The previous reviewer is right about the building: it's decent (a typical office building, with at least a dozen other countries' consulates in it, among other tenants) and the parking is indeed convenient, although the Bulgarian Consulate refused to validate my parking stub (to the surprise of the building's security staff on the main floor, who swore they were supposed to), so I ended up paying for it. But that's really a minor detail; unlike Boyan's experience, mine was horrid. Early last year (2010) my Bulgarian passport was about to expire so I was following the news about the protracted, thrice delayed and almost canceled tender to issue new biometric passports, the penalties threatened by the EU because of the delays, etc. Finally, in March 2010 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement on its site (mfa.bg) that a number of its diplomatic and consular missions had begun processing applications for the new identity documents (passports, IDs, driving licenses). All four of Bulgaria's missions to the U.S., including the one in LA, were explicitly listed. Hallelujah! After a few failed attempts to get a hold of someone on the phone, I took a flight down there and showed up at the small room that is the consulate's customer service area one sunny day in early May. The middle-aged bleach-blonde at the window barely looked at me when I wished her a good morning. "What do you want?", she asked in that stereotypical tone expressing simultaneously disdain, boredom and impatience. "A new passport, please," I said. "We don't do passports right now". "Pardon?" "I said we don't issue passports right now! Do you want a temporary passport?" I was dumbfounded. "No, thank you, I would like a regular passport. According to the foreign ministry's site, you've been processing passport applications for nearly two months now." At this point the fake blonde started to lose her cool. "Don't you see that we don't have the biometric equipment installed yet," she yelled, pointing at a USB cable sticking out of the wall. "We can't process applications without the thumbprint reader!" True, I thought, though that didn't quite explain why her superiors at the ministry seemed to think otherwise. I briefly considered offering to buy them a thumbprint reader from the Office Depot down the street, but luckily my wisdom prevailed and instead I inquired when they'd have their equipment ready. "I don't know," she said. "Sometime this summer. You should have called or checked on OUR website anyway!" "I tried to call, several times, but no one ever answered," I said. "Besides, you do NOT have a website. I spent two hours looking for one and all I found was a photo album from the consul's wedding last month!" "We do have a website," she insisted. "Really? In that case perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me the address, would you?" At this point she became less certain in her (erroneous) conviction and switched the subject: "Are you sure you don't want a temporary passport? It's good for six months!" "No, thanks, I'm going to New York next month, I'll get a regular one there."
Things got hectic and I had to postpone my NY trip, but I kept periodically calling the consulate in LA. I never got through to a human, but eventually toward mid- to late-June the greeting on their (un)answering machine changed. "We are happy to announce that the Bulgarian Consulate General in Los Angeles is now processing applications for new biometric Bulgarian identity documents," a recorded male voice pompously proclaimed. "Fantastic," I said to myself, doing my best to suppress my doubts. Went back to LA in early July and encountered the same "blonde" sitting at the window. Her roots were getting out of control. Got successfully fingerprinted and photographed, but had a question regarding one specific section on the form. I wanted to make sure I had correctly designated my mother to pick up the documents in Sofia for me. I've had her do this before (and FedEx them directly to me), as it can cut down the waiting period for the "express" service from two months to one. I'm running out of space for this review, but basically the fake blonde tried to dissuade me, then another consular official appeared at the window and confirmed I had filled out everything correctly, then the "blonde" started aggressively arguing with her that I should leave the section blank so as to "not limit my options" (?). I decided to submit it filled out nonetheless. In response to my inquiry, the "blonde" said she was going to transmit the data to Sofia the same day. However, through a connection of mine at the ministry, I found out it didn't get sent until more than three weeks later. Furthermore, whoever did the data entry ended up omitting (intentionally?) the very section of the form I described above, as if I had never filled it out, rendering my mother unable to pick up the documents for me.
On the upside, the ordeal cured my homesickness. Public service, I suppose. read more
