Looks like I may have more time to pack and spend time with friends & family. It appears that some technical glitch at the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry is preventing me from getting my VISA in time for my flight on Saturday. Since I had been warned by my friends’ own VISA horror stories, I submitted all my paper work about 2 months ago and was told that I was giving them more than enough time, since it usually takes only 30 days.
The Fulbright Commission in Bulgaria “hopes” that it will be approved by next week so I can fly in for the 2nd week of FISI/orientation (aka. Fulbright International Summer Institute). So now I need to figure out how to change my flight and how much it will cost to do that. Hopefully not too much. Even so I don’t know if I’ll definitely have it by next week – which means I cannot even change my flight or I’ll need to pay to change it multiple times.
What I don’t understand is why I shouldn’t just be able to fly to Bulgaria anyway and get the VISA when I arrive. The Long-stay VISA is only for individuals who stay for over 90 days anyway. So technically I can legally fly to Bulgaria and stay there for up to 90 days. No problem, right?
FML . . . .guess I’ll have more time to figure out a place to live now too.