Sunday, October 14, 2007

Be Good

We are waiting for B to receive his permit to work in Germany. Friday was my last day at work and we'll have about 3-4 weeks to organize the move. The checklist of things to do is a mile long. The pile of papers we have to submit and file for either work, visa or residence permits is growing bigger and bigger.

B's place of employment in Germany requires for him to submit a certificate of conduct, a "Lohnsteuerkarte" (a form that tells the employer your tax category) and some insurance info before he starts. All good and well, except the certificate of conduct needs to be from Germany and he's never lived there before. And we have to pay a 13 Euro fee to the German equivalent of the justice department...

We cannot pay the fee in person because we are still in the US. Paying 13 Euros by check was not an option for us because it takes too long to clear and we were afraid the certificate would get lost int he mail just as we move over there. Our move is complicated by the fact that B has to spend two months in Munich before we settle down in the Bad Homburg area.

So I call Germany to find out what our options are. After listening to the German automatic voice response system , making my selections and a bit of a run around , I finally get connected to a human. I ask her if we can send a 20 Euro bill. Sending cash is risky, a friendly elderly woman tells me. It may delay the processing of the request because they would have to reimburse us 7 Euros. Without a German bank account, this would be complicated. 'What about a wire transfer?' I ask.

She connects me with the "Geldstelle" - their accounting department. A woman answered curtly, asked for my birth date and connected me back with the elderly lady. To make a long story short, she suggests that I pay in dollars at the current exchange rate with a check, after calling the "Geldstelle" woman and calling me back. Back to square one.

A couple of days pass and we decide to wire the 13 Euros to Germany. We needed a receipt to go along with the request. B contacts our local bank, who can't make heads or tails from the bank account numbers, routing numbers, SWIFT and IBAN numbers on the form we had downloaded. We need a street address for the bank in Germany that the 13 Euros are to be wired to. We check on the internet for the bank branch in Germany mentioned on the form - it does not exist.

Because of the time difference, I call the "Geldstelle" again the next morning. The curt lady is nice to me today. She says, the branch in Bonn closed - it's now in Cologne and she gives me the address. I ask, which wire transfer number to use - SWIFT or IBAN? She doesn't know. I find out at work from our accounting department, that the SWIFT number is the one to use for international wire transfers - cost to wire: $38.

Finally, armed with a bank address in Germany and a wire transfer number, and after what surely amounted to more than 13 Euros in phone calls to Germany, B heads to the bank and has the money transfered. We also filed for his American certificate of conduct - just in case.