Getting Legal

I took for granted being the citizen of the USA and living there legally. Not having been in any other country other than to vacation, I did not think much of moving overseas for a year. However, becoming legal in Belgium was a totally different experience. One that taught many lessons, and something I want to share for anyone else who may be moving overseas.

First. Starting about 5 months before my family and I left the states, we went Belgium embassy's website in New York to see what exactly we needed in order to move to Belgium for the year. There was a nice little link we clicked on for if you we going to be living there for more than 3 months for work purposes. PERFECT!! Print that page and continue to follow all of the instructions, checking and double checking all the way down the line. Over the next 5 months, I ordered birth and marriage certificates, got my family fingerprinted for an FBI background check (including my two year old), made doctors appointments for filling out "medically fit to work" paperwork I also printed off from the website, got witness signatures notarized, and filed the paperwork for my visa application. According to the embassy website, only I needed a visa since I was the only one that would be working (or so we thought). This was a good thing, as a visa costs about $130. Fortunately my visa was granted very quickly and we were ready to go before our plane departed!

Second. Upon arriving in the country, you must register at city hall within 8 days of arrival. No problem. We went to city hall, took a number and then . . . . . . . . .waited. . . . . . . . . and waited. After about 1.5 hours of waiting we were finally called. We went to see a lady who instructed us in 3 things.
1. Each of us must fill out a yellow paper (name, have we lived in Belgium before, date of arrival, etc.) Attached to this paper was a list of things we needed to bring back with us like birth certificates, FBI background checks, etc. A couple of items on this list were crossed out with black marker . . . this is important to note.
2. Two doctor forms that Mindy and I must have completed by a local doctor by the time we are called back to city hall (even though I had spent $250 on the one the Belgium Embassy said must be completed, they did not care or even look at it. Back stateside I had to have lung x-rays and blood work done for it! That was no good here.)
3. A police man would visit our house address just to make sure we actually lived where we said we did. After the police had visited, we would get a yellow postcard in the mail with an appointment time to return to continue the process of getting our resident cards.

Third There was an uneasy feeling as we looked over our paperwork and kept hearing the term apostille from people at city hall. When I read the Embassy website, it seemed that the apostille was just the term for official copy of the birth certificate and marriage license with the state seals. I did not research any further. BIG mistake. An apostille is a seperate document that comes with each certificate. Really a completely redundant document that said nothing more than the certificate itself. However, I did not have these and quickly contacted relatives back home. They got on the phone and within about 3 weeks, we had the apostilles mailed to Belgium that we needed.

Fourth Police come and we got called back to city hall about 3 weeks later. We notice they keep talking Dutch to each other about our files and we knew that something wa wrong. Turns out, one of the things on the list they had given us that had been crossed out should not have been crossed out (a check for huisvesting). City hall was supposed to order someone to come out to our house and check to see that it was big enough for 3 people to live in, and that we were not hiding 293 extra people in our apartment. There was a backlog of work in this area and it might take up to 6 months to have this done. Also, they had forgotten to mention that Mia needed this doctor check as well even though the first time they told us it was only Mindy and me. Back to doctor we went to gets Mia's doctors note saying that she was not infecting the whole of Belgium with some strange bug. In the mean time, I was given the go ahead for my residence card since I had a visa. Mia and Mindy however were not. They were given temporary status to live here for 3 months. After Sept the 26th they would not be legal anymore. "So what about the 6 month waiting time on the house check!?" we exclaimed. According to city hall they could renew for another 3 month temporary residence if necessary.

While all of this was going on, we had signed up the family for health insurance. Mia was not given insurance at our first meeting. They said she needed her resident card in order to get it. Mindy and I were reportedly fine though. A week later, Mindy was denied health coverage and we went to see why. The explanation we received was that they needed identity cards from city hall first since they didn't have visas. But city hall was telling us that we had to wait until all the house checks were finished. Ahhhhhhh!! Of course Mia was supposed to begin school shortly, and they won't allow uninsured children to attend school. Afterall, insurance is provided by the government for everyone, except people like us just trying to live and work here temporarily I guess. Fortunately the school was willing to take a copy of my legal insurance as proof that soon Mia would have hers and all would be well. Two months later we are still waiting for Mia's insurance cards.

Fifth. It only took about a month to get our house inspection (huisvesting) done and Mia and Mindy were about a week out from becoming illegal. We went to city hall 2 days before our status expired and waited for about 2 hours in line. For some reason, since Mia and Mindy were trying a second time for resident cards, they had to send the policeman AGAIN to our house to verify our address. Really people, again! We were sent home to wait for that, after which we would receive another yellow card to come in. About 2 weeks later, we got the yellow card and all returned to city hall. When we returned, Mia and Mindy both received their residence cards!!! Finally after almost 4 months of living here. I do want to say however, that people do not always have this much trouble. Friends who moved here after us, got there cards within 6 weeks. One of them was with a student visa, and the other had dual citizenship with the US and a European country, so the process was easy for them.

If you talk to any Belgians, they will also tell you that they think the paperwork and bureaucracy is messed up. But I assure them that I don't think it is any better in the states. I've been to the Illinois DMV just after the semester has started and seen the crazy lines of people trying to get IDs, and when I lost my wallet and had to get a new social security card and driver's license I stood in line forever. Basically this post is to forewarn anyone trying to establish residence in another country, be patient and be prepared. The process is still not complete for us but we are definitely more legal today than we were 3 months ago. Depending on the country you are hoping to transit to, call ahead and get information from people who have moved there and from the immigration offices there. Those people can give you the most accurate information. Don't trust the embassy offices in your own country, they have false information and we know at least 3 families here that were told the wrong thing by the Belgian embassies in the US and Canada.

Lastly, we have learned from this experience what it is like to be an outsider in a foreign land. I have so much more respect now for people moving to a foreign country to study or work. It is a difficult transition and the culture shock must be enormous. Yes, even from the US to Europe there has been shock. We have been blessed with lots of colleagues turned friends that have helped us with every step. When we return to the US, the Richmonds will have an open door and heart to anyone transitioning to our culture from their own. It is not an easy step, and I imagine the culture in the US will seem crazy to most that aren't used to it.