kareina

I just sent a note to the expert on Finnish language names in the SCA:


It will be interesting to see what she says. It will be more interesting to see if the answer prompts a change in what title and/or name I use going forward.

Back in November, when the funding was approved for me to do the trip to Australia in February for a one week conference, followed by a week of training at the CODES LA-ICP-MS laboratory I sent in an application for a new Australian passport. My old one hadn't expired--it still had several years left. However, it was in the old spelling of my name.

My Swedish resident visa came with a note saying that in order to re-enter Sweden if I leave I need to be traveling with a passport that shows the same name as the visa. According to Australian law, an Australian citizen may not enter Australia using a passport+/-visa from any other country. Therefore, I needed to update my passport to show the new name--never mind that the change was one single letter (e to i) in my first name.

Not too long after I sent in my application I got a call from the Australian embassy in Stockholm, saying that there was something wrong with the passport photos--they looked like they had little white dots on them--rather like they had been put into an envelope before dry and got stuck and then pulled free. This is a feature I hadn't noticed before sending them, but one can't argue in these situations, one simply tries again. Since the call was late in the day--to late to go into town to the passport photo place, I decided to try on our own. lord_kjar had recently obtained some free photo paper for laser printers, so we took a photo, scaled it to the correct size and printed new photos, and I express mailed them the next morning.

Got a call a few days later saying they didn't like the quality of those photos--the colour balance wasn't right. So I went into town and paid for a new batch of passport photos, and sent them in. By then it was 15 December, and I was getting a bit concerned, since I knew that we were coming up against the holidays, when nothing gets done in Sweden, probably not even at the Australian Embassy.

I didn't hear back from them after that, so last week I called them to ask if they ever got those photos, or if I need to try again. Got the answering machine, and also sent an email. They replied to the email saying that they got the photos, the photos are fine, but now there is a problem with the paperwork showing that my name had been changed. While I had, according to the instructions I had at the time, had that paper notarized, it turns out that what it actually needed was an "apostille".

This email arrived on Thursday evening, and I did the research to discover that "apostille" is a service that is only available in Sweden at a notary public (so I had been in the right place, but got the wrong service back in November). In the Luleå area there is one law firm with does this. Their web page said that the notary service is available at the Boden branch on Friday mornings from 09:00 to 09:30, or at the Luleå branch on Monday mornings between 09:00 and 10:00.

Luckily I don't work on Fridays, and hadn't had anything planed, so bright and early the next morning I got up and drove to Boden. Normally this is about a half an hour drive, but that night it snowed some wet, heavy snow, and the trip took a full 45 minutes. I arrived at their office at 09:05, to discover the door was locked. So I called lord_kjar, who looked at their web page, confirmed that they were supposed to be here for notary service from 09:00 to 09:30, and gave me their phone numbers. I called them, and the guy who answered said "yes, usually on Friday mornings, but not this week". Sigh. I asked him what I could do, since time was of the essence, and he suggested I try calling the Luleå branch, since he was busy.

So I went into town and to the tax office (which is the branch of the government that does the name change), and got a new stamp on the copy of my name change form, showing that it is official, and while there stopped by the Luleå branch of the law firm. This office has a buzzer outside the door, and instructions for visitors to type a code. I did, and when she answered I explained (in Swedish) that I need an appostile. She told me that they do that on Mondays between 09:00 and 10:00, and I asked if she was certain they would be there then. She assured me they would be, and I went home and tried to be patient.

I had a lovely weekend, despite the underlying stress about not being able to move forward on the passport paperwork, and bright and early Monday morning I went in to town. This time the lady buzzed me in, and I sat down to wait. I had planned to read something for work, but they had a kid's book on the table that looked interesting, so I started reading it instead. In the time it took to be my turn, and then in the time it took the attorney to take away my form and add apostile stamps (in both Swedish and English, for good measure), I managed to read 17 pages of the book, and wanted to know what happened next.

Once I had my paperwork I went straight to the office, scanned the form so I could email it to the Embassy to give them a chance to check and be certain it was ok before the paper one, which I expressed mailed, could get there. Then I checked the uni library web page, and determined that yes, the book I had started was available. So, of course, I went straight to the library and checked it out. (The link goes to the English version of the book, since most of my readers don't do Swedish.)

This week has slipped quickly by, with continued sewing on the dress in progress, work, time hanging out with friends, dance (but we missed choir, since lord_kjar hadn't completely recovered from his cough that he has had since just after Christmas). I managed to finish the book on Friday, but didn't manage to get to the library to get the next one in the series, so that will have to wait till Monday.

Today I got an email from the Embassy—my passport has been produced, and it should reach them in Stockholm by the middle of next week. I don't actually fly till the middle of the following week, so, if all goes well with the transport thereof, I should get it on time. Keep your fingers crossed for me.