Difficult situation

My husband had a job offer from a Netherlands construction company where his cousin is working at. Being disappointed of German job market we left to Netherlands without hesitation and he went to get a BSN number to start to work. BSN is a local social security number one needs for work and housing so it’s vital to get it. We thought in our naivity it would be a piece of cake to get that as we have been hearing from the politicians that EU is a paradise for labour as people and trade can pass the borders for they are non existent.

My husband comes from a country that’s outside of EU, from Macedonia. Therefore according to the law in Netherlands my husband can apply to his BSN after I’ve got myself a job, a housing and an income that is enough to support us both. The clerk at the Bureau of Immigration didn’t give me any details of how much money is required to do so but this is what they are expecting. I took a long sigh as past few months working outside my home country we have passed an obstacle after and obstacle only to counter another obstacle. This is just as painful to my husband who as a man doesn’t want to be dependent of his wife and either doesn’t want to live on taxpayers’ money.

So, in order to start the life I applied for jobs. I speak a little German, some Spanish, fluent Swedish and Finnish as a mother tongue. My husband’s English is also fluent which is what we are using in our communication. He also speaks a little German, fluent Russian and all Balkan languages. So therefore we should be skilled enough on language basis to find a job in EU.

I got the idea that English could get you far in Europe. No, it did not. In Germany I called to every doctor I found working in a small town of Rheda-Wiedenbruck and only one place had an English speaking doctor. This seemed crazy as in my home country every public health station has English speaking staff and one can have information in both English and Swedish not to mention that there are also services to other language groups. Even those who come to Finland with no papers get treatment in Helsinki. But no, in Germany even the doctors are too fancy to speak any other languages than their beautiful German. Little German doesn’t get one far in this kind of situations where it’s elemental to be understood in order to get the right treatment.

Then, after seeking, I got a job in Netherlands. I was happy that I had made it and I went to a Bureau to receive the BSN number. Because of my endless naivity I thought again it would be a piece of cake. As I’m an EU citizen so they must give me that to start to work. No. This time the problem was that I could not give them the address because we are staying in several places and don’t have a permanent address yet.

So, I must apply for a temporary BSN number claiming things like ”I’d just like to know what it’s like to work in here so I was thinking of like working for couple of months”. It seems that it’s out of question to tell the authorities that a married couple are looking for a permanent place to stay in Europe because EU is really for the asylum seekers, global companies, global banks and elite who get the benefit of this while the real working class who have been lied to must perform magic tricks to get things like a job and housing to have a normal life.