Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Update

Just came back from the town hall. Our lady wasn't there but a new bureaucrat guy to deal with, who obviously had never heard of a Working Holiday Visa before. He started asking robotically for our rental contracts and busying himself at the photocopier and when given the long spiel on our situation stared blankly at us. Quoting the lady we've been dealing with, he smugly replies, "I can't believe that she'd say that". Oh, ok then.

He told us we'd have to wait 2-3 weeks to be registered which would then allow us to come back for a sofinumber. The tax office told us when we had the residency sticker we could come in and they would give us the sofinumber the same day, whereas the IND and the town hall both told us it was the town hall that would give us the sofinumber. So now we are going back to the tax office and trying our luck there.

When I get stressed, I automatically think: cigarettes. But I'm being strong and don't want to take a step backwards. Deep breaths.
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We went to the tax office, and asked to see someone about getting a sofinumber. They told us it was too late (3pm) and that we'd have to make an appointment, which would take two days for them to call us back with a time. We suggested we come back in the morning, which she said was fine, that they open at 8am but the staff we need to see don't start till 9 or 10am. When we were there the other week, the girl scribbled something on the back of an envelope and gave it to us for next time, so we showed the receptionist. "Ah, this is very important! You don't need an appointment. Just come back anytime". Funny because there was nothing on the envelope that had a code or our names or anything that could identify what we needed.

Tomorrow morning, we go back.

5 comments:

deepkickgirl said...

Honestly! The phrase "chasing your own tail" comes to mind.

Stay strong on the ciggie front! Bad, bad ciggies!

Love ya! K

Sarah said...

i'm sure its a great country and all but you seem to have done nothing but battle the red tape since you've been there.

I admire your resilience...I'd be having MAJOR temper tantrums by now.

Karen said...

And think about how much deeper your breaths will be the longer you avoid ciggies. Stay strong!

surfercam said...

Sounds like an episode of Fawlty Towers....

Unknown said...

hope you have it all sorted by now!