How efficiently German state offices are run
Ralf Haller
March 5th, 2007
I am currently in the process of obtaining a new 10-year passport. While I am still a German, though living in other countries for more than 10 years now, I was prepared for a horribly bureaucratic experience. To my surprise so far this has turned out to be a pleasant (since very efficient and quick) process. OK, I still don’t know why I need all this stuff:
- birth certificate
- marriage certificate
- “Abmeldebescheinigung” of the last place I lived in Germany
I have now made about 30min of calls to Berlin, Baden-Baden, Gaggenau and Munich, and was helped immediately - in one case they even volunteered to fax the “Abmeldebescheinigung” right to the Consulate here. Wow! That is a hell of a service.
Of course I don’t yet have my new passoprt, but things are looking good, and who knows, maybe it all will indeed go much more smoothly than I expected. So far I am truly impressed, and thought that was worth a blog post to encourage others as well!