Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The
last four weeks we decided to retake every possible examination about to expire (our background check dated January and medical examination march or April), and there was some changes (related to decisions and price as well) in both cases.
Background check in Venezuela was pretty much plain the first time. All we needed to do was request to the ministry of justice our records. The request had to be made during morning hours (between 8PM to 10PM) any working day. The difference this time was, now we needed to take a number to be served and just the top 20 from the line were the ones to lodge the request.... Silly, uh?
Medical examination was also different, partially because we wanted to have another panel doctor instead the previous (which we didn’t liked at all), also there was a substantial fee difference. The first time we had to pay US$ 490.00 (sort of) and now US$ 750.00 (quite a difference, uh!!?). Thanks god, everything went as it should and our documents got to the HOC without incidents.
The magical question, why did we took every examination again?
The answer has two parts; first, we didn’t want to have a tight deadline to get the visa activation. Rush often comes with mistakes and we don’t want and can’t afford mistakes. And second, is recommended to send new documents before expiration, otherwise your case officer could put your case on hold and send a formal request for new examination, which is translated into time wasted.
last four weeks we decided to retake every possible examination about to expire (our background check dated January and medical examination march or April), and there was some changes (related to decisions and price as well) in both cases.Background check in Venezuela was pretty much plain the first time. All we needed to do was request to the ministry of justice our records. The request had to be made during morning hours (between 8PM to 10PM) any working day. The difference this time was, now we needed to take a number to be served and just the top 20 from the line were the ones to lodge the request.... Silly, uh?
Medical examination was also different, partially because we wanted to have another panel doctor instead the previous (which we didn’t liked at all), also there was a substantial fee difference. The first time we had to pay US$ 490.00 (sort of) and now US$ 750.00 (quite a difference, uh!!?). Thanks god, everything went as it should and our documents got to the HOC without incidents.The magical question, why did we took every examination again?
The answer has two parts; first, we didn’t want to have a tight deadline to get the visa activation. Rush often comes with mistakes and we don’t want and can’t afford mistakes. And second, is recommended to send new documents before expiration, otherwise your case officer could put your case on hold and send a formal request for new examination, which is translated into time wasted.
Monday, December 31, 2007
I
got a story about something happened to my wife and I the December 24, between 12:00PM and 2:00PM in “Plaza Venezuela” station of “Metro de Caracas” subway…
My wife and I were coming back home from last minute shopping when, all of the sudden a man engaged us asking
I was kind of stunt and amazed because of the question, especially here in Venezuela, the people isn’t prepare to speak English at all and it is weird that at a public place a lonely man look for assistance... I said “yes?” more questioning than answering.
“Thanks god! First merry xmas, I am from Brooklyn and I really really sorry to bother you. I am in a rush; I was robbed and dumped in Altamira a moment ago…” (4 stations from where we were) “… I need some directions and some money to get to the embassy or going back to the hotel in Puerto Cabello…”
“Police?? Oh yeah, sad story… when I got there and tried to tell ‘em I was rob, then entire police dept started laughing… turn their head back pointing at me, and laughing even more… pretty much depressing, uh?... Seriously, I wanted to study a little bit more your culture because I am a professor... Sociologist as the matter of fact, but I don’t want to stay here any longer, just want to go home; if god let me I will be having Christmas in new York tonight… I asked for assistance in the street and what I got was a ‘go home Yankee… a cab to Valle Arriba (where the embassy is) cost Bs. 25,000 to 35,000’ but then the people vanished and I got in the sub as a cheaper way to get to the U.S. embassy…”
I watched at the same moment my wallet… just Bs. 30,000 in there ($15 bucks), so pulled out Bs. 25,000 (odd $12 bucks) and gave it to him saying…
“What you need to do is go back to Altamira, where the Caracas’ Palace Hotel is… Ask in the lobby for assistance, in order to get a cab, DO NOT TAKE ANY CAB BECAUSE THEY ARE AS DANGEROUS AS THE ROBBERS… ” (Sad thing, Venezuelan taxi cabs take advantage of foreign visitors, stealing their money, bags, suitcase, etc…) “… ask the receptionist for help too, you need to get to the embassy as soon as possible. I am really sorry for the inconvenience you had suffer…”.
“Do not apologize because of what happened… I was staying in Puerto Cabello for the last days and I can tell you, I was in a paradise, I shouldn’t have come to Caracas but I wanted to study the behavior of your city… Plus, you are the only couple who are willing to help, thank you very much for everything and thank god for put you two in my unfortunate today path.”
got a story about something happened to my wife and I the December 24, between 12:00PM and 2:00PM in “Plaza Venezuela” station of “Metro de Caracas” subway…
My wife and I were coming back home from last minute shopping when, all of the sudden a man engaged us asking“Hi, do you speak English?”
I was kind of stunt and amazed because of the question, especially here in Venezuela, the people isn’t prepare to speak English at all and it is weird that at a public place a lonely man look for assistance... I said “yes?” more questioning than answering.
The guy told me back:
“Thanks god! First merry xmas, I am from Brooklyn and I really really sorry to bother you. I am in a rush; I was robbed and dumped in Altamira a moment ago…” (4 stations from where we were) “… I need some directions and some money to get to the embassy or going back to the hotel in Puerto Cabello…”There was nothing more to say or to hear, I knew at that very moment that no one can fake the new Yorker accent and isn’t weird that the personal security in Venezuela is pretty much damaged. So I asked him what could I do to help him, if he needed money, how much does he needed and if he already tried to go to a police station… He’s answer was:
“Police?? Oh yeah, sad story… when I got there and tried to tell ‘em I was rob, then entire police dept started laughing… turn their head back pointing at me, and laughing even more… pretty much depressing, uh?... Seriously, I wanted to study a little bit more your culture because I am a professor... Sociologist as the matter of fact, but I don’t want to stay here any longer, just want to go home; if god let me I will be having Christmas in new York tonight… I asked for assistance in the street and what I got was a ‘go home Yankee… a cab to Valle Arriba (where the embassy is) cost Bs. 25,000 to 35,000’ but then the people vanished and I got in the sub as a cheaper way to get to the U.S. embassy…”I watched at the same moment my wallet… just Bs. 30,000 in there ($15 bucks), so pulled out Bs. 25,000 (odd $12 bucks) and gave it to him saying…
“What you need to do is go back to Altamira, where the Caracas’ Palace Hotel is… Ask in the lobby for assistance, in order to get a cab, DO NOT TAKE ANY CAB BECAUSE THEY ARE AS DANGEROUS AS THE ROBBERS… ” (Sad thing, Venezuelan taxi cabs take advantage of foreign visitors, stealing their money, bags, suitcase, etc…) “… ask the receptionist for help too, you need to get to the embassy as soon as possible. I am really sorry for the inconvenience you had suffer…”.He looked my wife and I and told us with a grateful smile:
“Do not apologize because of what happened… I was staying in Puerto Cabello for the last days and I can tell you, I was in a paradise, I shouldn’t have come to Caracas but I wanted to study the behavior of your city… Plus, you are the only couple who are willing to help, thank you very much for everything and thank god for put you two in my unfortunate today path.”We saw him jump in the next train and comeback to Altamira station… After a few minutes my wife and I were terrified, 
why didn’t we help him more? We should have call the taxi cab instead and send him straight to the U.S Embassy… Once home we wanted to call the embassy to know some status of the man odyssey, but realized we didn’t had any name, just the look-like description and the brief information, sent an e-mail asking for his status but no info had come back…
why didn’t we help him more? We should have call the taxi cab instead and send him straight to the U.S Embassy… Once home we wanted to call the embassy to know some status of the man odyssey, but realized we didn’t had any name, just the look-like description and the brief information, sent an e-mail asking for his status but no info had come back…This story could give you one series of reasons, why we want to migrate… Dangerous city, poor police effectiveness, poor security… And the list goes on and on…
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