Scandinavians

[xdamselx 0]

Ok thank you guys, you are all awesome. Looks like I have a limited option here lol. The waiting game begins right about now.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Ah ok. Yes, email was the way my husband requested his record. I imagine if a person was Not Drafted or Unifit for Service they'd send it just the same.

If you were not drafted during "session" then you are likely enlisted with Beredskabsstyrelsen.

I sent an email to Beredskabsstyrelsen and two days later, I got a nice official letter stating that I will not be drafted in peace time but I will remain enlisted in the emergency preparedness until my 50th.

Remember to ask for the letter in English. You can find their email on their website below.

www.brs.dk/

The letter arrived today and my husband thought it was kind of weird that the letter in Danish looks different and says different things than the one in English. Is that normal?

[rarasantiago 3]

Husband arrived last night! San Francisco POE immigration was fast and easy. The fastest and easiest part of this process

[jaycali 415]

Husband arrived last night! San Francisco POE immigration was fast and easy. The fastest and easiest part of this process

Awesome! Congrats on your reunification lol

[rarasantiago 3]

The letter arrived today and my husband thought it was kind of weird that the letter in Danish looks different and says different things than the one in English. Is that normal?

Not sure if it's normal or not since I've only seen one My husband's military letter was about three sentences long with his name, the date range of service, rank and service unit. The translation matched the Danish versions as did the letterhead.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Husband arrived last night! San Francisco POE immigration was fast and easy. The fastest and easiest part of this process

That's great!

Not sure if it's normal or not since I've only seen one My husband's military letter was about three sentences long with his name, the date range of service, rank and service unit. The translation matched the Danish versions as did the letterhead.

The English one says "Certification (Draft Board)

This is to certify that:

CPR-Number:

Name:

has appeared before a draft board on the 27. April 2005 and was:

X Not drafted

Unfit for service If unfit, give brief explanation...

There are no further requirements for military service and no outstanding matters."

The Danish just says "Fortoligt

Navn:

P. nr:

er på sessionen/Forsvarets Dag i 1. halvår af 2005 udskrevet some Egnet til værnepligtstjeneste."

Either way, the English one works just fine...it is just weird that they are different.

Thanks for the help in getting it folks

[Moomin 292]

Nola, they normally take a look at the Danish document and then English translation to see if it's a proper translation. Bring both(copies thereof and the originals) and you should be good.

Btw, they might take the original intl. police record. I had already made a copy/scan of mine and have used it when searching for jobs in the US because I as a new immigrant won't show up in a background check(if/when they perform one) so it's a neat way of showing that you weren't a criminal in your home country.

That's great!

The English one says "Certification (Draft Board)

This is to certify that:

CPR-Number:

Name:

has appeared before a draft board on the 27. April 2005 and was:

X Not drafted

Unfit for service If unfit, give brief explanation...

There are no further requirements for military service and no outstanding matters."

The Danish just says "Fortoligt

Navn:

P. nr:

er på sessionen/Forsvarets Dag i 1. halvår af 2005 udskrevet some Egnet til værnepligtstjeneste."

Either way, the English one works just fine...it is just weird that they are different.

Thanks for the help in getting it folks

[jaycali 415]

Guys, as some of you already know, I emailed the embassy last Friday asking if my visa had been mailed out yet. Never got a reply. Yesterday was the 2 week mark, and I emailed again with "Urgent" in the subject line. I got a reply within 15 minutes saying "It has yet to be sent. We will contact you in a near future."

Called DOS last night, they told me the visa was issued, and was "probably mailed out last week." Does anyone know of a case at Stockholm where it took more than 2 weeks for the visa to even be put in the mail..?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm seriously worried now.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Jay Jay

[jaycali 415]

Update: I replied to the embassy asking "What kind of time frame can be expected?"

Their reply was "Please contact us in one weeks time if you have not heard from us."

Cryptic messages indeed. I do believe I'm going crazy. My wife is pissed off and said to just come back on the VWP - I had to remind her that the embassy still has my passport. The only comfort I can find is that the DoS has my file as "visa issued" and the people over at the Philippines forum who waited 3 weeks for their visas and got them without any problems. It just would have been nice to at least know what the hold up is, whether it's something as mundane as a printer error, or something more serious.

I quit my job months ago, already missed Thanksgiving with my in-laws, can't find any Scandinavian timeline on here with the same issues and Norwegian November weather isn't exactly uplifting.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Jay Jay

[jaycali 415]

Forgive my venting guys. Just need to.. Vent. Lol. I called the DOS again, and the lady told me "Don't worry, everything is ok with the visa." To which I replied "Are you sure? It has been 15 days, and the embassy said it hasn't been sent yet, and to wait for them to contact me in a week." The lady replied "Don't worry, they will send it. Everything is ok, when it's ready, they will mail it." I asked if she's able to tell whether or not it's been printed and everything, to which she said "No, just that everything is ok."

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Nola, they normally take a look at the Danish document and then English translation to see if it's a proper translation. Bring both(copies thereof and the originals) and you should be good.

Btw, they might take the original intl. police record. I had already made a copy/scan of mine and have used it when searching for jobs in the US because I as a new immigrant won't show up in a background check(if/when they perform one) so it's a neat way of showing that you weren't a criminal in your home country.

Thanks for the tip, that probably would be helpful.

A weird aside - my husband is in a technical training program (that is mostly on the job training), but he hasn't gotten past grade 10. Can we say that he has completed high school on job applications? I assume that won't be too much of a problem? He's taking Calculus online at my university in January, so I guess it won't be that big of a deal.

Forgive my venting guys. Just need to.. Vent. Lol. I called the DOS again, and the lady told me "Don't worry, everything is ok with the visa." To which I replied "Are you sure? It has been 15 days, and the embassy said it hasn't been sent yet, and to wait for them to contact me in a week." The lady replied "Don't worry, they will send it. Everything is ok, when it's ready, they will mail it." I asked if she's able to tell whether or not it's been printed and everything, to which she said "No, just that everything is ok."

I'm going to put money on you getting the run around because somebody at the embassy made a mistake. Rather than just admit that they forgot to do something properly they are just pretending like it is all status quo. That's bureaucracy for you, I guess.

I'd be yelling on the phone with them by now, but I think that is my last little remaining native New Yorker seeping through. As someone who has worked customer service phone lines before (a terrible job), I can tell you that I did do more to appease the really angry folks.

I hope your ticket was refundable/moveable.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Nola123

[jaycali 415]

I'm going to put money on you getting the run around because somebody at the embassy made a mistake. Rather than just admit that they forgot to do something properly they are just pretending like it is all status quo. That's bureaucracy for you, I guess. I'd be yelling on the phone with them by now, but I think that is my last little remaining native New Yorker seeping through. As someone who has worked customer service phone lines before (a terrible job), I can tell you that I did do more to appease the really angry folks.I hope your ticket was refundable/moveable.

Thanks Haha. As frustrated as I am, I think yelling at the embassy staff or DOS reps would be very counter-productive. Not like I can say "Screw you guys, I'm switching to Verizon!" or "This is horrible customer service, I'm moving to Canada!"

The ticket was moveable, but I have no date to move it to, so I made a wild guess for next week. I'd just like to be able to get a response like "Sorry, we miss-spelled your name and had to re-print." or "Your name matched some member of an obscure Norwegian biker gang leader." Rather than "We haven't sent it yet. We will contact you."

Edited November 21, 2012 by Jay Jay

[Moomin 292]

Thanks for the tip, that probably would be helpful.

A weird aside - my husband is in a technical training program (that is mostly on the job training), but he hasn't gotten past grade 10. Can we say that he has completed high school on job applications? I assume that won't be too much of a problem? He's taking Calculus online at my university in January, so I guess it won't be that big of a deal.

10.th grade isn't mandatory so if he passed 9.th grade then sure.

[Alaska2012 462]

Forgive my venting guys. Just need to.. Vent. Lol. I called the DOS again, and the lady told me "Don't worry, everything is ok with the visa." To which I replied "Are you sure? It has been 15 days, and the embassy said it hasn't been sent yet, and to wait for them to contact me in a week." The lady replied "Don't worry, they will send it. Everything is ok, when it's ready, they will mail it." I asked if she's able to tell whether or not it's been printed and everything, to which she said "No, just that everything is ok."

My bet is that your passport got misplaced within the embassy somewhere and if it wasn't sent today, Wednesday, it'll be sent on Monday when the embassy opens again.

[MrsB2012 10]

Thanks Haha. As frustrated as I am, I think yelling at the embassy staff or DOS reps would be very counter-productive. Not like I can say "Screw you guys, I'm switching to Verizon!" or "This is horrible customer service, I'm moving to Canada!"

The ticket was moveable, but I have no date to move it to, so I made a wild guess for next week. I'd just like to be able to get a response like "Sorry, we miss-spelled your name and had to re-print." or "Your name matched some member of an obscure Norwegian biker gang leader." Rather than "We haven't sent it yet. We will contact you."

That really sucks Jay Jay! Sorry you won't be able to be in the States and spend Thanksgiving with your wife