In long:
I live in Boston. Over the summer, I had a job in Boston. I applied to JET, however, through Toronto. This is because I am Canadian and was going to school at the University of Toronto - any application to participate in JET must be made in the country of your citizenship. When accepted into JET, you must depart for Japan from the city that you applied through. So for me, that means I must go to Japan from Toronto. So far so good? This is where it gets complicated.
You cannot, obviously, work in a country without permission from the government. So to work on the JET program, I need a work visa for Japan. In order to get the work visa, you need to submit your passport to the Japanese embassy or consulate-general. JET, however, has a policy that ordinarily you are supposed to give your passport to the JET coordinator from the city that you applied through. This is supposed to happen something like a month and a half before we leave for Japan. For me, because I applied through Toronto, that means that I should have given my passport to the JET coordinator from Toronto sometime back in June. She then would have taken care of the work visa. Everyone gets their passport back at the same time, the day before we leave for Japan.
That's the ordinary procedure. But I'm not normal. Oh no, I'm not. See, I live in Boston. I have a US Permanent Resident Card. I have to be there. Not to mention that, since we don't get paid in Japan until the end of the month, I need to make enough money to pay for my first month in Japan. Maybe you don't see the problem. Let me highlight it: the border crossing. If I'm going to give my passport to the JET coordinator in Toronto and not get it back until the day before I leave to Japan from Toronto, how am I going to get into Toronto from Boston? I need my passport to cross the border.
So after a great deal of discussion, the JET coordinator and I decided that I would come up to Toronto one week before the departure date and hand my passport in then. There would be, I was assured, enough time. And there should have been, if my passport didn't go through the washing machine the day before I was supposed to go to Toronto.
Naturally, my first reaction was "OH CRAP." I thought I had essentially lost the use of my passport altogether. So I called the Consulate-General of Canada, but got no response. I waited half an hour for a call back, then rushed down (it still took an hour in the 96 degree heat) to see them in person. They told me it would take 3-5 business days to get a new passport and that there's no way I could use my old one in the shape it was in. My first reaction recurred. I asked to see an immigration officer. They said she was out to lunch so I'd have to wait another hour, blah blah. I waited the hour and spoke with the officer, which is when things started to finally turn around.
The immigration officer told me that, if I could get on the plane to Toronto, then I could get a new passport in 24 hours. The key would be to get into Toronto. Otherwise it would take 1-3 business days, which was too long. So I took the forms she said I would need and rushed over to my mum's office (another hour trek in the 96 degree heat) to find the phone number for Air Canada and call them. I was lucky. You see, my passport was still readable and the pages weren't falling out. That meant that, even though it was beaten to hell and back, I could still probably board the airplane. If all else failed, I could back it up with my US Permanent Resident Card. Yay Air Canada!
Night fell and a flurry of packing began. I finally finished at nearly 3:30 AM and promptly went to sleep, only to wake up a hearty four hours later to board my plane. Boarding went smoothly (minus a few chuckles at the state of my passport). I arrived in Toronto at 12:30 and took a taxi directly to Passport Canada. All would go smoothly. I threw 80+ pounds of luggage on my back and went upstairs... only to find that I needed to find a notary to sign my documents and get my photos retaken. Apparently Walgreens, in its infinite wisdom, forgot to date the back of my photos.
Running out of time (and breath), because I needed the passport by Monday if I was to get my work visa, I luckily found a notary only three blocks away. They signed their lives away and directed me to a photo place a block away, to which I promptly rushed. Took the photo, and I ran (sort of... it's hard to run with 80 lbs of luggage all about your person) back to Passport Canada. I made it with a pleasant hour to spare. They gave me a number, I sat down, and in half an hour everything was sorted.
That night I went to sleep, a happy, exhausted man, at a much more reasonable 8:30 PM. I don't think the Sun had even set yet.
I considered not posting this blog until tomorrow, as I haven't actually received my passport back yet. But I cannot possibly foresee any further problems. I've already used up my quota of bad luck for the week. *Knocks on wood*
Yeah, it's been a fun few days.
~Jeffles
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