yay!! f u c k

I just opened an email from Temple, the subject of which was student visa. I hoped the email would tell me I was approved, and I would be sleeping well from here on out. At the very least, I figured the email would tell me the application was being processed, and a rough date at which I could expect an answer.

Nope.

We just received a phone call from Japanese Immigration, who are currently reviewing your COE applications for you and your husband. They informed us that they cannot accept the marriage certificate you submitted because it is too old. They requested that we ask you to re-submit a more recent, original (not a copy) marriage certificate (issued within the last 3 months).

Okay, I have seriously jumped through a number of hoops thus far, most of which are related to being a married student who doesn't want to leave her husband for the next few years, and I have done so without (too much) complaint. This, however, is ridiculous. Actually, this exceeds ridiculousness, and borders on a heretofore unknown variety of ridiculosity.

Jarrett and I paid for and received a copy of our marriage certificate back in 2004, after it was officially filed and recognized. I didn't imagine I'd need it for anything, but I have kept it on hand all this time. When I was asked to send in a copy of said certificate, I simply reached for the official copy I had been holding onto—stamped, signed and notarized by Multnomah County—and sent it in.

I understand it isn't a recent copy, however it is still valid. Furthermore, even if Jarrett and I were no longer married (and we wanted for some unknown reason to move to another country together), we could still march down to the county records office and get a shiny new copy of our marriage certificate. Obviously, that is not the case, but it does point to the silliness of the whole endeavor.

Deep breath in. Hold. Deep breath out.

I will do, as always, as I am told. I will sleep poorly tonight, I will wake up early tomorrow, I will navigate morning traffic and parking, and I will secure a shiny new copy of the same old marriage certificate. And I will pay something like twenty-fracking-dollars for the pleasure of doing so. Then I will spend gawd-knows-how-much fed-exing it to Tokyo.

Sigh.