Oh Visa...

Well....I finally received my visa on Friday, but it had an ERROR!!!

I had the visa mailed to my mom's house - not knowing when it would actually arrive. After two days waiting and missing the UPS man, my mom finally had her hands on it. I asked her to look over it to make sure it said the UK, work visa, had my picture, had accurate dates, etc. Well, the dates were wrong! It was valid from 06/07/10 to 06/03/10. Knowing that the Brits write their dates differently then the US, I discovered that my visa did not start until July 6th and I leave FEB 6th! UGH!!!

To double check before mass panic broke out in my world, I emailed the girls that I will be living with in England asking them what their dates were. All responded with dates at the beginning of February. PANIC!!!

Yesterday, I emailed my UK Pro contact and the British Consulate email address I received that said "email if there are any errors with your visa." The UK Pro contact said that something similar occurred a few years ago, and the British Consulate refused to fix the error. So, she spent the day on the phone with Kent County Council HR in England to problem solve. Their brainstorm of solutions including having me wait until July to fly over (no thanks...I've already bought my plane ticket and I would like to spend the first two weeks training with all the other new people) or reapply for my visa (again, no thanks....that process took forever and cost A LOT of money!).

Praise the LORD! I received an email from a "delightful" (said in an English accent) woman at the British Consulate telling me to mail my passport back to her and she will fix it! HORRAY!!!! Both my UK Pro contact and I did a little jump for joy! :)

So, my gracious mom sent my "most important identification document," yet again, through the US mail in hopes of a better outcome this time around. OYE!