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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Maltese Passport

Finally i got my Canadian passport renewed , well i have just sent it in yesterday so it should be back in a few weeks and then i have to send it out to get my Brazilian Visa . My German buddies were telling me they don't need a travel visa for Brazil and i was hoping that i could save some time and just finally follow through and get my Euro passport since i have duel citizenship ... i am a Maltese citizen :) i gained my citizenship in 2006 after my attempt to move to Europe .....

This is going way way back ! In 2003 i applied for my Maltese citizenship and i think a billion other people did too ... probably much less but it swamped the officials that handled these issues there . Malta was going to become part of the European Union so everyone and their mother applied . No joke i had to get my mothers citizenship back so i could get mine LOL at that point i was planning to move to Europe and in 2004 i moved to Amsterdam with the hopes that i would get my citizenship and be able to work there ... it was my first venture away from home and really it was a huge learning process with absolutely no planning at all .... yes it was a disaster !

In Holland i could not get work and i was constantly contacting the Maltese Embassy there and they were no help at all .... in 2005 i went to Malta , to play for the Malta Pirates in Dubai and on my stop over i decided to visit the offices to see if my citizenship had gone through . I was i had a photo ! Just picture a sweaty office filled with filing cabinets with boxes on top of them and fans barely pushing the sweat filled air around the room , on top of those boxes are stacks of paper and everyone in there looked like absolute office zombies . Regardless they couldn't find my file :)

1 day out of the blue i finally got a letter from the Maltese gov't and it was really not clear at all . I took it to the consulate general and sat down with him and he said congratulations you are now a Maltese citizen .... that was in 2006 .... so when i went in yesterday the consulate had moved and it had more security , things have changed . Regardless i approached the counter and said i would like to get my Maltese passport and the nice lady told me that it would be $120 for a 10 year passport  , i had to ask if i would need a visa to enter Brazil as a Maltese citizen and unfortunately i still would need a visa :( i was there anyway with all my paperwork in hand so what the heck .... finally i am getting my Maltese passport , which i expect to use when i head over to Europe in December . Yes i am going back to Europe this year .... hahahaha !!!!

After i did all that and went out to get a new hockey bag at my favorite hockey shop Goalie Heaven :) then i came home to contact the Brazilian embassy .... they assured me that i should have no problem getting this in time so i should not be so stressed out . The funny thing is the only reason i got off my ass was because i was paranoid that i would not have time for this passport to get renewed and come back with time to send it out again to get visa  ... so i ended up getting another one LOL . Sometimes the things that get me to do things makes my life a little more interesting ... it must be the same bit of crazy that makes me stand in front of pucks .


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