THE EMPIRE STRIKES – AND RELENTS

The Kazakhstan immigration officer on the Uzbek border three weeks ago almost ended my trip when he stamped my passport. The stamp meant nothing to me, except that I had officially checked out of Kazakhstan. To the Kazakhstan immigration authorities it mean much more. 

So let me tell you how I spent a blistering hot Friday stuck in limbo on the Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan border.  

I had a very good ride from Osh to Bishkek Kyrgyzstan over 2 days. The road was near perfect. I was high on the back side of the Himalayas. Yurts and horse herds dotted the landscape as I descended to the capital. 

So my life was going swimmingly as I left for the border on Friday morning. Tom and I did not expect any big problems; just the regular search of all our belonging two or three times. 

I had made it out of Kyrgyzstan and was going through Kazak immigration with my two year multi-entry visa that had been used for all of 4 days in the beginning of the month. Then the immigration officer said to me “Go back Kygyzstan – visa closed.”  I told him “no –multi entry” in both English and Russian. But he insisted that the stamp I had received three weeks earlier by some exit officer had canceled my visa. I would not be allowed to proceed. The immigration officer said I could go back to Aktau or Bayneu and get the officer to remove the stamp. That made no sense because I was not being allowed into Kazakhstan, so how could I go to Kazakhstan to get the exit officer to fix things. 

All this time Tom was being processed and was going to gain entry in due course. He had a double entry visa with the same stamp. But apparently for a multi entry visa the stamp canceled the remainder of the visa. Go figure. 

This was not good. It was about 90 degrees by now, 11 am. I had been at the border since 10 am.  And it did not look like the immigration officer was going to relent. I explained that I was riding a motorcycle; and that there was no where to go. I could not go back to Uzbekistan, because I have no visa to an adjoining country. I was stuck. So I just stayed there. 

In about 20 minutes the immigration officer came out, got my paper work and said “follow me”. I was then brought into the inner sanctum of Kazakhstani immigration and customs. The office was well run, and most of the people in charge were women. The people working the line outside were all guys. But the brains were female. One of them spoke good English and listed to my story. She said “not to worry”. Yeah – Right. I was told to stand “here” under the stairs, and so I did for an hour. Then I was brought upstairs to a real office. Here I met the captain who ran the entire operation. My case had gone to the top. A female officer bluntly told me that I had to name the “port” where I left Kazakhstan, or I could not be helped. I left Kazakhstan in the middle of a desert, and there was not a town for over 90 km located in Kazakhstan. I asked for a map and showed the town. That helped me remember the “port”, which meant post. It worked. 

There was a lot of conversation in Russian, most of which I could not understand. But I was watching the captain and I distinctly heard the word “idiot” on several occasions while referring to the exit officer. It was apparent to everyone that the exit office had just blindly stamped the visa three weeks earlier and had not looked to see it was a multi entry visa. 

Phone calls were made. People were not available. I was ushered to a more comfortable office. I asked for water at 1:30 pm. The officers found water for me right away and then were very apologetic as they offered me some of their lunch. More time went by. The immigration officer who had originally refused my entry now referred to me as “Martin”.  I actually thought I would spend some time in custody for refusing to move or go back to Kyrgyzstan. He said to me “No. I help you.” And so he did. 

About 2:30 he took me to the toilet. Pretty Spartan arrangement. Then he handed me my passport with a big stamp across the original cancellation stamp that I think says “annulled” or something to that effect. The captain had been able to move the system and get authority to fix the act of the “the idiot”, a/k/a exit officer. I now have my multi entry status back. 

By now it was over 100 degrees. It was about 2:45.  But there was still processing. So I was searched again – twice. Then I was sent on my way. About 3 p.m. the gates opened and I entered Kazakhstan for the second time.  

So what happened to Tom?  Well he had been told to move along, and was not allowed access to the area I was being held. So he left a note on my tank bag with the coordinates of the hostel in Almaty. Then he hoped for the best.  

I showed up in Almaty about 7:30. The ride was scalding hot. It was the first time on the trip I shed my armored jacket because it was just too hot. When I got some altitude and the temperature dropped I put it back on. But driving bumper to bumper in Almaty in the driving jacket, grueling heat, and no real food since breakfast was sapping. 

Now it is Saturday. If one reads the information from the US embassy in Astana it would appear that US citizens are registed at entry in Kazakhstan. Let me back up. Kazakhstan requires all all foreigners to register within 5 days of arrival with the immigration police. The US consular information says US citizens arriving by air and through land crossings a designated “ports” are automatically registered. I do not know about air, but the land crossings do not register Americans. 

So Tom and I had to find the immigration police and get registered. I was not too bad. It cost about 5 cents to make a copy of our passports, and the lady at the copy machine then filled in our forms. It is all in Russian. For those of you interested in what the paper works really needs to look like, I have photos. This is what you need: 

 

 

The saga continues. The Kazakhstan officials went out of their way to solve a problem not of their making. The young immigration officer did not have to go higher or bail me out. But he did. I gave him my card and told him he has a friend in the USA. I hope he contacts me. I would like to thank him properly.