the paper trail.

There is a line that runs out the doors of the Oficina Civil.....pockets of people congregate on the sidewalk in front....some people are quietly waiting.....most are boisterously talking.....some are yelling.....and some are throwing up their hands in the air and are walking away. The Oficina Civil. This is where you petition for a certified copy of your birth certificate; declare your children when they are born (some children actually reach adulthood without ever being declared); get married. Miguel and I were legally married in this lovely green building. You need certified and legalized (a whole other process of sending the paperwork to Santo Domingo to be legalized) copies of birth and marriage certificates to get an ID card, passport, apply for a visa, enroll in school, get a driver's lisence, etc. But the thing is that when each of these legal documents are petitioned for and deposited you never see the original paperwork again and you have to start all over from scratch with each new application.

Strategically I start to wade through the packed building.....for most, they will spend their entire morning and afternoon in this building petitioning for their documents and hopefully leaving with a little yellow receipt telling them when to come back and retrieve their document. I reach the information desk but I'm still about 5 people deep from the front of the line. People are yelling, arguing, cursing....just trying to get noticed by someone behind the glass pane. I try to catch the eye of a contact I have on the inside. (You quickly learn to make contacts...sometimes you need to give away a coke or sweet to get attended in a decent amount of time). Finally, Alex hears me calling his name. I quickly scoot to the front of the line and he takes my request. The fans are few and far between, the people are packed shoulder to shoulder, people wipe the sweat from their brows, vendors somehow squeeze their way in selling fried foods and juice. If you do manage to get a receipt the whole process is repeated when you pick up your documents. If you don't return on the scheduled day that is printed on your receipt, you risk the people behind the glass panes throwing your document away. But at the same time if you do come on the due date, its usually not ready. It takes persistance, money, time, and determination to be legal in this country. No wonder, most people don't even bother.

Migracion in the capital, Santo Domingo, where I needed to do my residency paperwork was no different....except for the fact that the lines start at 6 in the morning and Miguel and I had to hop a bus from Puerto Plata at 3 in the morning. I've made up my mind that the only way to wade through the lines is by trying to find humor in the situation....if you don't you'll end up in a frustrated state. In one line that I was in, lawyers openly strategized on how they could get up to the front of the line. For the pregnant lady it was easy, you just automatically walk to the front of the line and say you're pregnant and that it would be a detriment to you and your baby's health if you had to wait at the back of the line. Some people stategically tried to confuse the army guards into asking the supervisor to deal with the "confused" person before they actually made them crazy with all the questions they don't know the answers to. Yeah, I too was a little confused with that one. One woman lawyer pushed passed the guard and walked straight into the supervisor's office, stuck her hand on the guy's shoulder, and shoved the papers in his face. He attended her right then and there. So you see...many strategies do actually work. Its clear you have to have a strategy or know someone who does because posted on the walls of the building are signs saying that no money gifts would be accepted to get what you need. My stategy was persistence and a happy face.....most times you'll end up getting rewarded by a friendly official.

So, all of that to say.... the last of my paperwork is supposedly deposited for my Dominican residency. The only snatch we have had is that yesterday we found out that the laws have changed and we need another legalized, notarized, document from Miguel on my behalf. We have less than a week to get that done and submitted before my legalized police record certificate expires.....its good for only 1 month and our month is up on the 23rd.