Bl**dy Belgian Bureaucracy!!!!

[michie40]

Bloody Belgian Bureaucracy!
Spent an hour and a half in the local town hall last night until 7.30 with two hungry and tired toddlers trying to get our identity cards.
Then this silly woman behind the counter says we can't have them today (they are all made up waiting in our file) because the letter from my DH employers doesn't apparently show that he is employed for a year.
It shows from the 01/10/07 to the 30/09/08 which I am pretty sure is a year!
She had already messed around for about 10 minutes trying to tell us we had recieved a form which we clearly hadn't and just generally being rather rude and sighing a lot. I had to restrain my DH who wanted to explode as now my dd can't start school yet. We now have to go there again for a fourth time late at night with two toddlers and yet more forms!!
Aghhh!!!!
Has anyone else found it this difficult to do things like this?
I have met loads of expats who have just not bothered to register at the town hall and hear we are trying to the right thing and being obstructed at every turn.

Sorry to hear you are having a frustrating time with this michie40. When I registered many moons ago I had to wait a couple of hours in a grey, souless room while a rotund policeman with a handle bar moustache typed out forms with two fingers on a manual typewriter. I thought I'd been transported back in time a couple of decades ...

Things have admittedly got a little better since. You are doing the right thing though and it is worth the bother, as without a carte d'identitie you really can't do much ... banks, landlords, health insurance, picking up parcels from post office etc etc. Plus, if ever you have an emergency requiring police or fire services, an identity card will come in useful. I wouldn't risk not having one, particularly with children. And it does all become much more speedy and efficient once you are in the system. Honestly!!

When I went to pick up my DH's and DSs identity cards on the date advised, I was told that they needed more photos, wouldn't tell me how many, and when queried, said that the 4 of each they already had were being used for the files. They then said that I had 'forgotten' that I had been told to bring new photos. Had I hell!

Got 8 new photos of DP and DS, went back, and they only used 1 of each. AArgh!

As for moving our cars from transit plates to Belgian plates, I can only think that the dear UK chancellor is missing a trick. ?5,000 for the mise en circulation and tax for 2 ten year old cars! Needed copious quantities of chocolate and kriek to get over that one!

Oops, I have to say that the maison communale in Uccle seems to work better than that. I even had my tattered old paper UK driving licence exchanged without too much fuss.
Question: from what age should DS get his own ID card? At the moment, he looks like any other 6 month old baby, so I would like himi to have an identifier at some point.

I think they get a child's ID card initially, or DS did, and then got a grown up one at 12. However, given that he's not very good at knowing where things are, I keep hold of that as well!

I'm not in Belgium, but I can relate. The situationsin Vietnam is very similar. It takes ages to do anything.

I've jsut seen this thread, and it brings back memories of when I first moved to Belgium six years ago

It took ages for me to get regisitered as living here, and to get my qualifications recognised so I could work.