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On my resume/CV, I need to explain a 3-month gap wherein I was unemployed because I needed a work permit for the country where my then-future job was to be and the process had taken longer than expected (3 months longer, to be exact). I had of course terminated my previous employment, and so I had nothing to fall back on.

How do I write on my resume/CV "was unemployed for three months because of bureaucracy" without either making it look like I'm blaming or raising unwanted questions of "oh, why were they refused a residence permit?" I do not want to talk about it in any way to future employers: Nothing constructive can come of it and talking about it just wastes my time and the time of any potential interviewers.

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How about putting something simple and factual like:

Jun 16 - Sept 16 - Awaiting work permit for Country X in order to commence Job Y

It doesn't sound like an excuse or blaming anything - and most people reading that will understand that it accounts for one of those inconvenient periods of thumb twiddling that come along with dealing with large bureaucracies.

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3 month gap is not a big deal, you usually just have a list of your previous jobs with the period of time associated. It's not a declaration of where have you been in the last 10 years so you don't need to write explicitly about it. If this question comes up in an interview just explain what happened, you have nothing to be afraid of.

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  • No, on many job applications it is explicitly stated that you have to describe any and all gaps in employment.
    – errantlinguist
    Nov 9, 2017 at 13:17
  • Waiting a few months to settle some bureaucratic problems before starting work probably won't be considered as a gap in employment, more like technical problemes before starting work. It is very different from spending years without anything (no procedures to start working).
    – everyone
    Nov 9, 2017 at 13:35

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