Visa Issues

The International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), one of the organizations funding me, has been taking care of all of my visa issues. I was not able to get a visa for the full nine months of my study, so the secretary at the Bishkek office told me to get a one-month visa, which I could then extend in country. I have been trying to get a hold of that secretary for a month now to see how to go about extending it, but she wasn’t answering my emails.

I finally called on Monday. Apparently, the secretary with whom I corresponded was just a temp, and she didn’t know the full procedures. The full-time secretary told me that, worst-case scenario, I would have to leave the country every month in order to extend my visa. I was not excited about that. Luckily, there was a loophole. You can get a year-long visa if the U.S. embassy gives you an endorsement. You can’t get that endorsement unless you are being funded directly by the federal government. Luckily, one of the other organizations funding me is the National Security Education Programs, which operates under the Department of Defense. That got me my endorsement. Now I just have to wait for the paperwork to go through. It’s going to be a little close. Normally it takes two weeks for the endorsement to got through, and another two weeks for the visa procedures. My visa runs out in three weeks. The secretary at IREX didn’t seem to concerned—she said it should work out just fine.