Visiting the German Embassy

As my passport expired last april and my ID-card just expired last Monday, it was definitely time to visit the honorary consulate of the German Embassy in Graz.
Bureaucracy, I'm fighting you --- well, no secret --- I lost!

First of all: after more than 2 years of officially living in Graz (registered!), the first information I got was that I still had to do all official stuff in Germany since I also was still registered there at my parents... an impossible task. As everybody knows adminsitrative bodies can't be reached early in the morning, later in the afternoon, during noon or on Fridays after lunch. I usually visit my parents 3-4 times a year over weekends or holidays... no chance of catching somebody in the office then...

Well, after I already gave it a thought or two, I finally decided to unregister in Germany... and *BIG SURPRISE* I could do it via phone and mail!!! Oh yes! (Note for the dazzled reader: I am still GERMAN! ;)

Next task: getting a biometric photograph for my new passport. The embassy told me to explicitely ask for a photograph for the GERMAN passport as there are slight differences to the Austrian one. Ok... forget all the nice photographs you have seen! Pretty portraits, likeable faces. A good taste concerning biometric passport photographs does NOT exist!!! You look like a criminal... accept it! The only purpose of the picture is to allow a computerized verification. Alright... I got it!
(Hint: the difference between the German and the Austrian passport picture: in the Austrian passport photograph the face is 3mm smaller than in the German and therefore you still have a little more space left for a glimpse of the neck.)

An now... the honorary consulate in Graz.
Opening hours: Monday through Thursday, 9-11am. *Oops* actually that's when I'm supposed to work, but well, at least I didn't have to travel to Vienna :)
I called three times...
1. to ask for all the documents needed,
2. to ask for the opening hours,
3. to make sure, the women on the phone hadn't forgotten to tell me the day when they are opened later in the afternoon - she hadn't! :(

Today, I took half a day off and went there... the honorary consulate in Graz is in a meeting room of a quite big company in Northern Graz. Basically, it works like that: you check which country doesn't have a honorary consulate in your town yet. You apply at the embassy e.g. if you have only a part-time job and still want to use your spare time for something useful. You organize an office/room and... *welcome to your new honorary consulate of the Embassy of XY*

Ok, I have to admit, I was happy that I didn't have to go to Vienna for the passport and also, I'm happy that all my documents were fine, so I actually really could order my new passport. It took 7 minutes and 100€ and off I went...

Thanks to Lena who sponsored a cappuchino to me afterwards!!! ;)