Navigating Bureaucracy

We can Stay! we now have our work and residence permits in order and we can stay past Early October. That is great news for us as we will be here until mid-December. But getting our visas and CPR numbers (essentially a Danish SSN) has been a trial and also a learning experience. I thought it would be helpful to outline three important techniques I have learned for navigating the Danish Governmental Bureaucracy. Who knows, it might also transfer to other countries.

1)Patience is a virtue. Sure, pushing that paper should be fast, But remember these people do this all day, every day. Why should they rush? That Bank account you need so you can pay rent? Two weeks is fast enough. You want a CPR number so you can open a bank account? Six weeks from now, no problem.

2)Always call back. The person answering the phones may or may not know the correct answer to your question. If you do not like the answer to your question, call back. For example, the letter for our work and residence permit stating that it had been approved was sent to the Danish Consulate in New York. Unfortunately, we are now in Denmark. At immigration, the first person I spoke with said:

"you had better call New York and have them send you the letter. I cannot help you, this is the only thing you can do."

Now this sounded a little suspicious to me. Don't they have a printer? Can't they send another letter? Can they email or fax it? The answer all the time was "No!" So I called the next day:

"Oh, you need your letter sent to you in Denmark. What is your address?"

The letter came the next day in the mail.

3) No copies; it must be an original and the corollary It is vital to see your Marriage Certificate. We were held up in our residence and work permit by the fact that they did not have the original of Bev's contract with Bates College at immigration. It took 3 weeks for them to tell us that what they had received was not an original and they really needed an original (and no, faxes do not count). It took 2 weeks (1 day plus 13 days of vacation for the case officer) for the original to be considered by the immigration office. It took an additional week for the immigration office to find the letter, and 30 seconds to look at it and approve our permit.

The marriage certificate (do you have yours?) nearly stumped us again. A copy of our tax return (accepted by Danish Immigration; not accepted by the local authorities) was inadequate proof of marriage. Apparently, and I do not know why, it is vital that a couple be able to prove that they are married. In the end they made a special exception for us (signed off on by the supervisor) because we were citizens of the USA.

So those are the three most helpful rules I have for bureaucratic navigation, Danish Style. May they help save pain for the next sould attempting such a journey.