Chapter 3-1
641 Words
Chapter 3
Harry had thought making a trip to the consulate in Los Angeles would be a brief formality. Aldo had advised him not only to make sure his US passport was current — with at least a year left until expiration — but also to obtain his Kenyan visa in advance. The alternative would be to wait in a long line on arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, pay the ninety-day tourist-visa fee in cash, then wait another hour or more for his digital photo and fingerprints to be taken and duly recorded. Aldo warned that putting up with this bureaucratic process after a long, transcontinental flight would be needlessly wearying at the arrival time in the middle of the night. And the subsequent long ride from the airport to the arrival hotel in downtown Nairobi would be wearying enough.
The consulate was on the second floor of a low-rise office building in the Wilshire district that also housed the South Korean Business Liaison Office, as though all foreign interests starting with the letter K had been assigned to that location. The Kenyan office was modest and clean, with four guest chairs in a narrow waiting room, facing a Plexiglas security window, no receptionist, and an intercom to summon the officer on duty. A smiling portrait of the current President, Uhuru Kenyatta, hung on the wall. Harry would later spot the same photo in every business he entered in Kenya.
After Harry buzzed to announce himself on the intercom, a female voice advised him to have a seat. After about ten minutes, an attractive young woman in business attire appeared at the window, let him in, and showed him into her tiny office. She invited him to sit and introduced herself as Ruth Ngigi, cultural attaché. She gave him an application form and a pen, explaining that he had the option of applying for a ninety-day tourist visa or a multiple-entry visa, available for an extra fee.
“And why would I want that?”
“If you’re on business, you may need to come and go. If you simply plan a vacation and won’t be coming and going, there is no need. But I should advise you that, if for any reason you decide to leave the East African Union — for a home emergency, say — you will require a reentry visa. Suppose you plan to stay past the initial ninety days of the tourist visa. In that case, you will need to either renew by visiting Immigration in Nairobi or be required to temporarily leave the East African Union, paying for a new tourist visa on your return. So, you see, arranging for a multiple-entry visa now preserves your options at modest additional expense.”
Harry would learn that, given Kenyan protocols, paying the required fees online was easy enough, but obtaining a valid stamp from a breathing human bureaucrat would always need a major physical effort.
He decided to take her advice and paid the fee for the upgraded permit. She accepted it with a smile, took his signed application, then informed him that his application and his US passport would have to be forwarded to Nairobi for processing. He could return in two weeks to pick up his passport, stamped and signed with the visa authorization.
“You’re sending my passport to Africa?” he asked incredulously.
She nodded. “By diplomatic pouch. I assure you, it’s quite safe.”
“Is there no one here who can use a stamp? I mean, this seems incredibly inefficient.”
“Unfortunately, such authority is not vested in this office.” Her smile persisted. “We are authorized only to receive applications and payments. You can understand, these regulations and procedures apply to all countries, not just the United States. And these days the sensitivities are quite high.”
It didn’t occur to him at the time, but the phrase about sensitivities would pop into his mind from time to time in the course of his adventures.
- Writer
