Officially a Local. I am now a Class C Resident.

Requiring a monstrous eleven and a half weeks of bureaucracy and patience from start to finish, I finally received a Class C Resident stamp in my passport. However, the overarching question: does this make me Tanzanian?

Against a simple list of qualifiers, the verdict is uncertain at best but is in my favor.

- Do I speak Swahili?

Basic. I have a strong start but fade quickly when substance of politics or sports replaces greetings and simple exchanges. I smile a lot to compensate for that deficit. (+1 Tanzanian point)

- Do I like to eat mishkaki and ugali?

Simply put, no. (-1 Tanzanian point)

- Do I ride public transport?

Much to my mother’s chagrin, yes. I wholeheartedly support three-wheeled vehicles and the ever popular daladala – a minivan with 3-4x as many people as should be riding inside. If H1N1 is looking for a low threshold with high population density, this would be its entry gameplan for Tanzania. (+1 Tanzanian point)

Well, based on that, its looking in my favor to have legit TZ street cred accompanying my Class C Resident Visa.

It should be noted that my multi-entry Tourist Visa is a full-page sticker; it’s nice, typed and organized. Oddly, the harder-to-get-due-to-bureaucracy Class C is a blue-ink stamp, filled in by hand. Tanzania should rethink its resident branding; this is yet another missed opportunity for a zebra or giraffe printed background or something more “authentic” to show off Tanzania’s selling points.