Lost in Translations
Marriage certificate, drivers license, birth certificate - just some of the things we had translated into German and approved at the embassy yesterday. Additional things needing translation include a letter from the car insurance confirming our good record and a letter from our landlord about being good renters.
A bit of panic on the Titanic yesterday, when B received an e-mail from the health insurance company. The German was too legalese and we interpreted what is said to mean that we had to go with private insurance as opposed to the statuatory insurance but a call to the representative in Germany cleared it all up. The insurer was just checking to make sure we would not be double-insured. Only 10% of Germans are covered by private insurance - it's very costly - and it would not have fit into our budget.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
When we got our marriage registered in Germany (we married in Las Vegas - anybody who has dealt with German bureaucracy will understand why) they said that they'd need my birth certificate. I said fine, but it's an American one, to which they replied that I'd have to get it translated.
To make a long story short, the birth certificate was useless to them (after forking over money to have it translated) because it didn't list my parents' names. German ones do :-)
My point? None, I just remembered that when I read your post :-)
Good luck with packing/moving/etc, I can't wait to read more!
Martina: Your birth certificate doesn't have your parents' name on it? My husband's has (he is American).
What might be good to take with you - in case you didn't get it translated in the US - are certificate of baptism (if applicable; they usually ask you for your religion when filling out forms). Also any degrees you have. I got mine translated after I came to the US, and then sent the translation somewhere to get it recognized.
@Bek: no, my birth certificate doesn't have my parents' names on it. Just my name, date of birth, place of birth, and I think that's about it. Maybe I'll scan it and do a post about it one of these days - it would be interesting to see what others have to say.
As far as religion, I've heard from other expats (I'm not religious) that they believe you when you say what religion you are.
But be careful, by saying that you're of the xx religion, you are agreeing to have that information in your file, thus it will be added to your Lohnsteuerkarte, meaning you will pay church tax to that church. Church tax is (I believe) 1% of the income tax. So not a fortune, but you should be aware of it.
If you need anything else translated once you're here, they will have a list of approved translators. And looking back at how much I had to pay to get my parentless birth certificate translated, maybe I should look into becoming an Amt-approved-translator :-)
P.S. now you've got me worried - what if my parents aren't my parents, and it turns out that I'm adopted? I will definitely do a post on this early next week, just to hear what the others have to say.
P.P.S. nah, I look so much like my dad, which believe me isn't necessarily a good thing for a girl, that I couldn't be adopted.
Post a Comment