This post is going to be informative - and without pictures. It will go in detail on how I
Blake was assigned a Relocation Manager (RM) through his company. She really has been incredible throughout the whole process and has been our main contact for any and all questions. Monday afternoon she met us in the hotel lobby before we set out to the German Authorities.
During our brief hotel meeting she gave us TONS of information to have/read about Braunschweig (important things like where the hospital is, how to call the police in an emergency, tax information, garbage and recycling and so on) as well as our plan for Monday and Tuesday. She also gave us a little gift, which I know I was WAY more excited about than Blake hehe!
***WHY I loved the little gift*** If you want a shopping cart at the store here you have to pay for it, sort of. You have to put in a euro coin, and then your cart releases, when you put the cart back nicely and clip it to the cart in front of it, it gives you your coin back. Well the RM gave us little cart coins for our key chains! SO you don't have to have a euro coin! I love them!
I am not going to go into much detail about Blake's process because his was very easy and required little to no effort from us. Between his company and the RM, everything was handled, he just had to show up, show documents, sign papers, and voila.
For me on the other hand, it wasn't/isn't so simple!
The RM made 3 appointments for Monday. Two were at the Braunschweig City Hall, and one was at a Bank in town.
The first appointment was to register with the City Hall to get a piece of paper that basically says you live here. Since we don't have an apartment yet, our hotel provided us with a letter, and the RM worked her magic. She was only required to register Blake, but she was able to get me registered too! All I had to do was show my passport. There was no fee for this. We each walked away with a paper that said we were registered and a folder containing information about the city! The RM told us that we would need that paper for our Visa, to open a bank account, to get a cell phone plan and to get Internet. Basically to do anything we needed this paper. The RM is going to change our address with the City Hall when we move in to our place next week (we both signed a piece of paper authorizing her to work on our behalf), she said she would be able to email them and change our address.
At the City Hall, the main floor is where you do things like the above, the RM also said you go there for driving, parking permits, etc. and if you don't have an appointment you can take a number and have a seat - much like the DMV in the States. Since we had an appointment, we walked to the information counter to tell them we had arrived and she told us what # desk would be assisting us.
The second appointment was to apply for Blake's Visa. For this portion we go upstairs and there is a big open room with a lot of tables and chairs. Along the walls of the room are numbered doors. Each room corresponds to a certain section of letters. The first letter of your last name determines which room you enter. We sat at a table and Blake filled out the application he would be using in just a few moments. The RM had one for me too so I could be ahead of the game. She assisted me on filling it out and got me the email address of the person who works with the W's so I could schedule an appointment for my Visa. There is a TV screen where the last name and the room number are displayed. When your name appears on the screen you know it is your turn to go knock on the corresponding door. Blake's popped up, we knocked, went in, RM chatted, they took his fingerprints, measured him in CM and that was all!
The RM asked the woman doing his Visa to confirm what I would need for the Visa I am applying for to ensure that we would be all set, she also gave a forewarning that I would be returning. The RM explained that because of her asking, it should help when I return to apply.
What is NEEDED:
I am applying for a Language Course Visa, which allows me to live in Germany for 12-15 months AS LONG AS I am enrolled and attending language classes. So tomorrow (Thursday) I will go to the Volkschochschule to enroll. This is an adult school, much like a community college in the USA. Classes will begin July 4.
In addition to my school registration, I have to provide a very specific letter explaining my health insurance coverage.
I have pretty decent health insurance that works while I am in Germany. BUT it doesn't include evacuation coverage (coverage that says if I need to go back to USA or to another country for proper care, it will be covered or if I die here that my insurance will cover my remains being returned to the USA - morbid I know - sorry). So I thought crap... NOW WHAT! Well google, that is what. Google is groovy. Apparently I am not the only person in the world who needs such thing.
I purchased additional health insurance coverage to begin in July and to end next April from here. It was fairly reasonably priced, it was incredibly easy to get, and they provide a very specific CLEAR letter that included EVERYTHING that Germany requires the letter to say. How convenient.
Lastly, they need proof that I can afford to live here and that I have enough money to buy a return ticket.
The RM tells us that I should have NO problems when I return for my appointment. Well there is ONE SMALL PROBLEM, I don't speak German! Thankfully, our friend Vanessa has agreed to accompany me to my appointment and help translate what is being asked of me! So truly there shouldn't be any issues. As a United States Citizen you get 90 days in Germany for just having the passport SO we do have time, but still it is something that we will feel much better about when it is taken care of.
THIRD and Final Appointment:
Like I said before, our RM is awesome! We had time before the final appointment, so we went to a little cafe and had some beer! Then we walked on over to the German Bank.
There was a lot of German being spoke, a lot of papers to sign, a lot of things that I really weren't sure about. And then the next thing you know we have an account. I truly don't think it was that easy and I am still not sure how it works, how we access the online banking, where our debit cards are, how we change our address and so on, BUT we have an account and a CRAP ton of papers in German to explain the above. The cards are being mailed to the hotel this weekend, a long with the online banking part. But the rest I still don't know about and am not sure I ever will. So fine.
That completes the end of our Monday.
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