Brockman

We applied for permission to take our son out of school on the last week (2.5 days in July) and our reason was so that he could attend summer camp in the US. It was accepted without issue but we did have to fill in an official looking form from the school and get the school director to sign off on it (Berlin). We know several people that did this and it did not seem to be an issue for anyone. We were also told to keep the school permission letter on hand in case we would be asked for it at the airport, but this did not happen (in fact, the Berlin airport has so many issues it's hard to imagine them checking for kids being taken out of school a few days early - they can barely check people's basic documents).

What a happy ending! Glad it worked out for you.

Do you think going to the press will help? It seems you live in a small town, how do you think other Kitas will react when the 'lady who complains to the press' applies for a spot in their Kita? Your best bet is probably to continue searching and look into other options. Best of luck, many of us have been there and know it's frustrating! I know parents in Berlin who need to drive their kid to a Kita 1 hour each way for a 6 hour stay.

We haven't received post in about a month. We called the central post line, but they say we are indeed receiving it (?!?) and that they would look into the matter further. I googled it and there were some recent articles and of course the post was blaming corona. I am really not sure what else we can do, we are currently about to move into a new flat and since we were receiving several notifications from the 'Grundbuch Amt' we notified them and the Finanzamt just in case. I had to recently cancel 2 magazine subscriptions as those just stopped showing up in July. If anyone else is experiencing this issue, what have you done about it? I wouldn't normally care, but since every bit of important communication is done via post in this country, I worry that some rando 'Mahnung' could show up.

Integrated enough, I guess. I've been here since 2015, I am married to a German, and I have 2 German-American children who were born here. I work for the local office of a large US multinational company and speak both English and German at work, I have a equal mix of German and non-German friends, and I can speak German fluently. I would score my integration 8 out of 10. I could probably improve my German a bit better, and do a bit more to integrate further, I suppose. I think I will probably live here for the rest of my life.

We just wrote our own Vollmacht and my wife signed it. I brought her German ID card so the Amt could verify signature. Maybe you can find a template on the Amt website. The guard didn't say anything, he just handed me the number. I guess it was just kind of an open secret that they allowed people to show up personally and pick up their child birth certificate.

Hi Veinar, no, there was no info available anywhere, and no one to call, I just showed up there at 4.30am because I read online articles saying this is what people had to resort to. The website actually said to not show up in person, if I remember correctly. Regarding what Santitas said, we did indeed apply for the birth certificate via the little Standesamt outpost at the hospital right after the kid was born, but the issue was they said it would take 12 weeks for the official birth certificate to arrive via post, and the Bürgeramt needs the official birth certificate to issue a passport. I had a Vollmacht from my wife authorizing me to do everything I needed to do to obtain the birth certificate and it was accepted without issue. No, my child did not come. I did however bring copies of all of the documents (receipt from hospital Standesamt showing we applied for the birth certificate, my passport, wife passport, marriage certificate, Anmeldebescheinigungs, wife German identity card, etc.) which of course they did have copies of on file, but, being a shitty German bureaucratic amt, they asked to see them all again and did some 'cross checking' theatrics to prove their 'usefulness' to society.

My kid was born in Berlin Mitte in late 2017 and we had the same problem with the 8-12 week waiting time. This was a problem because we needed a passport by early February, and for that, we needed a birth certificate. We could not get through when we called anyone. I went to the Standesamt Berlin Mitte at 4.30am on 2nd Jan 2018 and got an unofficial number from the building guard, who then told me to come back at 8.30am when they opened so I could get an official number. He also said I was lucky because they were only giving out 10 numbers that day and I got number 9. I saw people visibly camped out in front in the icy freezing weather. Anyway, I went back at 8.30am, got the official number, waited, and they issued the birth certificate on the spot without any issues (other than, you know, needing to be there at 4.30am). If it's any consolation, I doubt it would be any faster at the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Standesamt. Best of luck!

Hey @Rushrush I saw your message. I emailed them, explained my situation, and asked for a quote, but I thought it was way too high so I never followed up on it. They wanted 750,00 € for an initial consultation. I found some one who sorted us out for 1/3 of that. Let me know if you want the contact. Good luck!

Hello Team Toytown,   Does anyone know of a lawyer who specializes in real estate contract law in Berlin? Our new building construction is delayed, and the builder doesn't want to pay us. Thanks in advance!   Best,   Brockman