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April 13, 2005
Just in Time
Yesterday I got a text from our resident director that all the students had to bring their passports to our weekly meeting. My first thought was that we were all being sent home and my wonderful vacation was over. Well, after I realized that they didn't ask me to pack my stuff, I was quite curious as to the real reason. I proceeded to call Sally, our resident director, and tell her that she couldn't have my passport because I was leaving the country this weekend and was going to need it.
At the meeting, Sally collects all of the passports and continues to tell us that if we haven't left the country yet we will be required to take blood tests on Sunday and become residents of Jordan for the year. I promptly raise my hand and ask politely, "If we are leaving the country this weekend do we need the tests?" And guess what, we don't! I happen to be leaving the country right on time to avoid the nasty blood tests associated with being a Jordanian resident. Whew.
My friends and I just happend to plan a trip to Nazareth and the Galilee area this weekend. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon, just in time!
Posted by rcollins at April 13, 2005 8:06 AM
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Comments
This is completely confusing to me: are you saying that *if* you didn't happen to have plans to leave the country this weekend, you would be compelled to submit to a blood test (why???) and become a Jordan resident? Is there anything like logic in this?
Posted by: Paul Gutwin at April 13, 2005 9:32 PM
I'll fill in while she's on her adventure:
If you're in the country longer than three months you need to become a 'resident'. You need a new visa, all that stuff - the initial visa you get is like a tourist or visitor's visa. One of the qualifications to getting a resident visa is to submit to a blood test (so they can exclude people who carry in nasty viruses etc.) The alternative is to leave the country, then reenter on a new visitor's visa. That way you can stay in the country for another three months without taking another blood test.
I suppose they would like to blood test anyone who gets a visa but that would probably be impractical :)
Posted by: Karl at April 14, 2005 8:37 AM