Worldly Chatter

I had my appointment with the Sociale Zaken this afternoon; a mandatory appointment so I had to take the afternoon off for work to do this. I have to take the inburgering exam and it must be completed within five years because I am an American, apparently if someone comes from other countries not on a list they have to have it done in three and a half. This list applies for other conditions as well when it comes to the IND and staying in the Netherlands. I was able to bypass taking courses in my home country and waiting approximately 2 years before I would be accepted or denied my stay in the Netherlands. I was able to wait it out in the Netherlands once I applied, some countries listed you have to wait in your home country. Interesting stuff, I tell you but anyway. I was accepted on the 21 of February this year and received my permit in March so my five years starts from February.

If I finish my inburgering and pass the exam with a level two within 3 years then I can get 70% of what I put in financially into my inburgering or up to 3,000 euro. In addition, if I finish and passed with a level two then I can apply for my residence permit independently or even apply for my citizenship in three years time. That means that Dutchie would no longer be responsible for me under the law, I would be my own person responsible to myself and the burden of the IND would be off Dutchies shoulders. In five years time I would also be able to go for my permanent residence on my own if I pass with a level two. Now, if I do NOT pass my exam with a level two within 5 years time I can ask for an extension of two years. If I refuse to take it in five years time they can fine me for not following the law which was put into effect January of this year. This also means I would still be bound to Dutchie and Dutchie would remain my caregiver and have to deal with the IND indefinitely. However, there is a catch to me getting my money back at the end of all this. I have to do to a school the Dutch government as granted permission to certify someone in Dutch. I can go independently or self teach but I would see no money back, though the exam would still count. The person I had the appointment with gave me the current list of institutions and schools under this program with the government and currently there is only one in Hilversum under it.

Therefore, I called the school today to find out what I would have to do to get this jump-started. I would have my assessment meeting with them first with an exam to see how much Dutch I know as well as how much of Holland I know. This exam is 270 euro and would have to lay it out on that meeting. If I stick with them and attend classes there, I get the money back. Still hurts that I have to lay it out!

Now about our wedding plans! I called the IND to see what the holdup was. I had to ask permission to marry Dutchie and did so through the IND as instructed. Its been six weeks and there hadn’t been any word on their answer. After waiting twenty minutes on the phone I get told that on the sixteenth they sent the form I filed with them back to the town hall in Hilversum with the answer of yes. That is ten days after we originally put in the request. Now another three and a half weeks later it seems that Hilversum had this form all along and have yet to let us know! They were supposed to get back to us the moment they received an answer from the IND! We could have had a date already! So now Dutchie is calling town hall tomorrow because they are only open until one in the afternoon and I can’t call them from work. If we don’t get somewhere with that we are going to the town hall on Thursday to get some answers. Thursday is shopping night here in Hilversum so everything is open later. We can get married! The IND said yes! Now all we have to do is figure out where out papers went! Big fat OY!

IND Netherlands, expats, inburgerings examen, worldly chatter, integration, Dutch languages, Dutch language classes