Sometimes, I have a tendency towards OCD. Not the kind where I turn the light on and off, over and over again. I re-read the same email or pamphlet because I'm afraid I may have glossed over some important information. Especially lately, I re-read all the steps I need to take in order to secure a teaching position and gather all the documents for my visa. I knew that this process was going to be long and complicated. But I was confident that my organizational skills would alleviate some of the stress. Four weeks into the process, I was feeling pretty good with my progress. Until this morning.
I was looking through the visa process (the online version rather than the PDF both courtesy of my recruiters) and found out that I should have sent a letter with my FBI Criminal Background Check to request for an Apostille. Apparently, some states will not Apostille an FBI CBC. Even if they do, you may face problems with the immigration office because it's not from the FBI (thank you fellow bloggers for this information). The FBI instruction doesn't even mention anything about Apostille, expect in the FAQ section. A search to find a phone number or an email address to the department that handles CBC has yet to yield any results.
So, what is a girl to do? Send yet another request to the FBI and re-start the clock. Luckily, I'm sending a State Criminal Record as my placeholder with my application to buy a little extra time. But this was a valuable lesson and I learned three things: 1) My OCD tendency can be a blessing, 2) Patience is absolutely necessary in this process, and 3) Huddles are just huddles, a minor nuisance in a long journey ahead.
