When I was alerted by my old landlady that the Dutch pension fund was trying to get in touch with me, I figured I should tell them my current address. I clearly hadn't done that in a while. And I quickly googled how you do that. In the Netherlands, you can establish a digital identity, and with that, you can have access to that kind of information. Your pension, but probably also lots of other things.
I didn't have that digital identity. So I went about trying to get it. And then I quickly got reminded of why I hadn't done this before. The thing is that you need to somehow confirm your identity, and you can do that in person in the Netherlands; in person in London, at the Dutch embassy; or via a video call. For me, of course, the video call is by far the best option. And you can book them online. In theory.
The website says that on Fridays, at 9 am Dutch time, they open booking slots for next week, for people who want to make such a video call during working hours. And at 2 pm Dutch time they open the slots for after hours slots. Also, in theory. I made sure I was ready. Two minutes before nine (eight for me) I checked; they were not open yet, by the looks of it. No slots available. But neither were there any slots at nine o’clock sharp. Or two minutes after nine. And the same pattern was displayed at 2 pm. Memories came back of banging my head into that brick wall before. I must've given up.
I will try again next week. You’d think that slots should exist! Even though I noticed that more people had flagged up this issue. Surely it shouldn't be impossible to be really quick and get one? And I have little to lose. It would be really great if I wouldn't have to travel at least 250 miles for this. And it would be great if I could have my affairs in order. Maybe one day I'll even track down my Norwegian pension! But let's not get ahead of things…
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