wonder if Migración Colombia is cursed. It did, after all, come into being on Halloween 2011.'

Linked to this, I've always had this concern — justified or otherwise — about having difficulties with my bank if I no longer have a valid Foreigner Identification Card, cédula de extranjería. It was with my cédula de extranjería that I opened my current Colombian bank account and they can be quite bureaucratic here about such matters. 'Oh, the ID you have linked to this account is out of date. We can't let you access your funds so.'

Flawed system

Bureaucracy and the cédula de extranjería bring us on to Migración Colombia, the entity one goes to for said cédula once the visa department at La Cancillería, the Ministry for Exterior Relations, has granted a visa.

Migración Colombia is under the control of La Cancillería but at times its processes make one feel that it operates in a completely different dimension to the ministry.

In my December 2022 post, Lending Migración Colombia a helping hand, I tried to do just that, lend the body a hand, by highlighting some frustrating flaws in its online system. My article — surprise, surprise — didn't have the desired effect.

The same blind spots I mentioned back then are still present. Or not present, as it is.

Now, though, in addition to the information-light email replies to users of its services, there are a couple of more headaches — for those dealing with the Bogotá office in any case.

That all in-person procedures, bar picking up a new cédula when it's ready, must first be booked online isn't a major deal in itself. It beats, in theory, waiting in line physically. For the Bogotá office, due to demand I surmise, the window to book appointments opens at 5 pm on Sundays and, by all accounts, closes in a matter of hours.

One is thus advised to be ready to enter the booking system as soon as the clock strikes five. The thing is, it seems the system just can't cope.

System overload.

On the two occasions I had to use it over the last few weeks, the first couple of hours I spent simply trying to enter the website were largely a waste of time. At times it did feel like progress was being made, I'd pass an initial step or two but then the system would crash and I'd have to start all over again.

For fear of missing out on reserving an appointment, especially for registering my R visa and with it applying/paying for a new cédula to reflect my changed circumstances, something that has to be done within 15 calendar days of getting a visa, I didn't take a break from trying to enter the system.

On reflection, it seems that one would be better off waiting until 7 pm. It was only after that time that I started to make progress. Yet, as mentioned, there's the fear of entering the system too late. 'Sorry, all appointments have been booked out for this week.' There is probably a sweet spot timewise, I'm just not sure where it is.

The Cursed

And now, having completed the process, I don't really care. As things stand, I won't have to deal with Migración again, in this sort of way that is, until May 2029. Who knows what my circumstances will be then?

Therein lies another benefit of my R visa: not having to use Migración Colombia's online system for years to come. I'm fairly sure it's already taken, if not quite years, certainly months off my life.

Even what had previously been a rather simple procedure, checking if my new cédula was ready, turned out to be more complicated than I remember it before. It took me a long time to find the appropriate online page. In mitigation, I was searching on my phone. Perhaps the website is more easily navigated on a PC or laptop.

I do wonder, though, if Migración Colombia is cursed. Or better said, it puts a curse on those who use its services. It did, after all, come into being on Halloween 2011. Certainly, all the drama I've had with it has been akin to some slapstick horror show.

Migración Colombia: A Nightmare on Bogotá's 100th Street (Calle 100). Box office potential that.
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Christmas, the one thing that arrives early in Colombia

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

Back in my largely innocent childhood days one of the most depressing times was when Christmas came to an end. In fact, the painful comedown started to kick in shortly after 25 December.

Decking out the place for Christmas ... in October.

Everything was building up to the giddy excitement of early on Christmas morning, discovering all the goodies Santa had delivered — they were never in doubt, seeing how I was such a little angel all year.

Quick-fire Christmas

So, while the afterglow lasted for a period, the sad realisation that I'd have to wait another year for Mr Claus' arrival didn't take long to set in. Within a couple of days, the spectre of a return to school and 'normal' times began to play on my mind.

Now, I do recall the official — that is to say, putting up the decorations — Corrigan run-in to Christmas being fairly short. 

Amongst my village friends, our household would invariably be one of the last to be decked out. It wasn't unusual for some frantic decorating to still be happening on the 24th. 'Time enough for it', was the thinking, I guess. I'm pretty sure if it was left to my father, decorations wouldn't go up at all.

At the height of the Celtic Tiger years as Ireland embraced US-style flashiness, or superficiality you might say, and as I moved on from Santa, it pretty much became unacceptable for any respected family not to have their house 'Christmas ready' by mid-December. (At about the same time, again mimicking our Yankee cousins, Halloween decorations appeared to have become mandatory in many households.)

That being so, for what I assume is the majority of Irish people, rolling out the Christmas decorations before December is still a no-no. Five weeks of Christmas is enough, almost one-tenth of the year as it is. The fact that most radio stations hold off on playing festive tunes until at least 01 December is a sign of that.

'As a sufferer of depression, I can't help but think of her state of mind when she has to take down all these Christmas decorations, in mid-January at the earliest as it most likely will be.'

For a fair number of Colombian families, in contrast, the Yuletide yearning tends to show itself in earnest in October. While some might follow the 'let's at least get Halloween out of the way first' mantra — do note, the 'night of the dead' is a lively affair here — others have their sights set on Christmas.

Radio stations are complicit. The end-of-year hits are being banged out as soon as September ends.

In my current house share, the landlady is very much in this bring-on-Christmas brigade. For the last week, she's been, slowly but surely, kitting out the place. By the looks of things, not one inch of the house, the ground floor anyway, will be free from a festive covering.

Emotional moment

It doesn't bother me, as long as I don't have to do any of the decorating. I'm kind of indifferent to Christmas at this stage.

I do, however, slightly worry for the landlady herself. As somebody who appears to suffer from depression, I can't help but think of her state of mind when she has to take down all these decorations, in mid-January at the earliest as it most likely will be.

Of course, we all have downers after highs, it's natural. 'What goes up' and all that.

Yet, the lady of my current 'manor', considering her condition, seems to be putting herself through an unnecessary emotional high. I just hope she can manage the inevitable comedown when it's all over, when everything from the Santa dolls to the glittery balls has to be packed away.

You might say I'm being a bit of a curmudgeon, a Grinch even. I beg to differ. I like a party as much as the next person.

It's just that experience has taught me to try to not get too lost in the moment when surfing the high waves. That way, you'll generally be in a better position to manage the crash when it envelops you, you'll be able to avoid being drowned by emotions.

That's the theory, anyway. As ever, executing it in practice is usually much more difficult. At least we've covid-19 to keep us all in check this year.
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"Put the 'rucking' rugby on, ¡por favor!"

The bars/tiendas are stocking up. Replica jerseys of the competing nations are being sold on the street. There's giddy excitement in the air. Yep, Rugby World Cup 2015 is almost upon us and Colombia is gearing up for it with gusto.

OK, I might be in dreamland there. Yes, the tiendas are stocking up, but that's a never-ending process. Yes, replica jerseys are being sold on the streets, but they always are and there's not a rugby one to be found. And yes, there's giddy excitement (or is that nervousness?) in the air — in a land with so many gorgeous (flaky as some may be) women about, that's inevitable.

Ireland's talismanic leader, Paul O'Connell. (Photo from Facebook.)

Considering there isn't a Colombian link to rugby union's showcase event — not one that I know of anyway — that the tournament will pass off without registering much of a beat in these parts isn't surprising. 

There's also the fact that rugby is very much a minority sport here. It is played in some universities and elsewhere but it's generally expat-led. The vast majority of football-mad locals have no idea of what rugby is about nor, understandably enough, do they have any interest in it; indeed even those who actually play it here don't seem to get it.

Thankfully, via ESPN Latin America, the battle for the Webb Ellis trophy will be broadcast on TV in the region. The only snag is convincing my local tienda owner to put it on; a Spanish football second division match would take precedence over the likes of Ireland-France. Perhaps I can arouse the locals' curiosity sufficiently enough to get them slightly interested (and supporting Ireland, of course) in order to watch the games.

There's always the internet or an interested party's house (somebody who has a TV, that is), but it can be nice to watch these things in a bar/tienda, if you could just get people not to interrupt your viewing.

As for the competition itself, well despite the genuine effort that will come from the other nations involved (20 in total), you can be pretty certain that the winner will come from one of the top-seven ranked teams in the world. Those are, in current order; New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Wales, Ireland and France.

There are those who say you could narrow it down even further, to simply one — New Zealand. That's being a little disrespectful to the others, especially previous winners South Africa, Australia and England, but there's no doubt that the All Blacks, like always, are the team to beat.

What makes them more formidable this time around is that what had been a recurring theme for them in renewals prior to 2011 — cracking under the pressure of expectation — doesn't appear to be part of the equation this time around. Winning on home soil four years ago, their first global triumph in the professional era, has only added to their aura of invincibility.

Yet, the bookmakers aren't about to pay out on them just yet. Of the chasing pack, it could be argued that the big Northern Hemisphere sides come into this as strong as ever. And that it is being held in England and Wales, this should be a help to both those sides, as well as Ireland who go into the tournament as the best team in Europe for the past two seasons.

Formidable: the All Blacks. (Photo from Facebook.)

Indeed, expectations for the latter — although tempered somewhat by previous demoralising experiences when hopes were high as well as warm-up defeats to Wales and England which have left some doubts — are that at least a maiden semi-final can be reached. In this regard, defeating France in the pool stage and thus avoiding a potential last-eight clash with the All Blacks could be key to attaining that goal.

That brings us to the South American powerhouse in the mix, Argentina, Ireland's other possible quarter-final opponents. Los Pumas in many ways have been world rugby's breath of fresh air in recent years. While they have long been producing top-class players, it had been difficult for them to maintain consistency against the more traditional rugby-playing nations.

A lot of this was down to their geographical isolation and relatively poor organisational structures back home, meaning their most talented plied their trade miles from Argentina. 

Both drawbacks still exist but their merited inclusion in the Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri-Nations) in 2012 has seen them play Australia, New Zealand and South Africa on an annual basis.

Such tests have only helped to improve their competitiveness — note their historic first-ever win over South Africa this year. Were they to meet Ireland in the last eight, they'd certainly fancy their chances of another World Cup success against their old foes.

South America has another representative in the shape of Uruguay. Their best hope will be to keep losing margins respectable in what is the toughest pool in the tournament with England, Australia, Wales and an unpredictable Fiji expected to lead the charge, perhaps in that order.

So who can we expect to see going head-to-head in the Halloween final? Well, at this stage it would be a shock if the All Blacks weren’t there. Who will join them is a far trickier prediction. Depending on how the pools go, we could end up with an Australia-New Zealand final.

Ireland had been touted as potential finalists, but as mentioned their lead-in games have watered down such thoughts. The smarter money might be on hosts England, with fortress Twickenham giving them an extra edge, making the final cut.

But as anyone who has ever kicked a rugby ball knows, it can bounce in strange ways. Perhaps France have been saving themselves for this moment; a coup de foudre of sorts, on enemy territory? The next six weeks or so will tell a tale.
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Pimp my isle

We Irish have been, and are, called many things but ostentatious can never really be one of them. In comparison to our brethren across the pond (the bigger pond that is), we tend to be quite a reserved bunch; then again, who isn’t when viewed in such a light?

Halloween — less substance, more shabby style?

Even at the height of the Celtic Tiger when many people had more (borrowed) money than sense, we never really became too brash or cocky. 

Sure we may have built to excess but we tended to stick to the ‘less talk, more action’ mantra. Things were ‘grand’ (in Ireland that means an ordinary 'fine'); you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone use that flamboyant, quintessentially North American word ‘awesome’.

Perhaps much of this was due to the fact that deep down, even if we didn’t outwardly acknowledge it, we knew our newfound (borrowed) wealth wouldn’t last.

So now that the arse has well and truly fallen out of our ‘mighty little’ economic miracle, you would think being showy is the last thing on our minds – considering, that is, that we traditionally don’t do it, it just doesn’t sit well with us at all. Rather than things being awesome, they’re just awkward.

Yet, as the dust settles on our gluttonous years, one obvious legacy, very much in evidence over the Halloween period, is the desire for young families to pimp up their homes for various events and festivities. 

OK, one might have expected a scaling up in this regard when the country was awash with (borrowed – get it?) money, but there appears to be no sign of scaling back now that we’ve returned to our ‘normal’ financial state (hard-pressed that is).

Christmas decorating predates the boom years and it’s not something we’ve too many misgivings about, although its arrival seems to get earlier and earlier each year with an accompanying increase in the lavishness of these Yuletide manifestations.

It’s the relatively recent uptake of Halloween folderol that has us scratching our heads. 

We’ve always recognised the day, of course – in fact, it’s an Irish festival, its roots going back to pagan times on the island. But the odd costume and trick-or-treater aside, we were never too bothered about jazzing up our houses and streets with a host of Halloween paraphernalia – we left that to the Yanks, in much the same way we ‘let’ them outdo us with the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

That all seems to have changed now. Decorations are a prerequisite these days – fake spiders’ webs are hung up (while at the same time frantically sweeping away real ones), figures of witches and skeletons put on display and pumpkins are ‘planted’ in every corner of the house.

Decommissioned. 

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with such practices – you could argue that they bring some lesser-spotted cheer to surroundings in these hard-pressed, almost gloomy times (the current state of play being far spookier than any contrived Halloween scare). 

However, when you’re preaching poverty to strait-laced neighbours who happen to be paying your way, being a bit flashy doesn’t send out the right signals, does it? 

It’s a bit like the struggling parents, who apparently never have money for anything, hiring a private photographer when it comes to their little Johnny’s or Mary’s Communion Day. Well come on, they couldn’t be expected to share the one laid on for the group or, whisper it, take their own amateur photos on such a momentous day.

Back to Halloween, how about returning to some of our more, um, traditional, simpler customs? 

The innocent days of kicking some old man’s hard-saved cabbage, launching fireworks and mild explosives at legitimate targets and subsequently getting chased by An Garda Síochána (the Irish police) appear lost in the past. Solid substance has been replaced by shallow style.

Come on guys, you know this showiness doesn’t suit us. It’s not always best practice to slavishly follow Mr and Mrs Jones.