If there is something I don’t really understand and the most important thing that I struggle with in Germany, it would be B.U.R.E.A.U.C.R.A.C.Y.

The bureaucracy level here goes to places you would have never imagined. And I guess it has become something so attached to Germany!

So, if you asked every single person walking on any part of the German land, “What is your biggest nightmare here?” he/she would definitely say bureaucracy and another thing that I will save for a future post to keep your excitement level high 🙂

I came here in mid-December 2022. And my family is supposed to come after 6 months, as that is what the German embassy is stating. But at the time of writing this post (November 2023), they are still working on my family visa!!!

Finding an appointment to talk to someone at the foreign office (Ausländerbehörde) is almost the equivalent of locating a needle in a haystack, blindfolded, and wearing baseball mitts!

You can’t go there without an appointment.

-Great, then there should be a way to book an appointment.

Of course, they have a website where you can book an appointment.

-Great, so what is the problem?

The problem is that there are no appointments!

Yesterday, I barely found an appointment at a section that is for emergency cases, so I booked it. But then I must identify the reason for the emergency from the list of prelisted reasons, and the only one that I found that does make sense to me is “Lost document.”

So, I went today on time, and there was a security guy to whom I showed him the appointment number. He gave me another number and escorted me to the Warteraum (Waiting room) where my number would appear with the window I would go to.

Note: My appointment was from 14:45 – 15:00

Just in time, my number appeared, and I can’t believe that after these months of waiting, I would be able to communicate with someone, and I kept on dreaming of the moment when I would finally have my family.

So, I explained my situation to the officer, and she asked about my passport. In these situations, I have a backpack full of every single document you could think of, with almost 3-4 copies of the original documents just to be ready for whatever.

So, I offered her my passport and Ausweis (Student residency card). She checked something in the computer and looked at me with surprise, telling me that this is not an emergency.

I explained that I have been sending emails for the past 5 months with no reply. I even printed my documents and left them in the foreign office letterbox. But I don’t ever get a reply, so I don’t know if the documents are lost, or they have never reached them!

She replied back telling me, “Yes, I can see your emails.”

So, I told her, “So, do you kindly have feedback?”

She replied, “You have to wait.”

I replied that I have all the documents they may think of right now, so if there is anything missing (a side note: which I highly doubt), I can present it/them now.

She replied back with more firmness, “Sie müssen warten” (You have to wait).

—Game over. That was a knockdown—

Thank you for your support. I replied with a smile and left…

Looked at the time. It’s exactly 15:00! GOD, I just love German time punctuality!!!