Ultimately I imagine that this blog will be more than just tips for moving to belgium as a student, and that you guys will see other things like… oh I don’t know…photos or comments on life around me. I mean that has to be more interesting than fill form A and send to office B. But until I’m at the point where paperwork is not a regular part of my life (sorry had to laugh at that. i mean i live in belgium, for pete’s sake), I’ll keep posting in the hope that it will help someone else. So where was I…So once I arrived in Belgium, I thought they would ask me to show proof of my financial status and/or proof that I had a round trip ticket to leave. I brought it with me, but as far as I can remember, they didn’t actually ask to see it. It was cheaper to buy a round trip than a one way ticket, so it really didn’t matter either way.

I had eight days to register with Gent government to let them know I was here, and you should know that registering takes a buttload of time. There are literally hundreds of people all with some reason or another to need to be at the same place that you are. You will see lots of babies, lots of children, and lots of colorful clothing. In fact this room might be the most interesting cross-section of life in Gent. It’s like the DMV, but with more fake Gucci.

My boyfriend and I got to the office before it opened by 6:30 am and there was already a long line. By the time I got to the machine I was number 30-something and there was a guard posted, keeping people from either taking more than one number or pushing someone out of the way. You didn’t see that, but the basic set-up and the tense, impatient air in the room  gave the impression that they’ve had these problems in the past.

We were being dealt with at a rate of about six people per hour, and as a warning they will not let you jump back in line. If you name is called, you have about three seconds to jump up to the desk before they call the next person. If you went to the bathroom when your number was called, you are SOL. We had enough time to have a coffee at the Panos in the mall across the street (one of the only places open before and browse past the mall’s closed shopfronts. That said, we went back to the office every fifteen minutes to make sure we hadn’t missed anything.

For some reason I’m having a hard time remembering which documents I needed. I started just putting all related documents and all extra copies of things in one portable folder and I carried that folder around whenever I needed to be in a office related to my visa. It gave me the assurance that I was always prepared for any question thrown at me.

The agent behind the counter was very friendly and spoke great english. He said two important things and he gave me an important thing. I got a temporary attestation form that basically said that my process was beginning. The two things he said were: the police will visit in around two weeks, and he confirmed that with the number on my temporary attestation form I could sign up for health care. Starting from that day I could be registered in the health care system, and if something happened to me, I would be covered. Bear in mind, we found out this information from my boyfriend’s mother. No one in the office will give you this key piece of info unless you ask them to confirm it.

With my shiny new (albeit temporary) attestation form, I was off and carefree. There was nothing else that I needed to do until… Well until I needed to do more paperwork for the insurance. More on that later.

Listen I’m sure these notes are so clear to you guys, but I honestly had no idea. I’ve never really moved like this, and I learned a lot over the process. So here they go:

DO pack your belongings in strong sealable preferably plastic containers

DON’T pack them in flimsy cardboard boxes that will barely hold your things together. The customs people had to resecure my boxes with tape.

DO expect that Belgian Customs will go through your boxes so

DON’T pack underwear, dirty socks, or that anything else that you might find a little embarrasing if strangers went through it

DO ship with USPS. They had the cheapest rate for shipping that I could find and it only took about two weeks for everything to arrive. Just write your the name and address on every box you’re sending. And give yourself enough time to write a whole bunch of customs labels.

DON’T wait until the post office is about to close. You will only piss off the workers there.

DO either drive or get a ride from a friend

DON’T take a taxi. They will expect a huge tip, almost unaffordable tip.

DO get your friends involved with packing and shipping.

DON’T rely on strangers. I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.

DO buy your cool gadgety things in the US if you’re coming from there.

DON’T think you can always replace it when you get there. You can’t always, or it might be prohibitively expensive. And if it’s something you need you’ll regret buying it twice.

DO pack what you love and can’t live without

DON’T pack what you think you might need. I’ve got a whole box a “crap” now that I might use, but can’t get rid off, and I can’t believe I paid to ship it here.

Ah yes! I was describing the process with the paperwork and everything. Honestly it was a much simpler process than I expected. I filled out every form I thought could be useful. And in the end, I need not have worried as much as I did. For example I was told by the lady at the counter that my presence in the office of the consulate wasn’t necessary. Sending it by mail was good enough. However if I hadn’t gone I would’ve missed out on seeing the autographed poster of Jean-Claude Van Damme in the hall. Stay classy Belgium.

Also, take my medical certificate. I went above and beyond trying to book the only doctor whose certificate was considered valid by the Belgian government in California. I did that to be on the safe side, and to be assured that my certificate would not need to be legalized.  So what happened? The Belgian Consulate in Los Angeles paid me pay the money for legalization anyway. But that was really only $14, after everything you have to pay to move, 14 bucks is not going to break the bank. I could saved two hundred dollars by going to my local doctor, because ultimately that’s where I got my blood work and x-rays done. Can you believe it? Two hundred plus dollars only covers the doctor looking in your ears and checking your reflexes. Anything else (blood work and x-rays) is another five hundred.

Be aware that something will go wrong. For me it was that my financial support declaration form had the words “Read and Approved” in English instead of Dutch. As a result, I had to have the form redone and overnighted to Los Angeles. I believe that they also send forms only once a week on either Wednesdays or Fridays to Brussels for processing (sorry it’s been waaaaay too long since I’ve posted and I’m starting to forget things, a form of PTSD maybe?). I got all of my forms in just in time, otherwise I would have had to wait another week; time that I honestly didn’t have. I was too close to the wire as is.

I choose to have my passport sent back to me via FedEx and that was reassuring because I could track my package. It showed up about ten days after my visit to the consulate, and in plenty of time for me to get on the plane.

If anyone has a specific question about an aspect of the visa, don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I’m happy to answer any questions.

And now I’m here in Gent, meeting other expats, and generally enjoyed myself when I’m not stressed form school. I’m post another thing tomorrow talking about the stuff you need to do once you’re in Belgium.

Okay this is more than a little embarrassing, but I just haven’t had time to update. Mea culpa. I want to accomplish what I set out to do, and that’s give the detailed account of how I went from thinking about living in Belgium to actually living here. But perhaps blogging is not my forte.

So, I will finish the timeline, even though I’m techincally at zero weeks and counting, and give you…the rest of the story.

Please don’t ask me why I see this information before it’s nearly too late, but at least I’ve been catching it in time. If you’re west of the Mississippi, and filing through the Los Angeles Consulate General, you must have a sponsor fill out the financial support declaration. You can’t do it on the strength of your bank account alone.

The exact wording is:

Optional documents with regards to student loans, proof of payment of tuition, or personal funds from the student, can be submitted but do not replace proof of solvency from a sponsor

The good thing is, you just have to have a notarized copy of the sponsor driver’s license, but the sponsor doesn’t have to sign the form in person at the consular general. Sweet!

The reason this is good news for me is my parents are outrageously busy. We can’t even get together for a birthday. I’m going to have lunch with my mom soon (first time in three months) and I plan on having every document filled out on her behalf. So all we have to do is sign, copy and notarize.

Other good thing: this means my visa doesn’t depend on my account balance. So all the expensive stuff I’ve been putting off… you know, so my balance would look ok (buying my plane ticket, shipping my stuff)… well I can start getting that stuff now. I was deathly afraid of my visa not being approved because I didn’t have enough money.

It really makes me feel like I’m on my way out to a new life.

Oh god. The time has come. I doesn’t make any sense for me to keep my apartment for the last month I’m here. So I’m about to ask my parents to *gulp* let me move back home. My dad and I haven’t always seen eye to eye. In fact, with the exception of hating bell peppers and brussels sprouts (seriously why are those industries even in place. those farmers should be working on tastier veggies), we pretty much don’t see eye to eye on anything. 

The thought of him watching over everything that I do for the month of December makes me ill. I keep worrying about seemingly small things, but things that mean a lot to my quality of life. Things like happy hour. I know I’m going to have a happy hour after my last day at work. But I can hear his nagging voice in my ear when I get home. “Have you been drinking? How much have you had? You know I don’t approve of this.” I mean there’s a chance that he could be cool. There’s also a chance that I could become a size 2 by eating nothing but In-N-Out. There’s always a chance. 

But my dad has never been the cool parent. I think he takes pride in it. He’s a freakin’ handful, and… Aw jeez. I’m just not certain how this whole December’s going to play out. I will most likely end up in tears.

Stay tuned.

Well if not, you need to get them…

Here’s another tip from me to you: the medical certificate will be dated for the time when you actually see the doctor, not from the time you actually get all results in. This is a pretty simple one to figure out. So simple, I can’t believe my thought process going into it.

I knew that I was seeing my doctor in time. I had an appointment on 9/21 and I was leaving on 12/26. I was told that the certificate was only good for three months, but I would be submitting my paperwork for my visa in October, so it shouldn’t be a problem right? Well. The well-intentioned desk clerk kept reminding me that the certificate was only valid for three months. She must have said this about five times that day. Also she kept saying, “I’ll send out your certificate when I receive your test results”

(JFYI if you decided to see a doctor approved by the Belgium consulate you have to pay out of pocket and the fees range from $250-$500. You can save money by getting everything done under your insurance and getting the letter notarized)

Where was I? Oh yes “…test results…”. So I got scared and thought that I should wait. The clerk would send the certificate when I got all my results in, right? Not exactly. I saw the doctor on 9/21. So even though my results were finally sent on 10/21, my certificate was still dated for…9/21. That’s right, no dates had changed.

So, what’s the moral of this story? I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I get my visa. Otherwise the moral is: don’t be like me.

JFYI the fingerprinting was a breeze. All I needed was a cashier’s check from my bank (they don’t take personal checks), my fingerprints obtained by a notary public down the street, and a letter requesting my record. It took about three weeks to get my results, but I anticipated around 12 weeks. So nice to get that over and done with.

Anyway, will keep you posted about the visa status. My current concern is the amount of money in my savings. Do I ask my parents to be my “financial support”? I’m a self-sufficient woman, so I’m not totally certain, but I know I don’t have $12,000 (6,000 per year) saved up. Yikes!

Earlier I mentioned that I would go over the steps for getting your apostille. I neglected to mention that there are three things you should do to prepare for the day

• Give yourself an entire afternoon; possibly an entire day 
• Bring a checkbook and some cash
• Get a smoothie when you’re done (you’ve earned it!)

First step: Get diploma. If you don’t have this already (my mom held onto mine on my behalf), order an official copy from the university. 

Second Step: take diploma to a notary public (NP). You may have to explain to them that you need a document stating that you are getting an apostille on a copy of a document that is a true original. Once you get the copy from the NP, head down to the county clerk’s office.

Third step: The county office’s job (in addition to handing out permits and marriage licenses) is to verify that the notary public is a real guy and authorized to authenticate a document. Then you head on over to the office of the Secretary of State.

Fourth step: The Secretary of state’s office job is to verify that the county clerk’s signature is real and to provide you with the actual apostille. It’s very pretty. Or maybe it’s just really pretty after dealing with all of these steps. Either way. You’re done.

I’m lucky. The notary public, county clerk and secretary of state’s office are all within blocks of each other in San Francisco. But if you’re in a smaller city, you’ll want to give yourself time to get this all completed. 

So go on and grab that smoothie

and i’m really sorry about that. when you’re counting down the weeks they freakin’ fly. I’m actually down to a little under ten weeks until I leave. where to begin. 

so. after much deliberation I decided to go to school. I’ve detailed the reasons in an earlier post. Every path to expat status is unique, so I won’t pretend to guess at what’s best for your specific relationship. I just realized that I wasn’t ready to be married, but I was ready to be with my love. I also wasn’t ready to move without a purpose. I couldn’t bear the thought of just floating around living off someone when I had my whole life setup in San Francisco. 

So school it is. First step: application.

I looked at the English masters available, but thought I’d have little chance of getting in. The majority of the programs available in English are subsequent masters (a masters after a maters) in fields I had never studied. But for students like me, UGent has a program called the preparatory year of Dutch (btw this language course is only available if you’re getting a degree in Dutch. Language course by themselves will not qualify you for a student visa). This course is designed to intensively teach you Dutch in nine months. 

Here’s the first mistake I made. Don’t do what I did.

I was under the mistaken impression that I could file my application for the Preparatory Year of Dutch and my application for the University of Ghent at approximately the same time in October. I don’t know why I thought this. I was a dummy, simply put. When my BF went down to the school on my behalf, because we were a bit confused, the school informed him that my application needed to be in their processing queue before the faculty left for their summer holiday break. The break was starting on a Friday in June. I found out about this on Tuesday. I had one night and a small portion of the next day to write my application and have it FedEx’d to Ghent.  

The reason I had to do this was I needed an attestation form (it’s a form that says basically, “yeah she’s applied to study in our school). The form lets you apply for the prep year; even if your application has not been approved yet. This was so crucial for me. It took four months for my application to be approved, and by the time I got my official acceptance the deadline for the prep year applications had passed.

If my BF had not gone down there that day, I would be stuck in the US, twiddling my thumbs and cursing my bad judgement.

So I spent all Tuesday day and night stressing about the application. It was the first I’d written in nearly ten years. I’ve been out of the essay writing routine for so long I was questioning every sentence. Finally I got a wonderful piece of advice from  co-worker. She told me to write the essay out completely, save it, then write it again, save it, then write it again. She told me to do this seven times. I stopped after four because I was a bit lazy. When I looked at the changes from essay to essay, I could see dramatic improvements. My thoughts were hazy and unfocused in the beginning, but knowing I would have a version (or several) to build upon I stopped trying to make everything perfect and started writing from the heart.

The nice lady at UGent told me that official copies of my transcripts and apostatized diploma were not necessary to get this attestation form. She would allow me to send in  the unofficial copies for the sake of timing.

Ultimately here’s what I needed for my complete application:

- a completed application form that can be obtained by writing UGent. Details are here

- an essay detailing my motivation for studying at UGent (I wanted to just write BECAUSE I’M IN LOVE but I don’t think that would have gone over so well. )

- a copy of my diploma with an apostille (a seal obtained from your Secretary of State’s office proving that the doc is legit)

- a copy of your official transcripts

What a dame! i still can’t believe that nice lady let me send in unofficial copies. Maybe she could sense our panic? Maybe she was just having a good day.

Either way, just don’t do what I did. If you’re planning on attending Dutch school then regular school and you’re thinking, “well I’m not technically applying for this school year, but next”, just act as though you’re applying for the same school year you’re currently in and let this year’s deadlines apply to you.

I.E. If you are in 2008, you want to get your master in the 2009 school year, so you can go to Dutch school starting January 2009, get your application, transcripts, etc. into to the school (by March 1st, in this case)

You don’t have much wiggle room. 

In my next post, I’ll go over how I got the apostille and transcripts. In a nutshell, it’s not as hard as you’d think.

I posted this message over in the expatica forums, but I thought it might be nice to have here as well for those looking to get started in their journeys to Belgium.

“…I’m going through the same thing that you’re going through right now. I’m also interested in being with my bf and trying to get through the red tape is not easy. Neither he nor I have lived together. But we have been dating for a year and a half, and are ready to start our lives together. Fortunately this site helped a great deal. I was able to find the name of a great immigration lawyer based in Brussels. And when I asked him about my options this was his response:

“…If you have not been living together in the past, a cohabitation visa will indeed not be issued. As a US citizen, you are entitled to reside in Belgium for maximum 90 days (per 6 month period). A legal residence for more than 90 days can only be obtained through a visa type D, to be obtained with the Belgian consular authorities in the US. Unfortunately, such a visa can only be issued on the basis of:

a) a work permit type B (applied for by a Belgian employer on your behalf)

b) a registration with a university…”

I’ve also been told that it looks bad if you apply for a visa and are rejected, so I would not try to go down the cohabitation visa path if you haven’t lived together.  

We also spoke to some people at the language school of Ghent, and they told me that due to immigration misuse, the country is very reluctant to issue student visas based on learning the language alone. Now, the letter of the law hasn’t changed; you’ll find documentation that will give the impression of being to come over just to learn a national language (French, Dutch, or German). And you can come to learn the language, but only in conjunction with getting a higher degree. Check out the universities in your BF’s area, and see if there are any courses you’ve always wanted to take. Give yourself the chance to reinvent yourself….

Or just get married. Heinz86 is right. I also don’t want to feel forced into marriage because of red tape. I think we should be allowed to live in the same place at the same time together; if only to figure out if we live well together. But if you think of it the same way as a visa, (like a necessary piece of documentation that let’s you stay in the country) it will cut through a lot of the red tape. I know me and my bf are starting to think that’s not such a bad idea.