Most ridiculous or absurd experience as an expat?
Posted by akhalilx@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 66 comments
Around 10 years ago I moved to Luxembourg for work on an EU blue card. Not too long afterwards, I met someone and entered a civil partnership, which entitled me to an EU family residence card.
I went to the ministry in charge, filled out some paperwork to prove my civil partnership, and handed over my EU blue card. I was told I would receive my EU family residence card in a few weeks and not to leave Luxembourg in the meantime (if you're familiar with Luxembourg, it's literally a 25 minute drive east-west and a 45 minute drive north-south).
After waiting several weeks, my EU family residence card still hadn't arrived so I contacted the ministry, which informed me that they lost my paperwork and that I'd have to restart the entire process. Not great news, but survivable.
After waiting several more weeks, the ministry contacted me to come pick up my EU family residence card and told me to bring a photo with me. I went to a photomaton, for a photo, and went to the ministry. When I arrived, they took my photo, stapled it to a piece of paper, handed the paper with the stapled phot back to me, and told me "here's your EU family residence card."
I was incredibly confused because they literally gave me a piece of paper with fields filled out by hand and my photo stapled in the corner. I asked "is this the temporary EU family residence card until you mail me a proper card?" Shockingly, I was told "no, that piece of paper is your EU family residence card!" I asked "what if it gets wet or damaged?" because no way was this piece of paper going to survive.
To my surprise, I was told I could go across the street to the print shop and get it laminated... so I did that, which meant the paper couldn't food anymore and I was stuck using this abomination of a hand-filled, stapled photo, laminated sheet of paper as my travel document to enter the EU.
To add insult to injury, more than once I was stopped by immigration in Germany and the Netherlands because an immigration officer thought I was traveling on fake documents. I would give the immigration officer my EU family residence "card," they would ask "WTF is this," I would explain that's how Luxembourg issues EU family residence cards, they thought I was full of shit and would get a supervisor, and they'd flip through a book with samples of valid travel documents issued by each country to check if my EU family residence card was genuine. It would always end with the immigration officers laughing at Luxembourg's janky EU family residence "card."
Coming from the States, that was my first experience with how absurd and ridiculous government administration can be in Europe.
What's your story?
jredland@reddit
I inadvertently worked without authorization in Luxembourg for 3 years because my company simply did not do the paperwork. When it was finally flagged due to parental leave my company negotiated with the government to get a Family Member blue card as the law was about the change. It was strangely telling that this was never caught by the tax department who I was paying taxes too.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
Amazonian?
I also worked without documentation for a few months because the Luxembourgish government lost my paperwork (notice the recurring theme?), but Amazon's lawyers advised me to not worry and just go about my work and life normally.
Sharklo22@reddit
My partner had been in France for well over 15 years by the time her third application for citizenship went through... to a refusal on the grounds "you have not shown sufficient professional integration". She was a student just about finishing her Master's in an in-demand field from one of the top universities in the country. What did they expect, for her to be working at McDonald's instead? Would that show better "professional integration" than working your ass off for 5+ years to get in top programs, and ultimately contribute with higher taxes if that's what they're worried about? It really felt as though her place as an immigrant is doing ungrateful work and not trying to build a career like everyone else, not only because of this refusal but many other interactions with administrations in the past.
Thankfully, the previous PM had caught wind of this situation (apparently this was a common grounds for spurious refusal) and had written a "memo" with some legal weight (not sure what the English term would be, in French it's circulaire) specifying "stop applying things to the letter and use your brains, yes?" to the Préfets (the people in charge of delivering citizenship). So we wrote an appeal outlining the job prospects of her studies, the economic impact of her discipline (it's math ffs, if there's one discipline France is proud for, that's it) and her exemplary studies track record, all sourced with citations to really shut their stupid mouths.
It finally went through and she got it. :) I'm terribly proud of her but it was an ordeal that took many years considering the several times she restarted the process due to procedure failures on their end, this is just the tip of the iceberg. By the way, when I met her, I thought she was French, being native French myself. I don't understand how someone could have interviewed her for citizenship and not determined on the spot she's good to go.
ith228@reddit
I think it has to do with the fact France places a lot of emphasis on work history and a documented history of tax returns for naturalization. Your partner may have been in a top study program but that has nothing to do with a documented work history + tax returns, which a McDonald’s worker would actually have … Also you mention “job prospects” but that’s not the same thing as a work history, now is it? Professional integration is exactly that, it has to be justifiable and documented. I could see why they had rejected their application the first two times.
Sharklo22@reddit
All of that applies to someone who's had a chance to pay taxes, which she hadn't. She grew up in France and went to study right after HS like the majority of French people. In that regard, she also wasn't in France as a student, her reason for residency was family. She had been there for 15 years.
The wording was more precisely "insertion professionnelle" which is a broader concept than holding a job. It's essentially how able you are of having a job, rather than whether you have one right now. Studies are here for precisely that, to make you better able to land a job. So in that sense, her having done competitive studies was proof that she was indeed "inserted professionally", even if she was not yet at the stage of having worked. This is what the PM reminded the Préfets of with his letter, which in the end allowed her to obtain citizenship after the appeal:
Even more absurd, is these are financial grounds for refusing citizenship, but France was paying for her studies, scholarship and welfare (like most students). Students cost about 12k€/year on top of about 8k€ she was receiving between scholarship and welfare, for 5 years. Not a good 100k€ investment if you're going to push people away afterwards. And this was really the only grounds for refusal as, again, she'd grown up there, her French is perfect to the point my native ears didn't notice a foreign accent when I first met her, and she'd long outstayed the minimum required to ask for citizenship.
Daemien73@reddit
Brussels, the headquarters of EU institutions, is an administrative nightmare and the most international city in Europe. My partner, who is from Slovenia (part of the European Union for many years) went to the townhall to register, he was mistakenly directed to the non-European desk. Realizing the error, the staff member at the desk looked at her colleague and remarked, “I didn’t know that Slovenia is in the EU,” before laughing. Afterward, we went to the correct desk, where they finally provided him with the necessary documents. To our shock, they listed on the paperwork “ex-Soviet Union” as birthplace. They told it was the system and couldn’t be changed. We couldn’t believe it!
GreatMidnight@reddit
Not ex-Yugoslavia?
Daemien73@reddit
Nope, that would have been correct right ?
GreatMidnight@reddit
Yup. Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo (which may or may not be part of Serbia depending on your point of view) were not part of the USSR but a part of the non-aligned Yugoslavia of Tito
Ill-End6066@reddit
Wondering if they were thinking of slovakia
badtux99@reddit
Which again was not part of the USSR, it was only occupied by Soviet troops for a time.
Educational-Tip-4430@reddit
And I bet those dumb a**s clerks are the kind to make fun of Americans.
Eli_Knipst@reddit
Wow. That's bad.
UYarnspinner@reddit
Just before we relocated to Uruguay, it was all the rage back in the States to upgrade your driver's license with a little star on it. I forget what it was called. This was pre-pandemic and the idea was that they were going to be requiring it a few years down the line if you wanted to travel by air which we obviously would whenever we wanted to go home and see family. Meanwhile, once we got here to Uruguay, we were going about our business and resolving all of the paperwork. Now, every once in a while I like to clean out my wallet. So I looked through my wallet and I said to myself, "What do I need two drivers licenses for? I might as well just keep the one with the special star on it and get rid of the other one to reduce the risk that I might lose it and run the risk of some kind of identity theft." Think of the space I would gain in my wallet!! So I took a pair of scissors and cut it into little pieces and threw it away and promptly forgot it about it. Some time later, we were going through the process of transferring our driver's licenses from the US to local ones. Long story short, the expiration date on my special driver's license did not match the one on the apostille paperwork that we had submitted when we moved, because one of the "advantages" of the special star license was a new expiration date! This meant that I was going to have to take and pass the local exam, but now with the added pressure of a short time window before I was about to have no license at all! I was allowed to drive on the one I had, but only for a few days longer, and then I would absolutely have to have a local one. Meanwhile, my Spanish was still nascent. I like to blame the pandemic. Anyway, I was eventually able to make an appointment and go in to take the test. You have to pass a written test first. Well, whoever writes these things must have the equivalent of a philosophy degree and somehow got the job of writing questions for people to get their driver's license because the questions were framed in the most flowery and obscure Spanish you could imagine. Sentences that were five or six lines long to describe obeying a stop sign. Shades of PG Wodehouse, but without the humor. Even local people around me were begging for the prefect to help them understand some of the questions! You could only get a certain number wrong, I think it was three, and there were a lot more than three questions that I couldn't begin to translate in my head. All I could do was guess and somehow I passed! If I had still been in the states, I would have run out and bought a lottery ticket immediately.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
You're thinking of REAL ID, which has been going on since 2005 and isn't scheduled to be fully implemented and enforced until 2027. What a clusterfuck that turned out to be.
AruthaPete@reddit
First experience of Zwarte Piet a decade ago was pretty nuts.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah, I love the explanation that he's black from coming down the chimney.
spiritsarise@reddit
Switzerland, but at US Consulate in Bern. I am a US immigrant to Switzerland and needed to get some retirement forms from the US notarized at the US Consulate. There was no other notary option allowed. My wife needed to agree to certain spousal options for the retirement pension that I was getting, based on US law. We checked/ticked boxes on the forms appropriate to our situation.
We went together to the Consulate and the first step was at an “intake” window where we would hand in the docs and the person there would funnel them to a State Department officer to look over and then call us in to sign in their presence, before getting the precious notary seal.
But at the step one window the lady there started to read our docs and asking questions about why we checked certain boxes, and what certain words in this somewhat legalistic form meant. She was Swiss. I tried to explain at first but she wasn’t understanding this complicated annuity agreement with guaranteed periods, spousal benefits, etc. But it didn’t matter! None of this was any of her business! We were there to have signatures witnessed not to determine in detail if our forms were correctly filled in and why we made personal financial decisions. How could she even make such a determination anyway?
Finally in exasperation I told her that her questions were irrelevant to the process. She yelled at me and said, “I am NOT sending these documents back to the State Department officer without my first understanding them!” We were dumbfounded/gobsmacked. She was going far beyond getting a general understanding of our forms.
Lucky for us an officer was nearby and intervened. He thanked the misguided clerk, took the documents in hand and invited us to his cubicle where we signed and paid our fee. He had no special interest in their content, beyond a quick look. He at least understood his role. The process took 5 minutes.
NonSumQualisEram-@reddit
EU Spanish NIE green cards are the same. They're credit card sized but made of paper (mine is in a little plastic pocket I bought) and importantly don't have photos so are useless to prove your identity. Both non EU and actual Spanish people get a proper plastic photo ID but not EU people.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
So Luxembourg isn't the only country with fake-looking paper residency cards! At least the Luxembourgish EU family residence cards have your photo stapled to them so, surprisingly, they do work as photo ID at banks and such.
NonSumQualisEram-@reddit
Well the photo ID part makes a big difference. The ID card for EU residents is a weird one. Legally you shouldn't need it because you're exercising a right, so they don't spend money on it. It's more for them to give you a tax number so you can pay tax than for you to prove you're allowed to be there - your (foreign EU) passport does this. At least I think that's correct.
Falafel80@reddit
Oh wow! My NIE is a proper plastic card with photo (I’m non EU) and I find it so wild yours isn’t!
I did live in a couple of other countries where every time I produced my government issued valid ID, I was told I needed my passport (usually for checking into hotels) because people didn’t understand my document and didn’t want to actually check the validity. It sucked.
highstreethellcat@reddit
they used to be plastic back in the old days. You had to show it when using a cretit card....
NonSumQualisEram-@reddit
Yep, ours are these silly bits of paper
TofuChewer@reddit
Do you have to make a new one every time you move?
NonSumQualisEram-@reddit
Nah, Empadronamientos are different - there's an address on this but it's weirdly not relevant to anything, mine is 3 moves out of date.
blackkettle@reddit
My experience getting a C permit (permanent residence) in Switzerland was similar, but not quite so extreme.
I filed with my wife and kid. Kid born in Switzerland. Wife from Japan, me from the states. Switzerland has different rules for C permit applications based on which country you hail from, and I believe this complicated our process.
The stand non EU requirement for C permit eligibility is ten years residence and A2 German (varies by canton of course). It is also possible for anyone to apply for a C permit under accelerated integration at the 5 year mark, but you need a B2 language requirement and a few other things.
Switzerland also has a bilateral agreement with the US and a few other Anglo countries that allows us to apply under the “normal” rules at the 5 year mark.
Anyway we applied altogether with each of us doing what we needed to. Kid is a native and has been going to local school here all his life so no extra reqs.
At the kreisburo the old lady that helped us was super friendly and helpful. Told my wife that all the docs she prepared were the “most organized she’d ever seen”. She said it would take her some time to copy them all out, and we didn’t need to wait.
We leave and wait for notification.
Nothing for weeks so we decide to go check with immigration.
The cantonal office looks up our application and says my wife needs to apply under accelerated integration. We’re like WTF? That was the whole point. The officer tells us she checked the box but didn’t provide the required docs. Apparently the lady at the Kreisburo failed to copy everything out, and applied for us as a family under the US rules.
We brought all the docs. They apologized. Said they’d contact us in a week or so.
Radio silence again.
We go back. This time we bring a fresh copy of every single doc required for the application process.
The officer looks up our case and I shit you not tells me: your wife’s C permit is almost ready and your B permit renewal (non permanent) is ready to print.
I just about lost my shit. I tell the guy no, we applied as a family for permanent residence. The US rule is this, here are all copies of the docs we originally brought to the kreisburo.
He apologizes again says the different rules and the lady originally failing to copying anything must have gummed things up. They’ll try to expedite it.
Finally get our C permits 6 months after starting the process.
Part of me still feels like the process was organized to ensure you only get it if you constantly push and monitor it yourself. This year we’ll apply for naturalization. I’ll be ready!
——————// One other smaller one. I did my PhD in Japan, at the University of Tokyo. I went through the “normal” application process that Japanese go through. The tests and interviews were in Japanese, and I have a C2 equivalent certification, but no proof of this was required. Just take the test and pass the interviews.
On the other hand everyone was required to provide a valid TOEFL score. I had to take it too, even though I’m an American and English is my mother tongue and I was born and raised there and went through all schooling up to undergrad.
I got one question wrong on the listening because I got so bored my mind drifted off and I missed the content. My advisor thought this was hilarious.
Academic-Balance6999@reddit
I have a similar story from trying to change over my American drivers license. I fill out all the forms, carefully attach copies of the required ID and documentation, include my US drivers license, and mail it off.
Radio silence, for weeks. I go in person to the office to enquire. “Oh!” They said. “You forgot to include a photocopy of your passport!” Um, no I didn’t, but wherever. I go to my apartment (which happens to be across the street) to get my passport, return with it, the lady photocopies it in front of me, says “2-3 weeks!” And I leave.
2-3 weeks passes— nothing. I go back across the street to check. “Oh, we don’t have a copy of your passport photo.” Um, yes. You have the two copies you lost. At this point I lose my temper and tell them in my bad German they have lost multiple copies and I have a holiday coming up where I will be renting a car so I need my license, either the American one or the Swiss one. She waggles her finger back at me and tells me it is my fault for leaving so little time. I waggle my finger back and I say I left plenty of time but did not know they would lose my passport photo twice. She firmly tells me there is nothing she can do as the American license has already been mailed to the cantonal office. The recriminations are flying! She is scolding me and loving it— but I hold firm!!!!
I stomp back to my apartment to retrieve my passport once more. When I return, she has retrieved my American license from the depths of the building somewhere, hands it to me with a cheery “Schöne Ferien!” and tells me to bring it back when I return from holiday. When I do, I hand it in and this time my Swiss license arrives in the mail ten days later.
This is where I learned that the way to deal with Swiss bureaucracy is to win the shame game.
blackkettle@reddit
This is a very important lesson I think!
My experience here has been that in general you can achieve a lot if you fight for it. The little guy actually has a lot of power - but you have to fight for it. It’s a stark contrast to the US IMO where you really have to either know someone or be willing to throw loads of money at the problem.
I had similar success reducing my rent by threat of lawsuit 🤣 with help from the mietervand.
Unfortunately I missed the window on my license so I don’t drive …
palbuddy1234@reddit
Agreed. Absolutely! Talking to a variety of expats/immigrants has taught me that.
What is frustrating, and I'll take the downvotes and flak from lurking Swiss/Germanic people that there is an order, there are rules and protocol. In my anecdotal experience and talking to other people is you just have to stand up for yourself and push back. Even with the Germanic order, actually there is flexibility, loopholes, and yes who you know, your social class and where you are from makes a big difference.
palbuddy1234@reddit
From one Swiss expat/immigrant to another. You absolutely have to watch them and keep tabs on things as we and many others have personal stories here of them making mistakes or not following rules. My wife is the most organized person I know and calls them out every time. I'm glad they apologize to you, but for us we just get the runaround which drives her/us insane.
Swiss_Robear@reddit
Been in Switzerland for 10 years and still have a B due to not pushing during every renewal period for the past 5 years even though I meet the requirements for a C on multiple qualification levels (language, business, time, and family). Maybe next renewal... 😆
blackkettle@reddit
Unless you already have another EU passport is absolutely do it. Even with the C permit you can potentially lose it in as little as 6 months if you leave for a family emergency or another job.
Even though we never plan to leave, it’s a constant source of low grade anxiety for me especially since it would mean my son, who’s only ever lived here, could potentially lose the right to ever return to his country of birth.
We received our invitation to naturalize 2 weeks ago and I’m already prepping our materials 😂
Swiss_Robear@reddit
Agree on the anxiety. Unfortunately, I don't have an EU passport so getting the C will be a priority in 2025. I expect the naturalisation paperwork shortly and will then begin that process, too.
Good luck!
blackkettle@reddit
Just FYI if you are eligible you don’t need to wait for your next renewal period. You can apply to upgrade any time you want.
Swiss_Robear@reddit
I didn't know that I needed the C first. Thanks!
palbuddy1234@reddit
Those guys in Geneva with their international orgs and their CDLs I swear have a secret phone number/email to expedite things and make things painless. We don't, but I swear it's a thing.
Swiss_Robear@reddit
Squeaky wheels and all... 😆
palbuddy1234@reddit
eff the process. Push, push push!
blackkettle@reddit
They said “sorry”, but the 3rd time was absolutely mind numbing. They were a day away from printing my B renewal and that’s what I would have received if we hadn’t randomly decided to let our anxiety take us to the immigration office again that day 😂. Plus there would have been another huge delay if we hadn’t preemptively prepared yet another copy of every single document. By that time our original betreibungsauszug was also expired so they asked for a new one 🤯 - but luckily we were able to just whip out the fresh copy. Absolute madness!
Glad you got yours as well.
palbuddy1234@reddit
Isn't that the reality of being an expat/immigrant? Low grade visa anxiety every day? lol
blackkettle@reddit
Yes - and the reason I want to finally get past it!
cataringso@reddit
I was entering Mexico, and I had "China" Written as my nationality on my immigration form by the Mexican INM officer.
I'm ethnically Chinese, but was born in the US, entered with a US passport.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
Casual racism is the best racism.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
Casual racism is the best racism.
Navelgazed@reddit
Moved into our rental. Registered online to get ID in new city (temporary housing was in a different city) There was a one month wait for an appointment and another two weeks to get the card and registration number. So roughly six weeks.
Our house has underground trash that you access with a card issued by the city. You can only get the card after you have the full ID from the city. After you get the ID you have to register for the trash system, then log in and pay for the card, wait for it to be mailed to you, and then log in again and put money on the card and then wait another 2 days for the money to clear.
So 2.5 months before we could throw out trash/recycling. In the summer!
We managed with putting trash bags on the street which did generally get picked up once we figured out that system, which is a different complication.
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
That's brutal.
And I thought having to wait 3 months for my Internet to be installed was bad.
dcgirl17@reddit
lolllll wow!
Glittering-Speed7847@reddit
Netherlands?
nadmaximus@reddit
Being an American when Trump was elected...twice. So many half-joking, probing questions to determine whether or not I was happy or sad.
skyasaurus@reddit
Going to a club in Adelaide, AU, bouncer sees my American passport and asks "Are you gonna shoot me?" Like bro, pls don't activate my fight or flight lol
akhalilx@reddit (OP)
That bouncer was savage.
nadmaximus@reddit
Well, at least it was an Australian, you just know they get commentary when they expatriate too
UnnamedEquilibrium@reddit
Typical Europeans. They’ll fuck up everything if there’s even the slightest chance to fuck it up.
zqintelecom@reddit
Typical Europeans. They’ll fuck up everything if there’s even the slightest chance to fuck it up.
pissboots@reddit
France won't issue me a physical residency card until I've been living here for a year, so I have to go everywhere with my passport for identification. They also won't issue me my own Carte Vitale until after a year, so I have to use my husband's, which isn't a big deal, but I still think it's dumb.
dcgirl17@reddit
I was about to move to Thailand on a diplomatic visa. Went to pick up passport at the embassy and noticed my name was misspelled, say, Alexanddra instead or Alexandra. I freak and point this out to them, worried that redoing the whole thing would mean missing my start date. Dude shrugged and crossed out the extra letter, assuring me it would be fine. I was skeptical but what could I do? But no one cared, immigration never asked me about it. God bless Thailand 555
Brooklyn_MLS@reddit
I was deported the moment I arrived at customs b/c I didn’t have a return ticket and the visa I just got was expired.
Person at the embassy put the wrong date.
kattehemel@reddit
I am not going to share mine because it was still so traumatic and typing it out will surely make me cry and probably ruin the rest of the day.
Low_Stress_9180@reddit
Got a job in Thailand, was taken to immigration and visa stuck in passport. I noted a mistake in the wnd date, and with great care and ceremony the immi guy got out some typex (whiteout), usdbthatvto white out the date and wrote in pen a new date.
Errrr can I do that lol
tstravels@reddit
Not Europe but China. I arrived in Hong Kong and headed to the border to pick up my visa to enter the mainland thinking it was going to be a smooth process, as if they already had me in their system. Absolutely f-ing not.
It was an absolute shit show for four hours. There was no line, just a crowd of people waiting to get to the visa window. People cutting in-front of others constantly. Finally getting to the window and being sent back and forth to a table to fill out documents I had already filled out, twice, then being sent back to the visa window to speak with the officer. Paying a photographer to take my photo for the visa, then the man walked away and disappeared for half an hour. When the officers asked where my photo for the visa was, I explained with the photographer. They had no idea what I was talking about until he finally reappeared and gave them my photos. I had to wait even longer for the documents to be processed because the officers left for change of shift and the replacement were unbelievably slow. It was asinine.
apc961@reddit
Reminds me of when I worked in the Middle East long time ago. My residence permit was literally a poorly laminated jumbo index card hand written entirely in Arabic. It looked and felt fake. I had to sign affidavits at airport checkin declaring I would be responsible for deportation and transport fees if I was denied entry. Checkin agents would also have to leave the desk to find a reader of Arabic.
anaknwitnopadme@reddit
They handed her a stapled paper as her residence card, and now it’s laminated proof that bureaucracy has a sense of humor.
tomorrow509@reddit
The year was 1996. I had just received my first paycheck after immigrating to Italy. I went to the bank on which the check was drawn and presented the check to a cashier along with my passport and drivers license as ID. After learning I did not have an account at that bank, the cashier refused to cash my check saying something about the mafia. I called my boss and explained the situation. He then sent over a coworker who used that bank. I ended up having to endorse my check over to my colleague, who had an account. He then presented the check for payment, was given the money and handed it over to me. I was astounded and now my coworker knew how much I made.
Master_Pattern_138@reddit
There is no "card" in New Zealand (I'm a Californian with NZ permanent residency now), it's an email you get with a PDF you can print out stating your status, which I promptly did and keep with my passport in my wallet always, even though no one here gives a shit about "where are your papers." I'm so trained from U.S. gestapo/cops even from State to State giving you grief ("you ain't from around here are ye?") My Kiwi friends think it's funny that I carry my passport, things are so chill here. Nobody ever asked me for these documents coming in and out of New Zealand (it's electronic, they all know from my plane ticket), to Australia either, but once back home for visits, it's no fucking around time. When I just had work visas, it was the same thing.
palbuddy1234@reddit
I'm laughing at your story. Thank you.
I've been to three countries, and bureaucracy that's supposed to be efficient, unbiased and followed 'to the letter' is often based upon the mood of the bureaucrat that you see at the window in my experience. I'm American, and I notice that I'm given the benefit of the doubt more or less in situations. I do my best to follow the law, figure out what I need to do and well...do it. Non Americans that have to deal with green cards and other immigration stuff in America....wow, mad respect as some of the instructions don't make sense, lead to dead ends, and immigration officials that just kind of don't know what they are supposed to do.
I've talked to people from less desired countries and how they have to get things done. I'm in Switzerland, and boy some officials can just be rude, arbitrary or make snide comments while checking, and double checking every single little box that has to be confirmed with complicated and often expensive paperwork. If you're Albanian, god help you because as soon as you open with that, it's going to be pain. They will not help you, and expect you to do everything without any official explanation.
Enrolling my oldest in school was a nightmare. The law is very clear as they have to be in school 3 days after entry to Switzerland. My wife speaks French and we go to the school with no direction. Stopping at the school, town hall, different agencies here, no administrators, no secretaries, no other teachers would help us find who or where we could enroll our kid so we just had to go home each time being sent to different places with no one to help us. We called the school every day, emailed them, had Swiss friends call and email them, and eventually had a Swiss friend who is an important teacher call up and register him that way.....two and a half weeks later as my wife is going through her orientation at work and I'm unpacking luggage and figuring out a mountain of paperwork with Bluey using my new unlimited Sim card. Not my best parenting moment.
Not fun.