Friday, January 13, 2012

And What Are You Doing Here, Exactly?

I think I mentioned the other day that I had an appointment to go to Werkplein Baanzicht, about the Inburgering Verplicht, or the duty to take a course in Dutch language and/or culture in order to live here.

The appointment was Wednesday and off I went with my trusty companion I like to call "my very special person." :) The person we had an appointment to go see had the misfortune of sharing a last name with someone in a very rude song. (The Dutch love their rude songs. This one is about a woman with very large breasts.) So the evening before the appointment we prepared by surfing the net for recordings of the rude song in question. That got us into a nice, friendly mood.

The man with the unfortunate name was very nice. And very tall. He talked a little bit about the inburgering verplicht, and asked a little about what I was doing in Netherlands, how long I planned to stay, etc., and then more or less asked why I was in his office.

Ummm... cuz you sent a letter saying I had to come to your office. Yes that was, more or less, my answer.

So the long and the short of it is that:

  • There's no duty for inburgering before the IND hands me a residence permit.
  • In my case, as a resident under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, there's no duty for it anyway.
  • If I would like, as a person with no duty to take the inburgering cursus, to take the course anyway as a freebie way to get a language course under my belt, well I should have come last year before the budget cuts.

The nice man with the unfortunate name looks forward to hearing from me when I have my permit from the IND and he'll see what he can do, have a nice day.

Monday I have an appointment with Kamer van Koophandel (Chamber of Commerce) to register my business and Wednesday we have an appointment with the bank to open my account. Apparently, you don't just walk into the bank and open an account. Who knew?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Another W000h0000 Day

Yayy. Of sorts. But I'm yayying anyway. I'll take what I can get.

So those of you following along with the adventure know that I went in mid-December to the gemeente (local government) for my first inschriving (enrollment, letting the government know who lives where so they can ensure appropriate and adequate services are provided for the populace).

The very nice man at the gemeente said I should expect to hear from his office in a week or two weeks with my burgerservicenummer (like a Social Security Number). That's the number that I need to get health insurance--which I need for the IND (immigration), and to complete the registration of my business with the KvK (Chamber of Commerce)--which I need for the IND, and to set up a bank account--which I need for everything.

And there's been no word. (Insert scowly face.)

On Wednesday, I got a letter from Werkplein Baanzicht letting me know that I have to come see them next Wednesday because they have to determine whether or not I'm required (at this time) to complete an inburgering cursus (social education course covering basic language, history and customs of NL). That letter had a "kenmark" noted on it. A kenmark is a unique identifier, but it can be something as simple as a customer number from a business.

But still no word from the gemeente.

Today, however, I got a letter from Social Verzekeringbank. For the purpose of retirement, that's like the Social Security Administration. They let me know how to check at any time on the balance of my SVB Pension. And they casually inserted at the top of the letter: "Burgerservicenummer." With a number. My number. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

So while I haven't officially been notified by the official in charge of notifying me of what my BSN is, I have one and I know what it is!

So today I made an appointment with the KvK to register my business (on the 16th), and next week I'll open my bank account and talk to the Werkplein people. (As I understand it, I am not required--due to the terms of the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty--to do an inburgering cursus in connection with my residency permit, only if I later decide to become a Dutch citizen. But I'll go talk to them.)

Partytime in Me-Ville.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Liberal?

As the US begins in technical earnest the run-up to the Presidential elections, a tiny tutorial on the Dutch political landscape. This grew out of an interview I saw with the Premier-President Rutte, who is a very likable person (open to discussion, calm when challenged, well-spoken, good sense of humor, reasonably good listener) and conservative. The interviewer said to him, "So you're the first Liberal Premier since 1918...." and I thought, "Hmmmmmm?" (Insert Scooby sound.)

Rutte is certainly not the most right-wing figure in Dutch politics, but he's pretty far over there. So why did they say Liberal? After a lengthy explanation from my very-politically-savvy very special person and looking stuff up online (Wiki forever), here's the run-down of the major players, sorted by size with the largest first:

  • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD):  Sort of Libertarian (hence, "Liberal" in Dutch). Pro-private enterprise, pro-personal freedom, in theory. Center-right.
  • Labor  Party (PvdA): Social democratic party pushing for inclusion of everyone. Equality is utopia; everyone getting some of what they want is ideal. The state exists to serve the needs of the people. Center-left.
  • Party for Freedom (PVV): Anti-muslim, extreme right on foreign affairs. Socialist on economic issues. Extreme right and left-of-center all in one bundle.
  • Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA): A pro-religion (not only Christian religion) party that believes the government's role is to help out, but that most of the work of society is to be done by people and the church (mosque, synagogue, etc.). Supports the "integration of minorities" (read: Thou shalt speak no language but Dutch). Center-right but less right than VVD.
  • Socialist Party  (SP): More left than PvdA on social issues. More right than PvdA on foreign affairs and working with minorities.
  • Democrats 66 (D66): #1 priority is democracy. Huge supporter of direct democracy at all levels for all institutions. Liberal on abortion & euthanasia, left-wing on immigration, right-wing on economics and environment.
  • Green-Left (GroenLinks): Green environmentalist, left-wing, multicultural party.

With five other parties represented in Parliament and 43 registered parties not represented in Parliament, there are also, of course, every imaginable flavor of other political stances that one can picture.

The party affiliations are important because each party in Parliament votes all its seats together. Debate in the main body of the Second House is generally a conversation between the leaders (or a representative or representatives) of all the parties, with each leader representing the discussion he or she had separately with his or her affiliates before the combined discussion and continuing to get input from his or her affiliates as the discussion progresses. No one has enough seats to get their way all the time. Rather, the operation of government is a continuous flow of alliances and negotiations, lengthy debates and compromises. The goal is for as many people as possible to get some of what they want. Although elections are scheduled every four years, the Second House can also decide to dissolve itself, if the coalitions on which it is based become unable to function, in which case the elections come sooner than four years. This makes it critical for the parties to play nicely together, as bringing the political institutions to a grinding halt for political purposes only leads to the dissolution of the Parliament and all the legislators having to answer to their electorate. (Insert pointed look directed at the US Congress.)

So Liberal Rutte. That's actually, Libertarian Rutte, in English. Which solves the mystery. The Dutch have not had a Libertarian Premier since 1918. At that time, the Premiership was a rotational role, the chair of the council of ministers. Since 1974, the position has been held by the leader of the largest party in Parliament. The actual function of the Prime Minister wasn't laid down in the constitution until 1983; the Dutch have a Queen, after all. Living Prime Ministers include Piet de Jong (4 years representing the now-defunct Catholic People's Party), Dries van Agt (5 years, CDA), Ruud Lubbers (12 years, CDA), Wim Kok (8 years, PvdA), Jan Peter Balkende (8 years, CDA), and the current PM Mark Rutte (since 2010) (VVD).

A note to the Presidential candidates: The Dutch are watching the American elections closely. They find President Obama to be self-possessed, mature and imposing; he is widely respected in NL. Do try to be Presidential if you would earn the respect of the people of this very politically savvy ally of the US. You're free to say otherwise for the purposes of pandering, but the current President has set a high bar in the arena of international respect.