Author: blogayfkm

Last Saturday we received another present in the mailbox: It’s Serse’s invitation to the Gemeinde for registering his residence! So, yesterday (Monday) we immediately went there. It was closed because of an obscure half-day holiday valid only in the city of Zerneve. AYFKM. So, we went again today. Everything went smooth. 35 CHF for the… Continue reading Registration To The Gemeinde

This is not related to Serse’s saga but it’s still part of the topic of this blog. And it’s gonna be a long story, so brace yourself. A superquick primer to taxes in Switzerland. I’m covering here only the two most common scenarios for foreigners: employees at Swiss companies with B or C residence permits.… Continue reading Interlude: Tax Declarations

We have applied to the Asylum Italian Consulate for Serse’s passport by sending a phat envelope with receipt of the bank transfer, application form, etc. Payment for requesting the passport: 114.50 CHF Cost of recorded mail: 6.30 CHF Plus the previous 309 CHF we are now at about 430 CHF.

Yesterday we got another nice surprise in the postbox. It was… (suspence…) Serse’s Swiss health card! What? Yes! Serse’s Swiss health card! This is good because: together with the health card comes the uberimportant AHV number, which is a bit like the social security number in the US. Thanks to this number, we can now… Continue reading A Nice Surprise

Something is moving FAST!   A lot of things happened in the last few days, all of them POTENTIALLY DISASTROUS were it not for our perseverance and paranoia. After we received Serse’s birth certificate last week, a couple of routes were open to us and, unlike visual novel games, it was not only possible but… Continue reading Why Phone Calls Are Important

So, just to keep track of how much we’re spending on Serse’s bureaucracy so far: My birth certificate from Spelunca: gratis (because there was no need to stamp it, and my parents shipped it to me together with other stuff) Mei-Lin-s birth certificate: 100 NTD x 2 (one was botched) Birth certificate translation: gratis because… Continue reading Serse’s Expense Tracking #1

Just a notice for those of you who didn’t notice already. You can easily track when we post new content without the need of checking this blog every day, by using the built-in WordPress RSS feed. Yes, I know it’s old-school tech, but it’s FUCKING GREAT, and if it’s not considered “cool” nowadays it’s only… Continue reading RSS Feed

Yesterday we received a present in the mailbox: Serse’s birth certificate. IT’S NOT THE END YET. This is just a first step. It doesn’t change our situation: we cannot travel abroad, or apply for a health insurance card yet. BUT at least we now have the proof that Serse exists and is our son! And… Continue reading Serse Exists!

Today we found a fat envelope in our mailbox. It’s from the “Bevölkerungsamt der Stadt Zerneve”. YES! It’s Serse’s birth certificate! It must be Serse’s birth certificate! FOR SURE it’s Serse’s birth certificate! It’s not. But allow me to build the suspense with a little preamble. Yesterday I decided to call the Zivilsthing office in… Continue reading Something Is Moving!

I did a couple of phone calls today. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that it seems that a valid national ID (passport, ID card) is not required for registering Serse’s residence at the Kreisbüro, only the birth certificate is. This means that, as soon as we receive the birth… Continue reading Timeline Updates