Stamps are VERY important

As some of you know, I have been working on getting my permanent residency here for quite some time. I supposedly will be granted residency without question because I married an Argentine. But that does not mean they will not make me jump through burning hoops, do cartwheels on beams and sing in Greek before they grant me the coveted Documento Nacional de Identidad. I think it is a trial to make sure you are prepared for the beaurocratic annoyances of daily life in Argentina before you commit to live here.

About two months ago I thought I had finished the process, was interviewed, and given my temporary residency paper while the permanent residency was processed. I was told to check back in two months and see if it had arrived. Last week I received a note by certified mail informing me my permanent residency had come through, I just needed to stop in the immigration office to pick it up. I was very excited, I thought I was going to pick up my identification document. But no. They handed me a document a little over a page long with lots of stamps and signatures and another sheet of instruction with what to do. This is the play by play of my morning activities:

I left immigration and took a bus to the courthouse. Outside of the courthouse I made three photocopies of my residency document (everyone here requires copies, no one makes them, so you must always go to a little kiosk and have them made on your own). Then I went to one office inside, paid $1 for each document to have it stamped with something that looked like a postage meter and then given a number to wait to be called. When they called my number, a clerk read the copies, comparing them to the original, and stamped each one twice more. He then told me to sit down and wait until they called my by last name. Then the official secretary called me, signed the stamps on the documents, and sent me to the bank. At the bank I first waited in the wrong line, then I was told to wait in a special line for "authorizations". Here I paid $1.50 to have each copy stamped as being paid for. From there I was sent to another office upstairs where I waited in line to have my copies "legally authorized" with another official stamp.

You can no longer read the original documents, they are so full of stamps, but tomorrow I will dutifully take them to the civil registry to "solicit" my identity document. I couldn't go today because all official offices are only open until noon, and it took me all morning to acquire the necessary stamps. I don't doubt that when I get there they will ask for yet more documentation, all officially stamped.

I often think about how many people are being employed simply by the need for stamps; both the people who stamp and the people who make the stamps. Official documents are stamped SEVERAL times, Mario has to stamp anything he gives to patients, my doctor has to stamp every prescription, banks use multiple stamps every time you pay a bill, even receipts at regular stores are stamped to indicated if you took your goods with you, or if you want them delivered. And you must be a special authority to stamp - whenever you are given something you must always take it to a special person who has the authority to stamp. For example, if you are buying something like an iron in a store of electrodomestics, first you are harrassed by a salesman into selecting teh iron you want. Then he (I say he because I have yet to see a female sales person - seriously)prints out a sheet and gives it to you to go pay for the iron. After you pay for the iron, someone stamps it as being really paid for, because teh receipt is not enough. Then you must wait in another line to pick up the item, at which time another person must stamp your receipt to show the item has been received. No self-service in this country!

When I'm not totally annoyed (which let's be honest, is most of the time) I am curiously amazed at this practice.