Red Tape Part 2

Well, I had my appointment at the 'stadskantoor' today. At least it was on time. I didn't have to wait around at all. The man was at desk 11, ready and waiting, with lots of papers.

I gave him my small mountain of papers which he photocopied one at a time. He actually took one document, went and photocopied it, came back, asked me for the next one, went and photocopied it, came back, asked me for the next one...you get the picture.

I now know why they allow 45 minutes for this appointment!

I think they have 4 copies of my passport now.

But it was all relatively painless and he put another sticker in my passport that said I have applied for a residence permit. All the photocopies will be sent to the IND who will take 3 to 4 months to process the actual residence permit. But in 10 days I should get a paper saying that I have applied for it?! I thought that's what the sticker was for?

He seemed to be on the ball so I asked him if I could apply for a So-Fi (tax) number which I need to be able to work.

Oops. This was not his area of expertise (reminiscent of "computer says no" for all you Little Britain fans).

At least he admitted he didn't know and told me to call the tax office.

Now the tax office is a whole other ball game. You have to call a number and give them your details and they call you back in 2 days to arrange, yes, you guessed it, an appointment!

At least I'm learning the art of sitting-around-because-I-can't-work-but-I-can't-do-too-much-because-I-don't-know-when-I-will-be-able-to-work-and-have-to-keep-an-eye-on-my-ever-decreasing-savings, I mean, patience.