Stifling Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy seems to be an unavoidable consequence of government. I'm sure the U.S. is also very bureaucratic, ridiculous, and frustrating for outsiders; but as a citizen, my interaction with the official machinery of government is relatively limited (excluding taxes).

As a foreigner working in India, I've been privy firsthand to Indian bureaucracy. Even before coming, I had to pay a large sum (nearly $200) and fight for a few weeks to get my visa (although this has been outsourced--gotta love the irony--so I was presumably dealing with Americans for this headache). Last Thursday, I was finally able to get registered with the government, just two days before the deadline (foreigners who are staying for any length of time must register within 14 days of entering the country). Friday was a holiday (Independence Day) and they are closed Saturday so Thursday was my last possible opportunity. In order to register, I needed about 15 different documents including a letter from me to the immigration officer ("Dear Sir, please let me work in your country..."), several letters from my company, the articles of association of my company, a copy of my contract, two passport sized photos, etc. One of the required documents was proof that my PAN card is on its way. I don't know what this card is (I think it has something to do with taxes), but to get it, I had to have a bank account and a statement showing that I had money in the account along with several other documents including a copy of every page in my passport, all but two of which are blank. To get a bank account, I had to have proof of employment, proof of address, a copy of my passport, passport sized photos, etc. and also had to wait five days for the account to be set up. After the account was set up, I could deposit money and then wait another one or two business days to get a statement--which I needed to get a PAN card, which I needed to register, which had to be done within 14 days of entering the country...anyway, you get the idea. This is to say nothing about getting a cell phone, which also required a letter from my company, a copy of my passport, proof of address, and a bank account.

After all these documents are completed, you get the opportunity to go to the immigration office and wait in line to talk to various people. Each person looks through all the documents at least 3 or 4 times; it is impossible to discern whether they are deliberating on every minuscule detail or just pretending to be thorough.

I was lucky; I only had to go through this process once. Several of my colleagues have been 2 or 3 times (by the time their forms are approved, they are invariably late registering and have to pay a late fee or fight through the bureaucracy again to try and get it waived). A Canadian colleague, on her third time through the process, also went last Thursday and was able to help me navigate the leviathan. They seem to have been targeting IFMR employees recently and they sent us to the assistant director of the place. After he carefully went through her documents for 15 - 20 minutes, he went through my documents (many of which were the exact same as hers) for another 15 - 20 minutes. I was the beneficiary of her efforts as my registration packet was approved (after waiting in two more lines and speaking with two more people) without having to return with more documentation. So, I'm finally legal. I can only imagine the process I'll have to go through next July when my visa expires...