Establishing yourself in another country can be a real pain in the !@#%. Everything is a production. Suppose you want cable television? You’ll be needing a social security number, 12 pieces of ID–20 of them with your picture on it–proof that you were born on the planet earth, proof that your mother’s favorite color is pink, and proof that you’ve seen a customs official at a port of entry within the last 5 minutes.
Why the rant? Well, I’ve been wanting to register my vehicle in the wonderful state of Massachusetts. In order to do so, I need documentation from a customs official to the effect that my vehicle meets Massachusetts’ standards. But in order to get this documentation, I need a letter from the maker of my vehicle saying that, indeed, my vehicle meets Massachusetts’ standards. (I’m not sure why the customs people need a letter. I could drive my car over there and they could read the sticker under the hood which says that the car meets the American standards.) In order for the maker of my vehicle to write this letter for me, I need to let them know a certain number underneath the hood of my car. Once they have this number, it may take them 4-6 weeks to draft the letter and send it over to me. Once I have all my ducks in a row, the state of Massachusetts will issue me my registration. But this registration is only provisional. Within a week of receiving this provisional registration, I will have to have 2 inspections done on the car: one inspection will make sure my car meets Massachusetts’ emissions standards, the other will make sure it’s safe to drive. This all begs the question: why do I need all this documentation from the maker of my car saying it meets Massachusetts’ standards? If it doesn’t meet the standards, presumably it would fail the inspections. Go figure.
I don’t wish this on anyone.
