Visa

Last week when Dorcas & I returned to Lima from Miami, I was stopped @ Immigration in the Lima airport. The Immigration officer said that my Peruvian residential visa, which I've had for 5 years, had expired. I politely told him that it had not, & that I had just received a new residential visa a month earlier, & that I'd even already travelled internationally with it, & without any problem when I had returned to Lima before with it. He reluctantly accepted my answer, but then also added that I didn't have the appropriate tax stamps on the back of my visa card. I once again answered him politely, telling him that at the Peru Immigration Ministry they had told me that I did not need any tax stamps on my visa until 2010. Once again he reluctantly accepted my response, implying that they - his bosses - were wrong in what they had told me. He said that I should have them prepare a letter for me, saying that I didn't need any tax stamps until 2010. I asked him why I would need such a letter from them, since they already had told me that in person, & plus I already had travelled internationally and re-entered Peru without any problem.

Sometimes bureaucrats just like to be bureaucrats, & I think that was the case with the Immigration officer @ the Lima airport. At the same time, however, the incident served as a good reminder to anyone doing international ministry to make sure that your residential visa, or work visa, or religious visa, or missionary visa, or national ID card, or whatever ID you are using wherever you are doing ministry in the world, is up-to-date & current. Sometimes you may get hassled at the airport or at the border for no apparent reason, but at the same time it's wise not to give the officer in charge any further reason to delay your passage. International ministry is challenging enough without adding unnecessary immigration burdens to it.