We got a package of mail ysterday from my in-laws; we use their place as a US mailing address and they are kind enough to forward the important stuff on, in periodic packages. It was a depressing and ominous package: statements from a few 401(k)’s that are still lower than they once were, not one but two blue envelopes (the Dutch tax bureau famously sends everything in blue envelopes) and a bill from a collection agency.
Fortunately, the Dutch tax agency turned out to be them saying they owe me money (I doublechecked with both Dicitonary.com and a Dutch guy at work to be sure my impression was correct.) I can’t quite figure out why (the coworker said, vaguely, “Well, sometimes they examine it and make adjustments,” but hey, thye’re giving me money – a couple hundred Euros. It’s not my regular tax refund; I got that long ago.
The collection bill was puzzling and annoying: all it said was that I owed $21 and it was from Verizon Mobile – no account number or any other information. I tried calling, but couldn’t get anything but an automated recording. I was wondering at first if it was some kind of scam, but the agency’s letter, phone number and webpage all match up, so if it is a scam, it’s an uncharacteristically thorough one. The spelling and grammar was right, too. At this point, I have not resided in the US for over three years, and I closed out my services including mobile phone before I left. I haven’t received any other blls from them, except maybe right at first. (As far as I know, I paid everything I was billed for.) I don’t even remember which mobile carrier I had, though Verizon seems like a likely choice. I was considering disputing it, to at least get more information, but it didn’t seem worth risking my credit rating for $21, so I just paid it.
At least I turned a profit overall, thanks to the Dutch tax refund.
The next step in the moving process is to figure out what documents I need to send in. I got an email from someone in HR with a long and ugly list: birth certificate, with apostille (legalized, within the last 6 months); marriage certificate ditto; copy of college diploma, etc., etc. I pointed out to the woman that I’d already lived there before, already had a sofinummer (= Dutch Social Security number), Netherlands driver’s license, etc. She’s looking into it for me; I’m really hoping I don’t have to give them much more than an updated CV and signed employment contrat. Getting those official documents and then getting them legalized (which is essentially the state that issued them saying, “Yes, we swear that these are our real official documents”) was a major pain three years ago, doing it from the US. Doing it from here would be much worse.
I sincerely hope that Verizon bill is an error. My experience with Verizon was that they simply would not consider that they might have made a mistake, would not even listen to my argument. That’s why I haven’t had a Verizon account since.
Oh gosh, I remember how collecting up all those documents was such a HUGE pain in the patootie. Fingers crossed that your current Netherlands certs are good enough for re-entry and new work papers. ~LA
PS: That was 3 years ago already? Wow. We’ve both fit a lot of living in that time, but it still seems long to say “Three years…”