The Saustrup Family Blog

I just got off the phone with the Russian Consulate in Copenhagen and the Danish immigration service. Both turned out to be huge disappointments. This time around the Danes win the prize for technological ignorance and the Russians for good old fashioned inefficiency.

I previously called the Russian Consulate, and asked if they could issue the civil status paper required by the wedding office in Århus. They acknowledged this, and said that Nina had to call in and make an appointment. We thought this was a trivial matter and possible to do on a day-to-day basis. Here, optimistically one week before Nina arrives in Copenhagen, we decided to make an appointment - and in good time, we thought. I was hoping to make an appointment for April 14, and was greatly disappointed when I was told that the next available appointment was on April 24. I never saw this coming and it feels like hitting a brick wall that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

This whole wedding thing is a very delicate and tricky puzzle, and now the Russian Consulate is pushing it even further. If we can’t get an appointment before April 24, things really have to run smoothly for us to get married on May 17.

The Danish immigration service wasn’t much help either. The last report I got when I made my ceremonial Friday call to them, was that they had sent a request for information regarding Nina’s passport to the Danish Consulate in St. Petersburg on March 26. The Danish Consulate said that they had received this request and had sent a confirmed reply on April 2. According to the lady I spoke to, no reply was received in their magnificent new visa system yet. I was puzzled to hear this, and asked if information wasn’t transferred electronically inside their new system - she kept telling me that it was, but letters and faxes first had to be scanned by their reception before it appeared in the system. Wheels were turning inside my head and then it finally dawned on me:

Even though they have a brand new computer system, some information is apparently still passed around by good old fashion paper fax and as paper information it needs to be scanned before it appears in their system.

I can’t even begin to explain how stupid I think this is. It’s like refusing to use more than the first gear in your brand new red Italian sports car.

We’re hoping to get married on 3. May, but there are many pieces to this puzzle. Many dates that depend on each other, including Nina’s arrival in Denmark. Her visa hasn’t been issued yet, so we’re getting rather frustrated with the immigration office.

I think the original waiting period was initially around six weeks when she filed the application on 1. February, and this Friday we’ve been waiting for seven weeks. I’ve been calling them every Friday and all they can tell me is that they haven’t processed anything yet, and they need to send me a form which I have to fill out and return. This form can’t be sent from the immigration office, until their in-pile has reached a level where they feel they can process new forms. They can’t say anything about this level or when they might reach it. The only information I was able to squeeze form them last Friday was “two weeks is probably a little naïve” and “the waiting period is now 8-9 weeks”. Great.

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