The Ministry of Homeland Affairs

Today (Wednesday) we went to the Ministry of Homeland Affairs to start the process to secure a visa for Cornelia to leave the country.  Our job was to show up with all the correct documents and leave the rest to Mr. Chawla's assistant, Kuldeep.  Kuldeep met us outside the HMA building.  He walked us through security and to the correct office, then sat down with us and completed the necessary forms.  After that it was a matter of waiting, although it seemed to Mike that Kuldeep was making things happen via phone calls and text messages from the waiting room.  For example, he seemed to know when to take the documents to the appropriate person and seemed to know when everything was finished – and the only communications he was having was via his cell phone.  After about an hour he put us on the phone with Radhika who explained that this step in the process was completed and that one of us would have to come back at 5:00 p.m. to pick up a sealed envelop.  The envelope is to be delivered to the Foreign Regional Registration Office the following day – and cannot be opened.  It has to arrive at the FRRO still sealed.  All of this was expected so there were no surprises today – which is a good thing.

While sitting with Kuldeep Mike asked him if he helped our friends Jeff and Jeff.  He said he had and then started thumbing through his pocket-sized steno pad.  He had already jotted down on his little pad some information about Mike, Ken and Cornelia – names, birth dates, etc.  He thumbed through his pad until he found his notes about Jeff and Jeff from two months earlier.  And then, as he was thumbing through the pad, he mentioned things like, "This couple was from Finland.  This couple was from the UK.  This couple was from Australia and had three babies."  We realized that this little pad probably had the record of international surrogacy in Delhi for the past six months.  Incredible!

At 5:00 Mike returned to the office for the envelope and all went smoothly.  Tomorrow morning it's off to the FRRO.