The ugly side of northern Iraq - Kurdistan Visa office

The Tiziano Project team has been busy preparing for our classes, which start next week. We've met with lots of officials, decorated our new digs with key purchases from the bazaar, and I even cooked a mean risotto last night to make up for all that felafel we've been surviving on. But one thing hasn't been going so well for us: Trying to get a three month visa for Kurdistan.

Let me say first, for being in Iraq, they really have their stuff together here. But the visa office is one place that still looks and functions like a war zone. A dirty amalgamation of tin shacks, shipping containers and horribly crowded and disorganized offices inside three floors of an un-airconditioned building... welcome to Iraq. Most of the officials speak very little English and each office, while technically numbered, may not actually be numbered, or numbered in arabic, or not numbered in order, or instead labeled something nonsensical like "Come in. Out Go."

Since I wasn't allowed to take any pictures, I went old school and drew a series of diagrams for what the typical process is for getting a one-month or three month visa. So far, after three days, we've only managed one month.






This story is obviously to be continued. Luckily the blood tests are good for six months!