Diplomatic Immunity

We are in Toronto getting our visas. This trip had two parts to it. Part One - surrender our passports on Monday and then go back to the consulate on Thursday to sign papers, get 2.2 sets of fingerprints done (includes a 3rd set of thumb prints).



Part One difficulty - the fire alarm went off in the building as we waited for our meeting at the consulate. The rest of the people in this 14 story office building evacuated but not this little piece of Argentina. Nope, we actually met with the lady while the alarms were screaming in our ears. It was fascinating as she calmly described what the process was and that we were to return three days later for the rest of our 'processing'.
We left the consulate and we were the last two people to exit the building as part of the drill - we got some looks from the hundreds of people on the sidewalks as they watched us come out. That's 'diplomatic immunity'.......or they think they are fire-proof.

Anyways, we returned three days later to get our fingerprints done, review the papers and get final sign off from the local Consul General. That's when Part Two difficulty started - I noticed that they spelled my last name wrong on one of the forms. She said no problem, she scratched it out and corrected it. The Consul General hadn't signed it, so it wasn't a problem. She said come back in two hours and we should be all set to go. She needed to get the Consul General's signature on everything.
When we returned, we started to review the process of returning to Argentina - which papers we were supposed to surrender at Immigration, which ones were now glued in our passports and those that are stapled in. That's when Part Three difficulty arose. They had spelled my name wrong on an original, signed, sealed document. That's when the color drained from her face.
She immediately went looking for the Consul General - who unfortunately had left for a long weekend. She called him on his cell and explained the situation. Sometimes the best solution is to do 'nothing'. She returned and said "don't worry about it, they probably wont even notice".

So we get to Immigration at the BA airport and what happens? The Immigration officer is more concerned with where her staple remover is to remove the sealed document from my passport than to actually read it. We are here and I think we can stay!

Oh and they spelled my middle name wrong too - I go by 'Brian Jose' now.

B.