Say 'Cheese'
Well, it's that time again. January/February. Time to get my work permit renewed and then take it over to my commune.
Before I negotiate the maze of bureaucracy in the Belgian system, I have to have more of those dreadful passport photos taken. Each office I have to visit in the journey to renewed work permits and residency status requires multiple passport photos.
I am convinced that I am allergic to the air in January and February and the allergy manifests itself by me suffering huge bags and dark circles under my eyes. One eye is always a bit wonky in the pictures, no matter what time I have them taken. As if one eye is still asleep in bed. My hair looks good and bad in alternating years. And it never fails - I waste at least €5 - €10 on photos where my eyes are closed, I am looking down, slipping off the little booth stool and therefore blurry or just plain fugly looking. One year I swear my left nostril showed up 3 times larger than the right and I had to squat on the stool and wriggle over to catch the light from the florescent bulb just the right way to make my nostrils look evenly-sized.
There are good passport photo booths and bad ones. The good ones are in unsavoury places like metro stairwells and outside downtown 'video' arcades where junkies and ho's prepare their daily toilettes. The bad ones are where you really need them, in the commune, in the post office, in the registry office, at the license approval and official 'Stamp Anything That Moves' department - and of course at the police station. The ones where you really need them are usually jammed, faulty, triple the price and they only take exact change when they are working.
There's a requirement of 3 passport photos with every application for my commune residence card renewal. Of course, they use one of them on the card itself. What happens to the rest? I did catch a glimpse of my file last time I was there - an oversight on the part of the (usually secretive, long lunch taking and multiple coffee-break taking worker) - with dozens of my old photos floating around in it - not used for anything. They have to be getting kick-backs from the Photo machine owners - it's a great scam.
Once you get all the right paperwork delivered to the right window in the right building by the right time, you are good to go. Things pretty much take care of themselves. Of course, it takes two seconds to stamp the new date on it and about 5 seconds to staple the new picture on (which could be done there on the spot) - but it usually takes 2-3 weeks to receive a notice in the mail saying my residence card is ready for pick up.
All of this has to be taken in stride. 2 trips to the Ministere de la region de Bruxelles for my work permit and 3 trips to the commune where I live. Just the way life is in Brussels - and I love it.
Say 'cheese'
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 1:52 PM
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