Getting Our Permanent Residence Visas

Aweh, guys!

So, the next step in our emigration red tape adventure was to convert out MVV visa into a permanent residence visa. The company that got us here made an appointment for us at the Expat Center at the Stadskantoor Gemeente (basically city hall) in Utrecht to do so. Admittedly I was concerned. I was missing my birth certificate as home affairs did not issue it before we left, and I knew it was necessary.

Our appointment was only at 12:50 but I went with hubby to work which is right by Leidsche Rein and I went to the Jumbo there as they have a food hall. This was my first time drinking warm chocomel which is like the thickest, most decadent chocolate milk. It was deliciously cosy.

We then took the train to Utrecht Centraal and the the stadskantoor is conveniently located outside the doors. We went in and checked in at the front desk. We had an appointment with a specific consultant, and we had to wait for her.

Right on time we were met by a lovely lady who gave us a very warm welcome. She explained what we needed to do, gave us forms to fill in and reminded us about our TB tests that would need to take place within the 4 month time frame and the paperwork for that. We would not need to schedule an appointment for the test and the cost would be 50 euros per person.

I also have no idea what was wrong with hubby. He was in charge of the documents folder which included our passports and kept leaving it behind! Eventually I just had to take over responsibility for them to make sure they didn’t get lost. What a nonsense!

Once our paperwork was filled in, she took us to a counter with a very friendly gentleman who was going to capture our information and issue the residence cards. I took a deep breath and told him that we were still waiting on my birth certificate. I was expecting him to halt my application but instead he was very understanding. As long as we sent it in eventually, there wouldn’t be a problem.

Our cards were issued in a matter of seconds and we were given a form our BSN number (burgerservicenummer) for identification and tax purposes. We were then told to have a nice day. This was the first time I had left a government building with a smile on my face. The only hitch was that we couldn’t register our marriage even though we had our marriage certificate due to the missing birth certificate. Ah well… guess we will have to live in sin.