Progress Report

We're definitely making a little headway in this new venture. Six action items have been pulled from the "board" since last Monday.

About 7 weeks until our anticipated relocation date. At the moment, the outlook for reaching that goal looks good. Provided that no surprise roadblocks pop up before then, we should be able to move out of here on June 30th. If I were to make some guesses about "possible" stumbling blocks, I'd say it would be something regarding either a residence permit for Kristen, not finding an apartment in time, or not being able to rent an apartment from here (which was a problem when moving here from Belgium). I know it might be "jinx-acious" to name these things, but I'm hoping that by getting them out in the open, they will be defused.

I spoke to the Immigration Service in Denmark last week and it looks like we can use a new EU "loop-hole" to get a residence permit for K. There is a newish law called "EU Free Movement" which means that an EU resident is able to move around freely in the EU as employment permits. This same loophole would supposedly allow for spouses to be granted de facto entry. According to the lady on the phone, as long as I have worked in an EU country while we were married, I can claim it. I told her that I had worked in Belgium from October 2003 to August 2004 and we were married in June 2004, so it was only 2 months of work during the marriage. She said that didn't matter, so I'm putting some faith in this stranger.

To use this loophole, I have to write a letter explaining EVERYTHING and that I would like to claim "free movement". Then I have to provide: marriage certificate, copies of pay-stubs, and proof of employment in Denmark (working on it). We're going to give them so much proof and support documentation that they're going to have to open a new wing in the office to handle the workload. K is getting into my damn country!

We're going to use our embassy appointment on June 14th to submit this plea. And I think we'll fill out the "family reunification" application too, just in case. It's going to be a lot of work!

-RP-