OK, light years ahead (or so it seems), the adage of ‘everything that can go wrong…” has occurred, in multitudes. The paperwork regarding our taxes at year end, did not reach the accountant in mid-February. The post office has not been able to locate the package despite the tracking code and insurance. So we had to recreate them. As it would happen, with all of the other crazy things, this is the one year we didn’t make copies. Of course.
The paperwork on one of our Social Security applications didn’t reach the office. We are not provided an email nor a phone number and are totally reliant on this person calling us. Incredible. So again we have recreated paperwork and sent it – both Fax and snail mail – hoping it’ll be processed before we launch.
Medicare has given us three completely different answers on the questions regarding applying (or not), suspending (one didn’t think that was even possible) and the penalties regarding any move other than straight forward application. We finally threw up our hands and will pay for Medicare despite being unable to use it for the years we are gone.
The French tax attorney who answered diligently all our inquiries and stated that all of our documentation sent was indeed received/ adequate – has reported a hiccup at the last minute. We finally got a five month lease, sending the agent a multitude of documentation, signed by the owner. We sent that to the attorney, under the impression that it was the last piece we needed, along with our airline ticket confirmations. The first response we got was not from the attorney, it was from the SF consulate giving us the date and time of our visa appointment. WOO HOO, we thought.
Once we had the Paris lease in hand and the airline ticket reservations, we sent them both to the immigration attorney, believing that we had fulfilled the last requirements. Then he sent us an email that he couldn’t open some files and some pieces needed more documentation for the visa packet (which we need in ADVANCE of the meeting with the consulate on the 1st of May, in two weeks). So, we are scrambling to get what he needs, to get the packet in time, despite all of the work done in advance. You never know what last minute stuff you’ll encounter.
- The financial records he couldn’t open and he needed them resent.
- The proof of insurance we sent was inadequate and he needed more documentation to show that it meets French rules, which he sent a copy of.
- Needed the first and last names of both of our parents.
- Needed the places of our birth.
- A statement of why we wished to reside in France.
In addition to the paperwork that every single category of this process seems to need, we are having to give adequate notice for utility cut offs, large item pick ups and financial notices. Some can take the information 30 days in advance, some can only operate with two week notices and a few only one week.
The take away?
– Large lists posted on our dining room wall worked for us. It helped us to know what was in progress or done. And in a back step, some got re-added.
- The last two months calendars were posted as well, even though our phones have our calendars. It helped keep things in front of our faces. Trust me – you’ll have those days when you get up and are clueless on what this particular day has going.
- Copies of EVERYTHING. Everyone asks for a ton of documents and they can be lost in transition. And many times different parties ask for the same things. The only thing that caught us short was the tax paperwork missing and having to be recreated. The rest, we had copies of and simply resent. Well, except for the immigration attorney that was asking for extensions of things. But copy everything. Also, once overseas, we found copy shops could print documents from a thumb drive, if a paper copy was required.
twokiddosoverseas.com 