immigrations

this morning we visited immigrations. it's been a long process trying to get residency. and we discovered that it continues to be long as there is no end in sight. When we received the new 2010 documents (in August!), a few documents were missing from the IAM corporation and legal representative in Peru, who happens to not live in Cusco. It took more than 8 weeks for us to get these missing documents.... all the while, the other ones conveniently expired. And this morning we were told that a few signatures were also missing. lovely.

Finally we were told, the process while done from Cusco, everything is send through the capital Lima, and will take 4-6 months. During this time frame we are not allowed for any reason to leave the country. This request is pretty difficult for us, especially since we already have trips planned for Dec-Jan and May-June. We were advised to go to Lima and do everything there, which takes 14 days (or 20 or 30, depending on the day of the week and if people aren't on strike or anything). So our process is yet again stalled as we have to decide, 4-6 months next year, which isn't impossible... or 30 days now, in Lima, where we don't have any connections (ie, place to stay) and the costs of traveling to and from Lima, which would require 2-3 round trips with the entire family, add up.

It can be quite frustrating having to rely on others for documents that are time-sensitive. Of course, when it's necessary for oneself, time is always of the essence, but when it's for someone else.... it's so easy to forget (or not care).

Please, pray for us, for our decisions... also to decide whether its worth getting a religous visa at all or just stick out the next several years as tourists like we've been doing already, or applying for an investor visa. That brings other challenges too (like at least 25k in a bank account for the investment)... so we're weighing our options.