Job Discussion Forums

[lizarddoctor]

The Consulates first response didnt exactly provide much help to me because it took them almost 3 weeks to respond and I am getting the criminal check, notary, and certificate of authenticity from the Clerk of Courts in my hometown and having it sent to me from there. The attachments (see getting criminal checks post) gave me more questions as he had some chain of authentication which has a ton of stamps from 4 different locations.

I wrote back a HUGE response to him to get him to understand more what is going on and asked him why the consulate isn't helping. Im still waiting for that response. I am not going to waste any more time going into the Consulate until I have all of that paperwork from home in my hand , then Ill go back and get a seat with him or another American.

Granted, the response from the consulate wasnt a whole lot of help, but it is now an active email to respond to. Hopefully everyone else in the same situation writes directly to that email instead of all the rest posted here or on Mekongesl because noone seems to post wheather those other people are actually helping or not.

Ill post again when I get some more answers

[boxcarwilly]

As I have traveled the globe, I have noticed that embassies and consulates of countries other than America seem to give much greater services to their citizens. The implied message from America seems to be to its traveling citizens - You should be at home!
This attitude may stem from a fundamental misunderstanding that many Americans have about their embassies; helping Americans outside of America is a secondary responsibility and not the primary reason that embassies and consulates exist.
There are exceptions and I have encountered exceptional personnel in embassies and consulates but for the most part, don't expect much help for anything at an American embassy or consulate.

[spycatcher reincarnated]

About 15 years ago whilst back packing through Europe found myself in Vienna when a big rugby match was on.

Someone rang around from the hostel to see where we could watch it and none of the hotels had it on so we decided to phone the British Embassy and ask them.

They said that if we liked we could watch it in the Embassy. We explained that it was on a Sunday and there were about 10 of us, mostly not Brits, and could we bring beer over. They were only too happy.

When we arrived there only the guard was on duty. He let us in and we watched it on the first big screen TV I had ever seen.

I doubt they would be so relaxed these days.

[texastmblwd69]

If you need a police clearance letter from your home jurisdiction in the US, I highly recommend a company for which used to work: Emigra. Their website is www.emigra.com

I can't vouch for fees, as these fluctuate, however, they're quite good about this and have oodles of experience. Their phone #s:

Toll-free from USA/Canada: 888-967-5847
Direct from outside USA/Canada: +1-713-599-1888