We biked down to the Dienst Persoonsgegevens on the Johan Huizingalaan today to pick up Sarah’s verblijfsvergunning (residence permit). After nearly nine months, she can finally hold it in her hand. And, less than two months from now, she’ll be receiving the letter about having it renewed and the fun can begin anew.
Amusingly, they gave her a little welcome package, which consisted of a map and a book about living in Amsterdam. It’s particularly funny and rather quaint to be receiving a map some nine months after her arrival. She’s pretty good about finding her way around these days.
Now the process of inburgering (mandatory integration) begins. Sarah is expected to undergo 600 hours of education on the Dutch language, the people and our society. By the time she gets to the end of that, she’ll undoubtedly know more about The Netherlands than the average Dutch person. She has an interview a couple of weeks from now to determine exactly what her needs are, as each person gets an inburgering tailored to his or her specific background and existing knowledge of all things Dutch.