I'm officially (albeit temporarily) an immigrant!

 Today, I finally got my immigration paperwork completed here in Panama.  

• Here's the post about the pre-departure paperwork and all that it involved.
• Here's the post about my post-departure paperwork and my first immigration appointment in Panama.  (I did not realize it was the first of two until very recently, in fact!)

Both of these first two steps were a bit confusing beforehand.  I felt pretty sheepish for having so much difficulty figuring out exactly what to do until another Fulbrighter --- one arriving a few months after I did --- started emailing me with questions.  Many of these were the same questions I had had!  So I figure that explaining this process as it happened to me might be helpful to other people in our situation, and it's also (if you like this kind of thing) an interesting saga of how bureaucracy unfolds in this particular corner of the world. 

Notification of the appointment

As I mentioned above, I didn't actually realize that picking up my paperwork would involve an in-person appointment, but last Friday, I got an email from Beatrice (not her real name), the Embassy rep who's helping us with the immigration paperwork saying

"Following up on your temporary permit requets, I had a call today with the immigration assistant, and she ask me to wait until tomorrow for them to confirm what day of next week your notifications can be schedule.

As soon as I have the appointment date assigned, I’ll let you know."

Okay, so I guess I'm going to have an appointment at . . . some time . . . next week.  Good to know!  Fortunately, my itinerary is mostly "write my book", which means I can be pretty flexible.  The next Monday morning, I got the following WhatsApp message from Beatrice: 

"Just to let you know I received confirmation this morning to have your notification appointment for tomorrow!

I’m sending an email.🙏"

So I waited for an email, and waited, and then I sent a whatsapp saying, "I haven’t gotten an email yet: if you thought you sent it, could you check the address and send it again?", and then I waited, and then I sent a what'sapp asking when and where the appointment would be . . . and then late on Monday I got an email saying the appointment would be Tuesday at 10:30, in the same place as our earlier appointment (that is, "at the Immigration Office in Tramites Especiales section, 2^nd floor. (The same place we met last time to leave your documents)"

Beatrice was being extra specific, because for the first meeting I initially went to the wrong building.  I appreciated the extra specificity!

How the appointment went

10:08 a.m.: I arrive at the correct place early, and whatsapp Beatrice to let her know I've arrived and I'm waiting outside.  I didn't get a response: is she coming, or am I supposed to go in by myself?

10:30 a.m.: I whatsapp Beatrice to say I'm going inside, but the guard stops me and says I can't enter about paperwork, which I don't have, so I go back outside to wait for her.

10:35 a.m: Beatrice shows up she goes with me to stand in line to get a ticket, which looks a little bit like a deli counter ticket with a number, and this allows us to go upstairs there. 

Permission to go upstairs.

There, we meet up with Brianna, another Fulbrighter who (like me) is hoping to get her paperwork returned.  The reason we're both so anxious is that during this limbo time between starting the immigration process and finishing it, leaving and returning to the country is prohibited:  it's apparently a $500 fine.  Both of us have travel coming soon, and we want to see family (her) and go to math meetings (me).  

We wait in the waiting area while Beatrice chats with the same Woman At the Desk from my previos appointment.

11:10 a.m.: I get my page of paperwork, which is on a legal-sized piece of paper (8.5 x 14"). There's a stamp and a signature on the back. I signed both the front and the back. I think I'm supposed to keep this giant piece of paper with my passport.  Beatrice takes photographs of it, just to be safe.   A little while later, Brianna receives hers, too.

11:25 a.m: The three of us go to the basement to take photographs. A guard checks our documents before admitting us into the waiting room where, well …, we wait.

11:33 a.m.: The photographer called me to his cubicle.  He took several photographs of me digitally, also digitally took my fingerprints, and had me digitally sign a blank screen.  He carefully checked all of the numbers and names and such on my papers to make sure everything matched what was in his computer.

At 11:40 a.m.: The photographer sent me back to the waiting room, keeping my passport and all my papers.

11:45 a.m: We were called to a different desk, where the clerks were entering the information from our paperwork by hand into a logbook. (This strange combination of digital and paper continues to strike me.) I then signed the logbook, next to where my numbers were entered.

11:47 a.m.: We got back our passports, the immigration documents on the legal size paper, and also little ID cards, kind of like drivers licenses. Here they are called "carnets"

11:50a.m.: We're done, and Beatrice called the embassy driver to come pick us up.

noon:  The driver arrives, and Beatrice gives me a ride to the embassy.  From there, I take a bus to the Ciudad del Saber, where I make copies of all my documents. I'm going to leave the originals in a safe place and carry the photocopies with me.

So now I'm a temporary resident.

I have to give my paperwork back to the Embassy when I leave Panama in May.  I don't know what happens if I don't give it back, but I am going to keep following the rules as best I can.  

I know quite a few non-Panamanians who are here for very, very long times without their immigration status either temporary (like mine) or permanent.  Visitors are allowed to stay for up to 6 months; they're allowed to drive without getting a Panamanian license for the first 3 months in country.  So many of these people just schedule trips out of the country every couple of months (to Costa Rica or Colombia, which border Panama, or elsewhere to visit family or colleagues).  Some of these folks have bought houses here, so apparently driving a car is more restrictive than purchasing property!  

But as for me, I'm not planning to drive or buy a house; I'm just going to write my book and take in the sights.  It's a lot of paperwork and effort for the privilege of being here, I have to say, but now it's done!