I wrote about the new rules of the Dutch passport a while ago, that it wouldn’t be so easy to renew the passport because the honorair consulate in Hawaii is not longer allowed to renew passports somewhere this year because of the new fingerprint rules and such, and that I will have to fly to the mainland US, or get my passport renewed in the Netherlands when I would be there.

It is something very nice again from the Dutch government, even more because I have heard that people also need to pick their passports up again at the location where they renewed their passports (they normally send them), this because they need to check on the fingerprints inside the passports, if they’re made correctly or not. That’s going to be fun, so we either have to return to the mainland after a certain amount of time, or we have to be lucky and receive it in the Netherlands before you leave the country again. The result: double costs. Like I said in my post back then, it will cost us thousands of dollars (or Euro’s, whatever you want) for real if we need to do this within the US. (And another ‘nice’ fact: Foreign Affairs is saying that the machines for the fingerprints are too expensive, or something similar, and that they cannot install them everywhere for this reason… but what seems to be really happening: the ministry of internal affairs is paying for them and not the ministry of Foreign Affairs.. so what about that? Foreign Affairs doesn’t even have those costs as they said in the beginning.. it is really outragious.   hoe vind je die? Die extra kosten zijn er dus helemaal niet.. I think it is becoming a more and more scandalous story.

But oh well, I thought to myself, about a week ago, that it would be wise to renew my passport already as I would still be able to do this within Honolulu (until somewhere in September, normally it would be until the end of June but they are delayed in the process). My passport is then valid for another five years (why isn’t it valid for ten years, like in most countries?), and when they give us troubles in The Hague when we request a passport for our daughter later on, then we do not have to go to the mainland within a few months because I would have to get a new passport myself. We would still have some years time until we need to renew my passport and then we can also request the new passport for our daughter. She will get an American passport right away so a Dutch passport isn’t needed right away.

And so I did. I called the Dutch Honoraire Consulate in Honolulu last week to schedule an appointment for today. They’re located in a big officebuilding, near the Aloha Tower (there where the boat parade was and where I made a video of the Queen Mary 2).

We (Michelle joined me, and even though it was not really needed, it does make it more fun) had to be there at 11 this morning, and we could’ve been there at 10.45 AM, but unfortunately we walked pass the building. This happened because the building showed number 1000 while we had to be at number 745. We knew the office was located on the 7th floor, so everything which was lower, was automatically not something we looked at, and so we passed those smaller buildings quite easily. When we checked the numbers, we saw the number 900 something, and we thought it could take a while until we would be at our number, until we suddenly were in the 1000’s again… yeaahhh, wait a second… that’s not right, it was going up…. Right, our conclusion was that we had to walk back and probably missed something. It turned out that the lower buildings, which we initially passed, were in the 800’s and that we did need to get the first building. And what do you think? It turns out that this was indeed number 745 but this number was hiding a bit, especially because the number 1000 was quite big and catchy. Hahaha, yeah that went smooth. We went inside and up to the 7th floor in a really fast elevator (you really notice that your bloodpressure changes, you will really be dizzy for a bit after the elevator stops).

Once we got in, I pushed the little bell on the front desk and an employee of the consulate came to the front, it turned out that this person would also be the one who handled the passport renewal for me. She took me to a seperate room, a bit like a meetingroom (they’re really in between other offices, in a big officebuidling, where they have some space, it really looks like some kind of company when you see it like that, it really does not look like something which you think of when you think of a consulate.. then again, it is a honoraire consulate, of course, so they’re already smaller). Here I gave her my papers, the passport and the passport (which were 55 dollar for 9 pieces, by the way (I just needed two of them but they gave me 9 haha), they’re so expensive because the Dutch format is different than the American passport photo format and so people have to go to a special photographer, and when you only have one official recognized photographer on the island, then you can expect that they can ask you what they want, of course).

Anyways, I talked a bit more with the consulate employee, mostly about the upcoming birth and how things would go when we wanted to apply for a passport for her, and of course about the whole deal of the passports what the Netherlands is doing right now. She said that she has hope that they will have more machines available later on, and that they would renew passports again for the Dutch citizens because, like she also said, there are more Dutch citizens in Hawaii then you would expect (she gave an example of the one time that they needed a person on the Big Island who would be able to speak both Dutch and Indonesian, and it aparantly had a lot of replies from people who were interested, and this was pretty specific because of the Indonesian part. And it seems to be like this on all the islands, there’s really a great deal of Dutchies here… it makes it pretty messed up that the Netherlands is leaving all these people alone with their passports, there’s enough people who are not able to fly to the mainland or the Netherlands but still need their passports). She also said that, even though there are other HC’s being closed, that she does not expect that Honolulu will be closed so easily, because, for example, what if someone loses his or her passport, then they would not be able to leave these islands as they cannot take a plane to the mainland.

And we talked about some more things next to this. Michelle told me later that I am pretty talkative at some moments haha. Poor child, she couldn’t do anything else but wait until I was done talking.

I have to say that the people on the Honoraire Consulate were very friendly. I will receive my passport again within two to six weeks (normally it would take about two weeks but because of the whole thing of the change to the new way of renewing passports, it might take a bit longer so they take it a bit wider), and oh well, I don’t need my passport right away so that’s ok.

And that was the story of my passport renewal, for now at least haha.

We also fed some fishes at the Aloha Tower today and we made a short video about the Pali Highway, when I brought Michelle to her work later today, but I will write more about this later on.. probably somehwere tomorrow or the day after that, it depends because I still need to convert and upload the video’s to Youtube. So, some patience please

I really have to get something of my chest.. The Netherlands has to be the first again with something, like always, and of course, the civilians will be the ones who will have to pay for it. Nobody has these things, the United States don’t even have those things in their passports as we as Dutchies already have (such as a chip), and now this… so typical for the Netherlands again…

It is about the following piece that I read a few days on the website of the Dutch Consulate General in Los Angeles (originally written in Dutch):

Introduction fingerprints and passport application

Starting mid 2009, passport applications will need to be accompanied with fingerprints of the applicant. This will have consequences for the Dutch living and working abroad (non-resident Dutch).

Where to apply for passports?

As non-resident Dutch you can apply for your passport at every embassy, every Consulate General and each Honorary Consulate (HC). In the future, when fingerprints need to be taken and it will no longer be possible to obtain a passport at the HC’s. To improve the service to you at the highest possible level, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to equip fifty HC’s with equipment with which fingerprints can be taken. This will mean the necessary investments in security and communications. In anticipation of the introduction of fingerprints in passports and because of the renewal of the equipment, in the United States of America, starting from June 28, 2009, it will only be possible to apply for a passport at the Embassy in Washington, the Consulates-General in New York , Miami, Chicago or Los Angeles and the HC’s in San Francisco, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta and Boston.

source: http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/files/pdf/PaspoortaanvragenOpmaak.pdf

So, in other words, it looks like I wont be able to renew my passport in Honolulu later on but that I will need to fly at least 5.5 hours towards the US mainland for an application.

You can renew your passport right now then? You might say, and you’re right, but Michelle and I will get a baby soon and that kid needs to get a passport also (after all, we want the kid to get a double nationality so it can choose for him/herself which nationality it wants to have at adulthood).

If you think about it, it is pretty crazy that we will need to fly 5.5 hours, and we’re not alone as there are more Dutch on these islands. Why does the Honoraire Consulate in San Francisco this equipment while it is fairly close to Los Angeles and why do we need to fly 5.5 hours to the closest location?

Just look at this will cost us to renew a passport.. A ticket to the mainland is about 500 dollar, a kid below the age of two is for free but he/she will not remain a baby forever, so when it is time, we can actually count on some 1000 dollar. Then we might have the cost for a hotelstay since not all airlines fly back and forth multiple times a day, plus are you sure you are done on time at the consulate? Then you will have possible costs for a taxi or rental car and there will be enough additional small costs. Come, let’s renew our passport.

And then they dare to say, in the last line of that document that these measures “are in the interest of both the government and yourself”. Well, it surely is not in my interest. The only interest that it gives me is that I can write something in my blog again, but yeah, some interest that is.

The messed up thing next to this all is that I wonder how expensive this equipment will be.. The Americans have these devices everywhere, the border, homeland security buildings, consulates, embassies, everywhere and then it is impossible for the Netherlands to add a few more of these devices? I would almost tell them to send the bill to me as I am almost sure that it will be cheaper for me to pay for those devices than to travel up and down to the mainland.

Oh well, maybe there will be some sunshine after all as you can also request a new passport in the Netherlands, if you are visiting there that is (we’re currently planning to go to the Netherlands around the holidays). But, of course, it has some conditions attached:

As you are not living in the Netherlands any more (or maybe never lived in the Netherlands), the city of The Hague typically does not know if you still have the Dutch nationality. Your old passport or identitycard are no conclusive proof of your Dutch nationality. It only shows that you still had the Dutch nationality at the time the previous travel document was issued.

Source: http://www.denhaag.nl/smartsite.html?id=21603

In other words, they will need to find out if you still have the Dutch nationality and this is something that you will need to prove with all kinds of documents such as a birthcertificate and proof of deregistration in the Netherlands.

And I get different worries about a certain part of the same website of the city of The Hague:

You usually will go to the Dutch representation in the country which you reside for a new passport or identitycard. It is important that you are known for a (later) determination of your nationality.

So does this mean that I will have to renew passport in the United States at least once, just in case if I want to get a double nationality later on? And there are so much more questions which arise with all this, such as the timeframe in The Hague. It takes about two weeks in the United States to renew my passport but how about the Netherlands? The site of The Hague states the following:

10 working days, unless further investigation to identity, nationality and/or fraud is needed; then up to 8 weeks.

And there is a way to make this faster, in this case it will take three working days, but that will cost extra again. And what about the last part? The further investigation? Do they mean the above, the documents that you need to show and such? I can’t wait for 8 weeks in the Netherlands for a new passport? By the way, one of the documents that they want to see is a ‘recent statement which proves my Dutch nationality’, this is something the Dutch representation in the country where the applicant lives will have to provide, so in my case the United States… does this mean I will have to get this in Los Angeles or is this also possible to get in Honolulu? If it is LA then I might as well just renew my passport over there.

No, I am not really happy with this new arrangement. I also emailed the ‘Netherlands Front Office’ with the question if Hawaii gets no equipment indeed, they wrote the following:

Indeed, you will need to travel to a embassy or consulate general to apply for a new passport. There are also a few Honoraire Consulates where you can do this. Hawaii is unfortunately not one of the possibilities.

So I am really not happy about this. It does not even matter much for myself as it takes a bit until I have to renew my passport (later next year), and I could do it right now so I could wait for another five year but I am also wondering about the baby which will be born later on, how will that go? I think I should ask that question at the Dutch consulate in Los Angeles, and possibly also at the city of The Hague.

Nice going again, Netherlands

But this wasn’t arranged all at once unfortunately, some things came up before we actually got approved…

I had an appointment at the consulate in Amsterdam on August 12 at 1.30 pm and I arrived at the consulate at around 1.05 pm. All appointments are at that time so you basically have to form a line and the first in line is first served as well. I had two persons before me in line when I arrived but soon it were a lot more people.

The gates went open at around 1.20/1.25 pm and the security officers told us that we should line up in one of the two available lines. There was a line for normal (non-immigration) visas and one for immigration, US Citizens and other cases. Because I was a bit nervous, I initially lined up at the wrong line which actually set me back 4 people in line while I could have been the first in immigration haha.

After the security checks and some time waiting in line, I could give my papers to a nice Dutch speaking employee who then told me that I would have to wait for a while and then would be called when the consul would be ready for my interview.

While waiting, I talked a bit with a few other people, who were also there for their immigration interview, and they asked me if I was nervous. To their surprise I had to tell them that I was indeed quite nervous. I was quite nervous because I had the chance to be rejected for the visa because of an old conviction. It was something small and I never had a real conviction, but yeah, you never know what would happen and what the decision would be if the consul.

I was called to the window at around 2.45/3.00 pm and the consul asked me how I was doing so i told him that I was ok but that I was also a bit nervous for the interview. He told me that I had nothing to fear but yeah, I was still fearing the outcome because of that conviction. The consul first asked me a few standard questions, I read on some forums that these questions are merely meant to see if I would really know Michelle. The questions were, among others, how and when I met Michelle, what my birthday was, what Michelle’s age was, what I like about Michelle, why I want to marry her and that kind of questions. It was indeed nothing to worry about.

And then it was time to talk about my conviction. I told the consul that what happened back then and what the ruling of the judge was. The consul was a bit unsure if he could give the visa because there was a different classification on the court records. The official translation of the court records was also a bit odd as it could be explained as if I would actually had done time which I, in fact, never had to do. The consul explained to me that the visa application would be put on hold and that he wanted me to write an email to the consulate in which I would tell the whole story in English so they could see if they could make a decision with that.

I send the email out the same evening (or more like night because it was around 1 am when I actually did it) to the consulate in which I explained everything and I also had a small explanation from my uncle, who is a retired lawyer, added about the classification and what the reason would be that it was different than what my part was in the whole thing.

And then we had to wait…

Until this morning, two days after the interview. I called at around 8.30 am to check if the consulate received my email on the right email address and the consulate told me that they just printed it and that they would add it to my file and that a decision would be made as soon as possible…

Then, 30 minutes later, I received an email from the consulate which contained the message that the consul read my mail and that he has said that there was no reason not to give me the visa and that I could call them for an appointment to hand over my passport, which I did right away. So today I drove to Amsterdam to give them my passport. I finally get the visa :D

So yeah, it was a bit sweating because I could have been punished for something stupid which I had something to do with more than 10 years ago but fortunately it was end good all good for us. And now we will go on to the next steps.. to book a plane ticket, pick a wedding date, cancel a lot of stuff like the Dutch insurances and such and of course I have to sell all my household goods.. But ok, we will start at the start in a bit, and that’ll be getting me a ticket to Michelle

And we have a date for the interview, the final thing that has to be done before I can go to michelle

At first I thought my checklist, which I sent towards the Consulate last week, was lost in the mail because TNT didn’t update the website anymore (the checklist was sent through registered mail) and the TNT customer service also told me that the mail had not been delivered, I was feeling kinda sad about that since everything was going smoothly before..

Then I arrive back home yesterday and what do I notice? A nice brown envelope from the Consulate in Amsterdam was there waiting for me.. woohoo!!

Some general information about the visa procedure was included in the envelope, like the date for the interview for the visa (which will be held on August 12, by the way) and instructions to pay almost 90 euros for the visa itself and also the information for the Consulate’s doctor for the medical examination which I have to get.

I called the doctor and the place for my x-rays this morning, and I can have it all next monday, wide in time if you ask me. I am not exactly worried about the medical examination because of tests which I had a bit earlier and I almost know for sure I will pass the exam easily. The interview itself makes me more nervous but I think that will ok in the end as well.

I will know on August 12, if everything goes well, if I can or cannot go to Hawaii to marry Michelle.. It’s getting closer

I received the final documents yesterday and have sent the checklist back to the American consulate where it should arrive today. Now I just have to wait for the invitation of the interview and until I can make an appointment for the medical examination in Amsterdam.

It is funny actually, I was called last Tuesday by the consulate to see if I forgot to send the checklist back, on which I answered that I did not forget about it but that I was still waiting for a few documents, I cannot send the checklist back until all the documents are in my possession (imagine you don’t have them all when you have to go to the interview, you will be sure to be send back because you need to give the documents during the interview). And now, a few days later, I received the final documents, which I, of course, don’t mind at all because now we can make some real speed in this process.  It was cool they called me from the consulate, by theway. It made me feel less like a number and more like a human being (something they wouldn’t do when the petition is still in the US as it is a bit less personal there).

Anyways, there’s a big chance I will be able to tell you in my next post when I will have my interview and medical exam. I hope it will be quick so we can wrap this thing up quickly

Ps. A great fourth of July to all of you coming from the US!

Here I was, writing a post yesterday about the NVC sending the petition towards Amsterdam, that it arrived there and my conclusion was that I could expect the first package from the consulate in a couple of weeks…

ehmm.. right…

I arrive home from work yesterday, open the mailbox and find a brown envelope from the American consulate… can you believe it?

I don’t know how this is possible. I know almost for sure I have used the rigth reference number at DHL (based on the info the NVC gave) and besides that, they only sent one package between June 10 and yesterday.. I have no idea how this is possible but I suspect that maybe they received the information electronically?

Oh well, it doesn’t matter, really. The most important is that I have received it Now I will have to fill in the forms which they ask and have to send these back as soon as possible. Fortunately I have almost all asked documents ready, except of a few things, and when I have them all, I can also send the checklist back to them and then I should receive a new package which should contain the information about the medical exam and the interview that I will have at the consulate.

I can’t wait

Our petition would be send to the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, NH, like I told in my last post. Michelle called to Portsmouth last week and they told her that the petition arrived there on June 12. I knew it wouldn’t take long or the petition would be send off to Amsterdam. Michelle called this week again and, indeed, the petition was made ready for shipment on the 16th and it was picked up by DHL a day later.

The funny part about the above is that I knew this all (or thought to know) before Michelle called the NVC for the second time, she actually called on my hint to verify this. It appears that you can easily search and track packages with DHL based on reference number and if you happen to know the reference number, you will be able to follow the shipments from the NVC to the consulates and embassies quite easily… fortunately I happen to know (as I read them on a visa community website) how the structure would be, and indeed, the structure as told was correct..

DHL said there was a package picked up and send to the consulate in Amsterdam with diplomatic papers (it was the only package send to Amsterdam from Portsmouth so it couldn’t be wrong) and today, at 11.12 am, the package was delivered at the consulate :D (btw, it went through the following route:: Portsmouth, NH > Portland, ME > Wilmington, OH > East Midlands, United Kingdom > Brussels, Belgium > Amsterdam, the Netherlands… this is probably the most logical for them although it seems to me a bit like they took a scenic route haha)

Personally I think the end of the whole process is near. Next monday I will get another pre medical exam and I’ll get the first Hepatitus B vaccine shot and I think it will take about 2 weeks max until I will receive the first package of documents from the consulate (which will probably mean a lot of writing and searching for me).

After the long wait for our approval in California (see my previous post) it all really seems to go a lot faster now