| JSW, I loved your story it is so true to have to deal with the government even here in the USA. There is no desire for service. Although the process to replace your passport is not as nearly involved. I am trying to get computers shipped from Taipei to Shanghai and this already has become a nightmare even with the help of a multinational corporation. Was your company not able to call some boss to smooth the way for you? I found this to be very true in China. Perhaps it might help with your wife (congrats when did you actually get married? I must have missed an article). In 1993 I got married in China. I had the same experience I only had three weeks to have marriage and get everything done. Of course officials said I needed to wait get many stamps and papers etc. Then it occurred to me because this worked at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. I started to ask if I pay an extra fee can I get this faster. Jian Shuo there is no posting for these fees nothing. But everytime I said that the official said yes and what I needed was done immediately. When we went to actually get the official to issue our marriage papers I brought her flowers and we paid a special fee and she did everything in about 15 minutes which she had stated would be a month. Once I paid the fee she declared this was a special case and processed everything immediately! Stangely enough when I went to get paperwork in the USA some time later they said it would take six weeks I asked can I pay a fee to make it faster and amazing they said yes and for $20 and a fedex envelop I got it in two weeks. Governments are amazing! Try it the worst they can say is no. |
Lost My Passport of P. R. China