Homeless, jobless, illegal aliens and deportees

This really has been a year like no other for us. All of the above have occurred during the last few months. I am not sure all of those are good things to list on your resume. Illegal aliens and deportees you might ask? Well the whole story is rather labyrinthian so I will give you the general gist.

Upon entry here in Sri Lanka a customs agent stamped our passport as a tourist visa and not an entry visa. We of course did not notice and continued on in our oblivious and happy manner. This last week the SP office contacted us in a bit of a panic because the tourist visa had expired and technically we were living illegally in Sri Lanka. Yes we really are a dark nefarious couple with mischievous agendas. Not really but… So we took the 10 hour drive to Colombo to meet with custom officials to beg forgiveness and explain the whole myriad of circumstances that surrounded our visa issues. For the first day we were politely told that we were graciously being given clemency for our oversights but it was understood that we would need to leave the country in the next two weeks.

This sent all of our local and amazing staff scrambling to find alternatives and solutions. All the offices in Canada, US and Sri Lanka were involved. It really was a bit of a rollercoaster as our status in the country changed by the minute. One minute we were leaving in two months the next minute we were leaving in 24 hours and yet the next we were staying for 12 months. All of those were firm possibilities within hours of each other.

In scheming solutions there were discussions about sending us to India or Pakistan for a few weeks to work while we resubmitted our paperwork. There was even talk that eventually we would be deported to the embassy in Ottawa to have our passports stamped and then be immediately flown back. UGHHHH We all know that keeping that Alanna trapped on a plane for 48 hours would be ugly. You all know hyper she is. I of course could handle it but she would struggle.

Then on a bit of a whim Ramani (local staff) said she would just try a last ditch attempt. Ramani was able to arrange a conversation with the Director of Ministry of Internal Administration. This gentleman liked Ramani, SP and the work we are doing and the Director personally called the Immigration Controller to get the approval. As a result we have been granted a residence visa. We were told that this was quite the exception and that several other NGO’s had been rejected for this same thing this very week. WOW!! It really is incredible. One might even suggest it was supernatural. Well, at least we see it that way.

All this to say we are pleased to be off the persona non grata list, able to get back to work and are able to avoid gulags and deportation to far flung cold places.

Scott