The longest-running source of stress for this trip to Copenhagen has been my attempt to get legal status to be here for the full amount of time that I want to be. Early on I chose to apply for a four month scholarship to study here. Our quarter at UW is only three months, but my thinking was that spending a month travelling around Europe, a continent I had never visited, would be at least as educational as anything else on my trip. I'd also like to be able to spend a full three months working on my research. However, as an American citizen the period I am privileged to travel in Europe without a visa is 90 days.
So I began my quest to secure a longer term visa. At first this involved searching for ways to be admitted temporarily into a masters program in Copenhagen, and then applying for a student visa. This proved to be a dead end. The PR3 internship visa appeared to be the next most likely outcome. You need an organization who will agree to take some responsibility for you as an intern. I emailed every contact I had made and a bunch of folks I didn't know, in a somewhat transparently-desperate attempt to find someone who would sign off on my papers.
Through a connection via a classmate via their contact at Aalborg University via a researcher at the Copenhagen branch campus of Aalborg I was offered the opportunity to be a "guest researcher", which mean they could sign off on the paperwork for my government visa.
Still, it was at least a three-month process to get the visa. I traveled to San Francisco at the earliest date I could get an appointment, which was, conveniently, just after Spring quarter came to an end. I submitted my documents and had my finger prints and facial scan taken to be included in a microchip in a visa stamp I would ultimately receive. My passport was mailed to New York, but was returned to me a week later. The visa would be mailed to me eventually too. The timeline was too short, but I planned on arriving in Denmark as a tourist, then getting my visa sent to me there.
So I arrived in August. My landing in Europe was in Frankfurt, Germany. The Germans, I have since learned, are well-known for being assholes about border-security, and the refugee situation has made it all worse. I didn't have a visa yet, but I was planning on staying in Europe for four months. The Germans did not like this. Compounding matters I realized what documents I did have were in my checked bag, and that without 3G coverage I wasn't able to look anything up on my phone. Obviously I should have had all my documents printed and on my person. It was one last act of self-sabotage that nearly derailed the whole trip.
About an hour and one minor panic attack later the German customs enforcement decided to let me go, probably on account of my being a harmless white boy from the USA. I mentally prepared myself to go through the whole thing again after catching the next flight to Denmark (I missed my connection but was able to get rescheduled for free). But of course, I was already in Europe, or to be more specific, the Schengen zone, and I just walked right out of the gate.
So, what is the Schengen zone?
The Schengen Zone is the visa-free travel area of Europe. Citizens of Schengen countries are able to travel and live in any country within the zone, which is mostly contiguous with the European Union. Notably, the UK and Ireland are not part of the zone despite being part of the EU, and Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are in it despite not being EU members.
I get 90 days within this zone, which is fine and dandy. Once you are in, no one is supposed to check your passport or give you grief. Since the refugee crisis has gotten worse, I have heard that this is increasingly not the case, especially in certain hyper-sensitive countries like Germany and Hungary. Still, once I'd gotten past the Germans in Frankfurt, I was in. No one gave me so much as a second look after I landed in Copenhagen.
So I began my quest to secure a longer term visa. At first this involved searching for ways to be admitted temporarily into a masters program in Copenhagen, and then applying for a student visa. This proved to be a dead end. The PR3 internship visa appeared to be the next most likely outcome. You need an organization who will agree to take some responsibility for you as an intern. I emailed every contact I had made and a bunch of folks I didn't know, in a somewhat transparently-desperate attempt to find someone who would sign off on my papers.
Through a connection via a classmate via their contact at Aalborg University via a researcher at the Copenhagen branch campus of Aalborg I was offered the opportunity to be a "guest researcher", which mean they could sign off on the paperwork for my government visa.
Still, it was at least a three-month process to get the visa. I traveled to San Francisco at the earliest date I could get an appointment, which was, conveniently, just after Spring quarter came to an end. I submitted my documents and had my finger prints and facial scan taken to be included in a microchip in a visa stamp I would ultimately receive. My passport was mailed to New York, but was returned to me a week later. The visa would be mailed to me eventually too. The timeline was too short, but I planned on arriving in Denmark as a tourist, then getting my visa sent to me there. |
| It was fun to visit SF at least |
About an hour and one minor panic attack later the German customs enforcement decided to let me go, probably on account of my being a harmless white boy from the USA. I mentally prepared myself to go through the whole thing again after catching the next flight to Denmark (I missed my connection but was able to get rescheduled for free). But of course, I was already in Europe, or to be more specific, the Schengen zone, and I just walked right out of the gate.
So, what is the Schengen zone?
I get 90 days within this zone, which is fine and dandy. Once you are in, no one is supposed to check your passport or give you grief. Since the refugee crisis has gotten worse, I have heard that this is increasingly not the case, especially in certain hyper-sensitive countries like Germany and Hungary. Still, once I'd gotten past the Germans in Frankfurt, I was in. No one gave me so much as a second look after I landed in Copenhagen.
I got settled here and got set up at Aalborg University's Copenhagen campus. I was generously given a nice workspace and access to most university systems. However I didn't hear anything from the Immigration service about my visa application until two weeks ago. Then I finally got an email with an encouraging headline: "PR3 approval letter for Ian Thomas Crozier"
The attached letter proved to be less exciting however. I had been approved for a PR3 visa, however based on the bureau's calculation that I would be leaving Denmark on the 15th of December, (from my original visa application). Therefore, they didn't think I would need a residence permit or visa beyond my standard-American 90 days. From the date of the letter to December 15th was 93 days, but they figured it would take me at least three days to get here. Of course, I was already here, and planning on staying for a total of 128 days.
It took me a few days and a distressing phone call to the ministry to understand what that letter really meant: that essentially my application had been denied. The $500 visa fee and my trip to San Francisco had been for naught (travelling to San Francisco is never entirely for naught, but it was not an expense I would have taken otherwise.)
I visited the "Citizens Centre" to talk to Immigration service about my situation. I intended to point out the logical inconsistency of granting me a 90 day non-visa for a period of at least 93 days, and to generally plea my case. After the obligatory remarks about how hard it is to get a visa to visit America, the man I spoke with was very helpful. He referred me to a page on the agency website which I had seen before, where it mentions that Americans, along with citizens of Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, are allowed to stay in Denmark for 90 days in addition to 90 days spent in other Schengen countries.
I had seen this page, and considered it to be one of my fall-back plans, however everyone I spoke with about it, from my globe-trotting friend, to the German border patrol agent, to the front-desk officer of the American embassy, didn't believe me that it was real. After that third conversation, I had given up on it myself.
The attached letter proved to be less exciting however. I had been approved for a PR3 visa, however based on the bureau's calculation that I would be leaving Denmark on the 15th of December, (from my original visa application). Therefore, they didn't think I would need a residence permit or visa beyond my standard-American 90 days. From the date of the letter to December 15th was 93 days, but they figured it would take me at least three days to get here. Of course, I was already here, and planning on staying for a total of 128 days.
It took me a few days and a distressing phone call to the ministry to understand what that letter really meant: that essentially my application had been denied. The $500 visa fee and my trip to San Francisco had been for naught (travelling to San Francisco is never entirely for naught, but it was not an expense I would have taken otherwise.)
I visited the "Citizens Centre" to talk to Immigration service about my situation. I intended to point out the logical inconsistency of granting me a 90 day non-visa for a period of at least 93 days, and to generally plea my case. After the obligatory remarks about how hard it is to get a visa to visit America, the man I spoke with was very helpful. He referred me to a page on the agency website which I had seen before, where it mentions that Americans, along with citizens of Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, are allowed to stay in Denmark for 90 days in addition to 90 days spent in other Schengen countries.
I had seen this page, and considered it to be one of my fall-back plans, however everyone I spoke with about it, from my globe-trotting friend, to the German border patrol agent, to the front-desk officer of the American embassy, didn't believe me that it was real. After that third conversation, I had given up on it myself.
It is far from the no-questions visa I would like to have. This basically means I need to persuade the border control people to let me back in should I leave the country. I have printed the page from the website to show along with my passport, but I'm not sure how much confidence that will inspire. I'm planning a trip south from Denmark in November, coinciding with my 30th birthday. I want to travel through Germany, Austria, Croatia, and to Istanbul, where I'd like to spend that auspicious day.
Germany and Austria are in Schengen, Croatia is not. My current interpretation is that I get 90 days in Schengen including Denmark, and than 90 days in Denmark alone. That means I need to be out of Schengen non-Denmark places (Germany and Austria) by the 13th of November. That's a little earlier than I had planned, but I did just get a set of excellent travel instructions from another globe-trotting friend about travelling in the Balkans. There many places that would be quite nice to spend some time in Croatia (the country whose independence I wrote my undergraduate thesis about), and Albania and Bulgaria could get added to the itinerary as well.
The seeds of meaning lie among unexpected circumstances. Or, as Vonnegut said "Bizarre travel plans are dancing instructions from God."
It's just nice to have an idea what the bizarre plan is.
Germany and Austria are in Schengen, Croatia is not. My current interpretation is that I get 90 days in Schengen including Denmark, and than 90 days in Denmark alone. That means I need to be out of Schengen non-Denmark places (Germany and Austria) by the 13th of November. That's a little earlier than I had planned, but I did just get a set of excellent travel instructions from another globe-trotting friend about travelling in the Balkans. There many places that would be quite nice to spend some time in Croatia (the country whose independence I wrote my undergraduate thesis about), and Albania and Bulgaria could get added to the itinerary as well.
The seeds of meaning lie among unexpected circumstances. Or, as Vonnegut said "Bizarre travel plans are dancing instructions from God."
It's just nice to have an idea what the bizarre plan is.
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