Get 'er done

Oh if only it was that easy...

It seems that everything here is more difficult than it should be...as you can probably tell from my past post about getting the entry visas/IDs/insurance cards. And guess what? We aren't even done! To truly be finished with the process, we need to get residence visas for my husband and kids. That requires more time and more money. My husband had to go get a "medical check" which consisted of a blood test and a chest xray. (Teachers get it done within the first few days of arriving. For females we had to take a pregnancy test too...and if you were pregnant without a spouse you would be sent back home). The ironic thing is that he's already been here for 2 months, so if he had an STD or something he could've already slept around and spread it. But that made them 250 more dirhams.
To get the residence visas I think it will cost us about 1200 more dirhams (like $340). I *think* it's refundable.
My current problem is that I'm not sure how long we have to get the residence visa done. I hope that it wasn't 14 days because otherwise their entry visas will be cancelled and we will have to start over.

**edit**
I actually started writing this several days ago and didn't get to finish. And now I can't continue on the path I was on because I stopped at ADEC today and turned in my paperwork and if I understood correctly, I will be able to pick up my family's residence visas in a week...without paying a dime. I guess all these other people have been "fast tracking" their documents for some reason and it costs them money. So, pray to God that I have done this correctly and it goes smoothly ;) We should have their Emirates IDs soon too.

I don't want you to think that this is easy at all...but I want to clarify that maybe it's not as hard as we think it is, mostly because our employer doesn't do a good job of laying it out in clear, easy steps to follow. Today I witnessed a British woman screaming at the sweet little typist guy for something that he had no control over. I understand being upset, but 1) it wasn't his fault and 2) screaming doesn't get you anywhere

So, I will definitely keep you updated about whether or not I understood the guy and have finished this crazy and confusing process. Because if I have, I might write a book about it and make millions ;)