As all Discovery-addicts know: purple crocodiles like to swim in the Nile-river in Egypt. Of course not literally, since Egypt is kinda dangereous nowadays (though some friends of the crocodile will venture through this country of pyramids and sand).
But to be on a more serious note: we got a letter from the IND, and got denied big time. According to them, one piece of evidence was missing: a paper from the city stating that we live together as a happy purple croc' family. The funny thing is that back in march we did a dual registration thing: registering Miss Croc as resident in Utrecht (at our well-known address) AND the IND registration. The city-worker promised me she would add the city's registration paper (proving Miss Croc's place of residence) to the file. Apparently, that has not been done.
So friday 13th (no spells) i ran off work after lunch, joined up with Miss Croc at the city hall, got her registration form (stating 2 persons live at the address, one of them Miss Croc); but also one form for me (stating that 2 persons live at the address, one of them being me). We hope the IND is smart enough that Miss Crocc and Mister Crocc form the 2 people living there: you never know.
The odds that something else turns out to be wrong is.........I dont know.
But let me just say that Miss Croc's place of birth is registrered as the STATE she has been born in, not goold old S-town. I asked whether that would be a problem to the 2 city workers, and of course according to them this is not a problem. However I forgot to tape them, so no evidence.
Well of to G-land to meet up with some former Croc-host parents. God bless the Crocs and the IND!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Getting a Residence Permit
This post contains possible errors, since some of the events have taken place over 2 months ago. I will try though to describe situations as truthfull as possible (what is truth? good question, i have no answer to that, so let me just begin my story).
To get a partner into the netherlands you have to follow the following scheme:
question --> answer (within paratheses response of IND)
1) What is the reason? --> Love. (Ok go to next question)
2) EU or NON-EU? --> NON-EU (HAHA you are in big troubles mister!)
3) Western-country (US, Canada, Australia, Japan etc) or Non-Western Country (the rest)? --> "Western country". Note the paratheses: my partners' home country knows cities with a higher infant mortality rates than so-called non-western countries. But gradual differences do no exist, right: it is black or white, modern or traditional.
(This means you do not need an MVV (a visa for your partner for the 3 first months. in this period your partner has to apply for VVT (verblijfsvergunning voor bepaalde tijd)).
4) What is your partners' age? --> uhmmm 26. (if under 21, you are not allowed to get your partner to the Netherlands)
5) What is your income? --> It's getting personal now huh.....well i suppose around 1550 euro after taxes (lucky bastard: you need 1484 euro after taxes to get your partner here. That is 120 % of minimum wage)
6) What type of contract do you have? --> uhm temporary for over 1.5 years left (that is enough, generally a one year contract is required)
7) Do you have your own dwelling? --> well i came prepared so i started renting a private renting dwelling. i used to live in cheap student accomodation, but that is not enough (Ok we got to check that though)
Ok enough schemes.
Preparing the arrival of your partner is tough. All the documents that are needed: unbelievable.
Let me illustrate this with an example: to prove you have a job you need different documents. For example your yearly taxform (over the last 3 years), a salary slip over the last 3 months, a copy of your contract, and prove that you have been registered with the taxes (prove that you pay your monthly taxes).
Well certain problems arose: first, the salary slip is only send at the moment there are changes of salary. If no changes have occured, no slip will be sent. And of course nothing changed in the month before the permit application. So no slip.....how will IND handle that (PURPLE CROCODILE)?
Second: a special form was needed to provide evidence that i am registered with taxes. A simple person would guess that the yearly taxform would be enough evidence. Unfortunately IND thinks differently and request a form that my employer never heard of. After many phone calls with the financial section, IND and human resources, we found that my employer could not hand me the form....(and I work at a semi-governmental institution....PURPLE CROCODILE). Solution? Well just making so many copies of so many different forms that possibly indicate i am registered with taxes, that IND accept it.
Then, at the moment your partner arrives, you need to get some documents indicating her marital status. We spend our monday travelling from U-town to A-town and DH-town. In Amsterdam getting the paper indicating that she is unmarried, getting it legalised in DH town and then returning it in Utown.
Hopelessly naiev, I thought that at the city, the application would be immediately processes. NOT! No this worker would accept the papers and wanted to make an appointment to discuss the application (typical dutch, always discussing whatever...PURPLE?). Well we had to make one for 3 weeks later. But the dude, wasnt really sure what he was doing. He mentioned that i did not need certain documents, while i was sure i needed it and told him. Then after a while he noticed he did need the document. Ohhhhhhhhhhh.
Anyhow, no official application. I called city house back, to ask why such a meeting was necessary. Well to make sure everything was present (like that would be the case with a city worker who doesnt know what documents are needed....). I requested a reschedule that same week. That wasnt possible, but if i would only need to come by to pay for the permit (816 euros kchingggg) i was welcome. That was about to happen. But they told me i need to prove that my partner was living at the same address. The owner of the place had to sign a paper to prove that.
So in a hurry we did that. But my estate agent, did not want to do that, since my partner did not pay of the rent (POTENTIAL PURPLE CROCODILE). Mmmm in the end the civil servant at the city hall, was ok. She was more relaxed and wanted to actual help. Anyways, permit application was now official. Unfortunately the application for the inburgeringscourse was not a big success. More on that, next time
Cheers,
Purple Crocodile
To get a partner into the netherlands you have to follow the following scheme:
question --> answer (within paratheses response of IND)
1) What is the reason? --> Love. (Ok go to next question)
2) EU or NON-EU? --> NON-EU (HAHA you are in big troubles mister!)
3) Western-country (US, Canada, Australia, Japan etc) or Non-Western Country (the rest)? --> "Western country". Note the paratheses: my partners' home country knows cities with a higher infant mortality rates than so-called non-western countries. But gradual differences do no exist, right: it is black or white, modern or traditional.
(This means you do not need an MVV (a visa for your partner for the 3 first months. in this period your partner has to apply for VVT (verblijfsvergunning voor bepaalde tijd)).
4) What is your partners' age? --> uhmmm 26. (if under 21, you are not allowed to get your partner to the Netherlands)
5) What is your income? --> It's getting personal now huh.....well i suppose around 1550 euro after taxes (lucky bastard: you need 1484 euro after taxes to get your partner here. That is 120 % of minimum wage)
6) What type of contract do you have? --> uhm temporary for over 1.5 years left (that is enough, generally a one year contract is required)
7) Do you have your own dwelling? --> well i came prepared so i started renting a private renting dwelling. i used to live in cheap student accomodation, but that is not enough (Ok we got to check that though)
Ok enough schemes.
Preparing the arrival of your partner is tough. All the documents that are needed: unbelievable.
Let me illustrate this with an example: to prove you have a job you need different documents. For example your yearly taxform (over the last 3 years), a salary slip over the last 3 months, a copy of your contract, and prove that you have been registered with the taxes (prove that you pay your monthly taxes).
Well certain problems arose: first, the salary slip is only send at the moment there are changes of salary. If no changes have occured, no slip will be sent. And of course nothing changed in the month before the permit application. So no slip.....how will IND handle that (PURPLE CROCODILE)?
Second: a special form was needed to provide evidence that i am registered with taxes. A simple person would guess that the yearly taxform would be enough evidence. Unfortunately IND thinks differently and request a form that my employer never heard of. After many phone calls with the financial section, IND and human resources, we found that my employer could not hand me the form....(and I work at a semi-governmental institution....PURPLE CROCODILE). Solution? Well just making so many copies of so many different forms that possibly indicate i am registered with taxes, that IND accept it.
Then, at the moment your partner arrives, you need to get some documents indicating her marital status. We spend our monday travelling from U-town to A-town and DH-town. In Amsterdam getting the paper indicating that she is unmarried, getting it legalised in DH town and then returning it in Utown.
Hopelessly naiev, I thought that at the city, the application would be immediately processes. NOT! No this worker would accept the papers and wanted to make an appointment to discuss the application (typical dutch, always discussing whatever...PURPLE?). Well we had to make one for 3 weeks later. But the dude, wasnt really sure what he was doing. He mentioned that i did not need certain documents, while i was sure i needed it and told him. Then after a while he noticed he did need the document. Ohhhhhhhhhhh.
Anyhow, no official application. I called city house back, to ask why such a meeting was necessary. Well to make sure everything was present (like that would be the case with a city worker who doesnt know what documents are needed....). I requested a reschedule that same week. That wasnt possible, but if i would only need to come by to pay for the permit (816 euros kchingggg) i was welcome. That was about to happen. But they told me i need to prove that my partner was living at the same address. The owner of the place had to sign a paper to prove that.
So in a hurry we did that. But my estate agent, did not want to do that, since my partner did not pay of the rent (POTENTIAL PURPLE CROCODILE). Mmmm in the end the civil servant at the city hall, was ok. She was more relaxed and wanted to actual help. Anyways, permit application was now official. Unfortunately the application for the inburgeringscourse was not a big success. More on that, next time
Cheers,
Purple Crocodile
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The return of the croc
So you fall in love with a foreigner (or alien as people from another country are sometimes called in the English-American language). A foreigner is somebody who is not born in a part of the area that is part of your country. That is a big mistake buddy. WARNING to all persons under the legal age: it is strongly recommended to fall in love with a person who lives in the same country and who has a passport from the same country. Not following this advice most certainly leads to emotional damage and will cause you a lot of difficulties.
Personally I never gave a rat's @ss about someones nationality. To me that whole nation-state thing is way overrated. The idea of nation-state is in my view just a faulty construction to unify people. However the fundaments of this construction leads to often very strong polarisation between insiders and outsiders (read Elias' work on this in his book "The established and the outsiders, 1965). The nation-state leads to a strong internal cohesive feeling (which may of couse differ between states), sometimes leading to wars, often with less visible consequences (patriotic feelings).
This internal cohesion can possibly lead to a misplaced superiority feeling by the insiders. Especially if outsiders execute (unwanted) action this may accumulate into political polarisation. Wait a minute..........didn't this happened over the last 6 years in the Netherlands (apparently my homecountry, at least according to my passport)
Personally I never gave a rat's @ss about someones nationality. To me that whole nation-state thing is way overrated. The idea of nation-state is in my view just a faulty construction to unify people. However the fundaments of this construction leads to often very strong polarisation between insiders and outsiders (read Elias' work on this in his book "The established and the outsiders, 1965). The nation-state leads to a strong internal cohesive feeling (which may of couse differ between states), sometimes leading to wars, often with less visible consequences (patriotic feelings).
This internal cohesion can possibly lead to a misplaced superiority feeling by the insiders. Especially if outsiders execute (unwanted) action this may accumulate into political polarisation. Wait a minute..........didn't this happened over the last 6 years in the Netherlands (apparently my homecountry, at least according to my passport)
Croc croc in da house
This blog will tell you about getting your partner from abroad to the Netherlands. It will tell about the crazy Dutch system. It will enrich your life with substantial words as "inburgeringscursus" , "dubbele nationaliteit" , IND and of course the purple crocodile.
I called this blogspot after a famous commercial in the Netherlands, depicting a tragic scene of a city worker who is the ultimate example of bureaucracy, autocracy, inflexibility and de-humanity. It also (probably) a portion of power-madness. Over the next period I will try to give some livid examples of this.
(this commercial is online available at:
www.ohra.nl/nl/demo/commercials/tv_zwembad.html).
I called this blogspot after a famous commercial in the Netherlands, depicting a tragic scene of a city worker who is the ultimate example of bureaucracy, autocracy, inflexibility and de-humanity. It also (probably) a portion of power-madness. Over the next period I will try to give some livid examples of this.
(this commercial is online available at:
www.ohra.nl/nl/demo/commercials/tv_zwembad.html).
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