As you may be aware, in order for us to remain in Zim each year, we have to have a visa which enables us to work for the ministry and reside here. We apply for a Temporary Employment Permit with residency. This costs us $500 each, for each year, so $1000 each time!
We were under the impression initially, that we would just be able to renew our visa each year, however, it turned out that as ourpermits are temporary, we have to re-apply each year! This is quite a long process and involves a lot of paperwork. We mustered everything together, and found that our visa expires in 7 weeks, and the process can take 6 weeks…so cutting it fine!
After around 10 trips back and forth between the visa place, we finally had everything they requested. We were then told, that the process would mean our visas run out on the 22nd June, they wanted us to go on the 21st June and see if they had approved us, if they had, great, if they hadn’t, they were going to charge us a further $110 to get a 3 month tourist visa while we wait for re-approval of the TEP! Stressful.
We sent one of our Pastors with a final document to the visa building 2 days ago, he returned with an envelope.
Incredibly, we have already been approved, and in a couple of weeks we need to return to the visa building and get them stamped in our passports! So we are officially here until June 2014 with these new visas. Such a huge weight off our minds as the thought of having to leave the country was weighing heavily and we did not want to do that!
So thank you to all those who have prayed for swift effective approval, prayers have most definitely been answered!
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To celebrate, here is a picture of Spike, the Warthog. 