2005/01/25
This morning I dusted the ice off my bicycle seat, and zoomed through the darkness to the office of the 'Register Amsterdam'. They do all manner of administrative dealings to do with people in Amsterdam. And lately they have also taken over a part of the duties previously handled by the 'Foreign Police'. As I am officially a 'niet-westerse allochtoon' (a non-western foreigner) I am currently doing the paper-dance in making sure that I am a legal resident of these fair climes.
Problem is, it is costing me a bundle. As mentioned in the title I had to pay them EUR 430 this morning. And that is purely for the privilege of having them send the forms to the IND. If the application (to change the status of my residence permit) is rejected, you don't get a refund. That is besides the money that I have already paid last year May for my naturalisation application, which is still in Limbo, and might take a long time. Or a short time, in which case this current residence permit will have been completely bogus.
And not even to speak of the incredible attitude problem of the staff at the reception this morning. As thick as two planks AND grumpy as hell. Sigh. At least the kind lady (with hoofddoek) who checked my forms was relatively friendly and seemed to have two brain cells.
A few days later, on the eight o'clock news an item about the efforts by the government to make foreigners feel welcome. Huh? Did I hear that correctly? I have been here for more than six years, and not once has someone gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. And I am supposed to be in the 'desirables' category, good skills set, techno-worker, bla bla bla. Fuggit. :-(
