Friday Five:
1) Daughter's FBI Good Conduct Letter came. Waiting for UK's. FBI's has wording that there's no record in their database, but that doesn't mean there's none at the local level. (Thanks, FBI.) So I've been trying to sort out getting a letter from the SD Sheriff. They won't do one over the internet - someone has to go in there with a power of attorney for us, pay the fees, then pick it up and overnight it back. Can't be a "regular" power of attorney, has to be one specifically giving them the power to pull the Daughter's records (ie, we need to get a new one signed and sent to Calif). The other alternative would be if they could send it to the consulate in Edinburgh and have someone at the consulate verify the Daughter is who she says she is and then give her the letter. So I wrote to the consulate to ask if they could do that. They sent back a long thing about how they can't do fingerprints and provided the name of a company in Edinburgh who could. So I had to write back again to say WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING FINGERPRINTS, we need to know if someone there can accept a letter from SD Sheriff and verify the Daughter's ID before handing the letter to her. No response since then. Jeezus H. Keyrist I am tired of dealing with idiots who do not read.
So. We could never reach a live body at the Consulate. The Police said no. Fortunately, my old boss at my last job is an absolute angel and she said she would run interference there in California for us.
We had to get a temporary/limited power of attorney witnessed for the Sheriff to be able to talk to her. In the past we've gone to the JP in Paisley for this sort of thing - all they are doing is witnessing that the person [the Daughter] signing the form is, in fact, who it is claimed on the form. So, I managed to miraculously get an appointment for this morning, saying what we needed done. We got up at the crack of dawn (ok, earlier), took the bus to Central Station. Took the train to Paisley. Walked in the pouring rain to the courthouse. Waited a half-hour past our appointment time because the JP was running late getting in. The Daughter went in with the form. Came back out with a gatekeeper who says the JP can't sign powers of attorney, it has to be attorney who does that. Wanted to know where we got the wording on the form. I told them that the San Diego Sheriff sent the form and that the only thing the form did,
and this was written on the form, was give a friend the power to pay for and pick up the Daughter's Good Conduct Letter from the Sheriff in San Diego. Period. And that it was only good for 30 days. AND that the Sheriff's Office just wanted someone official to witness the signature. They were ok with the JP doing that. (I had pre-cleared that.) That's all the JP had to do - witness the signature. But the gatekeeper would not allow the JP (who was ok with it) to do that. Because "powers of attorney have to be notarized by an attorney." [Which the JP is. What. Ever.]
We hit three civil solicitors offices going down the street from the courthouse back to the station. All could book appointments for tomorrow. This was
after we explained that we had to FedEx it overnight today. The Daughter started breaking out in hives from the stress.
We took the train back to town, thinking we'd have to explain the difficulty (saving the train tickets to prove the journey) to the Irish government and ask for a bit more time to get this done. We do have the UK Police Clearance Certificate and the FBI's downloaded clearance (waiting for the hardcopy of that to arrive). We even asked for one from the copshop at her Uni there in California, but it's not arrived yet. It seems each entity states on their form that they can only vouch for there being no record in their system, but there could be records in another entity's system! So, we're trying to hit all the bases - FBI for national, Uni for Uni, Sheriff for Local San Diego - to not give Ireland any cause to reject the Daughter's application.
So, in the pouring rain, we got back into town. On a hunch, we went in to the solicitors who had done our wills earlier this year, as they are right by the train station. Explained the situation to the receptionist - just needed a notary to sign the form/stamp it, showing they'd reviewed the Daughter's ID and that she is the person who signed the form. Surprisingly, they were willing to do that immediately. And did not charge us a penny. It didn't need to be recorded in their books or anything, I guess, so just the guy signing and using his official seal on the letter took about two minutes and we were on our way to the Post Office to send it out.
Where the guy behind the counter remembered me from last week and asked if my last "next day" letter had gotten there ok. I told him that it was two days late and we had filed for compensation, and he was like bending over backwards to be helpful with this one. Actually apologized that the last one had not gotten there the next day. He even made me a photocopy of the notarized form to keep, and would not let me pay for it. And now it's all sent on to the friend who will take it to the Sheriff's on Friday afternoon. And then, hopefully, FedEx it back to us either that afternoon or on Saturday, so that it should arrive back here by Wednesday, so we can then FedEx it to Ireland to get there by the following Monday.
Following all that? Holy frijoles this has gone past the point of insanity. But, since they haven't ruled out the Daughter's application outright (due to lack of time in-country is what would get her, I think), we do have to do whatever they ask in the hopes that they'll say "yes". "Yes" would solve so many, many, many problems.
Much walking in the rain, much angst today. The FedEx is gone out. The ex-Boss in San Diego is notified it's on the way. We went to Five Guys and said to hell with the diets, and had hot dogs and french fries. Then did a little shopping and came home. To find that the Daughter now has a temporary, part-time job that she really wanted. And an interview for one tomorrow that would start in a few months that is permanent, but also only a very few hours a week. So, good omens, then? Maybe?
