And the Process has Begun!

In order to live and work in Brussels, we must become residents of the city. To do that, we must register ourselves with the town hall. Brussels is a very large city, so there are several different postal codes that section off the city. We were warned from the beginning to stay away from code 1000 - just do it they said. Well wouldn't ya know, here we are in postal code 1000 because we found such a great place!

Map Relocations, the company we have been working with on all things related to - imagine this - our relocation has finally begun helping us get this process started. Yesterday I had to venture outside of the city to meet the agent, Cindy, at her office. I followed the directions given to me by Google Maps as far as utilizing public transportation, thought I was going to lose it when I couldn't find the correct place to get on the bus, but I made it!

The first step in the process is to get all of our documents "apostilled". I am really not sure what this exactly means, but basically they need to have the Belgian consulate in the US verify that the documents we provide them are certified from the US government. Both our marriage certificate and our FBI background checks (it was awesome, we got fingerprinted down at the police station in Charlotte one morning) need to have this certification. Because our relocation happened so quickly, we were unaware of these things and thus were not able to have them "apostilled" before we left the US. Thankfully the woman I met with yesterday at Map is going to send them back to the US for us!

She said she will send copies, for now, to the town hall so that they know we have begun the process. Technically you are supposed to be fully registered with the town hall within 3 months of your arrival. Well Tonico is coming up on that date, so it's time to get things going!

Tonico is finishing up a week of work in Italy, so this afternoon we had a 3 way conversation with Cindy about what the next steps are. She sent over the documents to the Town Hall. Now, we wait for them to email her back with an appointment date. This will be our first visit, they call it "declaration of arrival" and should only take about 30 minutes or less. Then, in the next week or two, the police will make a stop at our apartment to ensure that we indeed live where we said we did and that we are not living with 20 other people - seems absurd but apparently that happens more than you'd think in Belgium!

Once the police have verified our living situation, they relay that message back to the town hall. Then we will wait for our second "invitation" from the hall to visit and do the actual registration which can take up to an hour and a half. Thankfully, Cindy or another representative will accompany us on our visits to the town hall to help with translation and such!

Now, this all seems relatively simple, but Cindy reiterated with us several times that at 1000 Brussels, you never know! They apparently have security all over the town hall because things can get very heated. They change their policies, or have little things they require from us that they didn't from someone else, etc (another reason the agent will come with us). She also said it is likely this process can take at least a month but more than likely about 3 months! So we are in for a long one!

Keep your fingers crossed that things go as smoothly as possible!