The biggest news about Charlotte really shortly because I have to write a lot more today as the title already says:
Charlotte just starts to walk on her own. She still can’t really drive her Bobbycar because her feet hardly reach the floor, but walking is a lot of fun to her.
It’s amazing to see how she begins to remember things like her nose, her ears and so forth. And we also think that we understand the first words she’s using.
Now there’s also a lot to write about our upcoming move to San Francisco.
Already shortly before Christmas we got the approval to move there. But the whole contract and package negotiation took nearly 3 months. Therefore we just started the whole organizational process about 3 weeks ago. But then – suddenly – everything went pretty fast.
First there was a phone call with an agent who coordinates our whole move. That means that she triggered all other external companies to contact us and she will also be responsible for other things like rental car booking, accommodation booking and the reimbursement of all the costs we will have.
After this first call I nearly had a phone call every evening with someone else:
There’s someone who will help us with starting our life in the US: They will show us the supermarket, the public swimming pool, the different neighborhoods, they help us getting our social security number, passing our US drivers’ license and so on and so forth.
Another company will help me with my tax declaration this year in Germany as well as in the US.
Last week someone from the freight forwarder visited our apartment to check all the goods that we will take with us. He’s currently calculated if that fits in the container we will have.
A last provider helped us preparing all application forms for the visa. And that’s so far the most complicated thing:
You need a lot of things for getting your visa:
- All applicants (including my wife and my 1 year old child!) need to fill out a separate online-form DS-160. It took me 3 hours to do so just for me. And the link to take over data from the first form into the next one is only available on the last “Thank you” page. So, don’t close it before clicking the link. And save into a local file latest after each filled page! By the way: Hey mom, hey dad, I had to mention you in the questionnaire as well. So don’t be surprised if the US homeland security knocks at your door
- At least in Germany you need to pay a first fee via a special provider before even getting an appointment at the embassy or consulate.
- In parallel I filled out another huge online questionnaire from the service provider who used all the information to print out a letter and a lot of documents for the consulate to prove that I need to be in the US to be able to do the job my company wants me to do. The documents just arrived yesterday and there’s a lot of information about my company, their IFRS statements etc.
- Then we also need of course some special pictures. Charlotte made the perfect face for this picture: No smiling, just staring into the camera ;-)
- I have to take all certificate with me proving my educational background, especially for the area of expertise I am working in at the moment.
- If you have all of that together you can make an appointment at the consulate. Of course this has to be done online as well. And it takes again about 30 to 60 minutes to do so.
Now, next week there’s our appointment at the consulate in Frankfurt. So, cross the fingers!